Battery Safety FLA vs AGM

[cgofish]

I understand from reading other post in the forum that FLA's are better from a performance/price perspective compared to AGMs. My question is what safety concerns need to be taken into consideration between the two if any?

In my particular set up my solar equipment / battery room is located in an outside room but directly attached to the house, outside of a bedroom exterior wall(solid concrete). The solar equipment room is well ventilated (passive) and the climate is tropical so low temps of 65F to highs of 95F. The room itself is fully shaded and should not have much heat issues.

With this being outside a bedroom I'm willing to pay more for AGM if there is a real concern with safety. Also I'm not planning on using any "cheap" gear - pretty much all Schneider and it will be a 48V system.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate those of you who contribute regularly to this forum as it has been a great way to gain knowledge on a pretty dynamic subject.

[SunEagle]

I would say the main benefit of using an AGM type battery would be not worrying about the fluid coming out if they are tipped over.

Having a sealed battery allows you to stack them in multiple directions as well as installing them in a mobile application that may move them around. But during charging I expect some if not all AGM type will vent gases if they are overcharged so some type of venting is needed.

IMO the main draw backs are the higher cost and the lack of being able to measure the SOC using a hydrometer.

So for a fixed location installation that is vented and not inside a living area I would still go with the FLA type.

[Mike90250]

With any battery room adjacent to a house wall, I would install a firewall to isolate the battery chamber from the house. This will also help reduce any fumes.
Sealed batteries are .... Sealed, until they are not. They have pressure vent caps to vent excess hydrogen gas buildup and will require the SAME venting
and acid containment measures as flooded. So unless one of the unique benefits of SLA is needed, stick with flooded.

[cgofish]

Guys thanks for the feedback, sounds like we should be safe with the exterior room regardless of the battery types.

I started looking for info on the fire ratings for the building system we are using and found this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6KXWcf0eoY&t=1s After seeing them blow a few sticks of dynamite I'm thinking we will survive...