Aaagh! My battery stash has been submerged in water. Am I going to end up chucking them?

[trixymalixy]

Thanks to my neighbours leaking gutter which leaked water into the kitchen cupboard and into the box I store batteries and bulbs in.

I'm leaving them to dry for a bit, but am I wasting my time?

Such a waste if so

Were they actually submerged? I suppose all you can do is test them in a couple of days.

How many batteries?
Personally I would not use batteries that had been wet. I had some batteries burst and I am now very careful with them.

Yes there was a couple of inches of water in the box.

I hadn't really considered the safety issue, think I should probably just chuck them.

I'm trying to avoid counting them and estimating how much they cost......

Don't chuck them! Send them to be recycled - most supermarkets have a recycling bin now. The insides are too toxic to sit in landfill.

wash them in clean water, and rub dry with a rag. Spread them out on newspaper to dry. If they were wet for long they may have gone rusty, in which case (if there is more than will polish off with your rag) put them in the recycling bin. Clean water will not easily damage them.

If not, however, they are very likely to be OK. Apart from the very cheapest rubbish zinc-carbon batteries that you sometimes find in a street market, they all have a leak-proof steel jacket now, so as long as they still work and have not gone flat, no reason to bin them.

Occasionally you will see a battery-testing meter in hardware shops,worth having if it is only a couple of pounds.

Thanks all. Will see how they are after a couple of days.

Don't worry when I said chuck them I meant in the recycling not in the bin!

If you keep many in stock, these do well in Which and in larger packs are good value.