Alkaline leakage

What are the actual chances of a Alkaline battery leaking ? . Till i get my hands on some Eneloops or the equivalent rechargeables i was thinking of using the Panasonic AA Alkalines I've got hanging around , but am i risking ruining my new flashlight ?

Well, they are nicknamed Alkaleaks for a reason, but in my experience, it's not really that common. For me it has usually happened when the cell sits for a really long time. I'm talking years...

You never know when it will happen...thats the main concern with using alkalines. But the older your cells are, the greater the chance of it happening.

Just make sure you dont leave cells in light you dont use often (at least once a week).

I haven't seen any reports of Panasonic alkalines leaking, they might be quite well-made (just like Panasonic's 18650's, AA's and other stuff.. they are really good at making batteries!)

Thanks makes me feel better , hopefully it won't be too long before i get some rechargeable batteries

This is way off topic, so I'll apologize up front. But when I was going through the recent posts and came upon this thread a thought occurred to me.

"Alkaline leakage" would make an awesome user name.

My experience is that all brands no matter if they still have years before the expiration date will leak OR maybe they wont... No rhyme or reason

I have not found it to be an issue, but I don't use super-cheap Alkalines, almost all Duracells, Rayovac, or Costco brand (ok, those are pretty cheap). And I have left AA's in lights for over a year without problems.

Depends.

Lol, pun intended eh troop? Haha good juan...

Over the years I have had so many electronics items ruined by leaking alkalines. That's why I've collected so many aa/aaa nimh batteries (mostly eneloops). Alkalines are forbidden in my house.

I use Duracell and Energizer AAs in all my kids toys. They all leak after about a year.

Every maglite I've ever had in my cars and trucks with alkalines have all leaked. All D cell Duracell. They all leak, it's just a matter of when.

I've had zero problems with my NiMh AA Eneloops leaking. I've had zero problems with my NiMh Maha Ds leaking. I've had zero problems with my NiMh Powerex Ds leaking.

Duracell AA batteries have been terrible in my experience. In the last 2 years, I have thrown away 4 Maglites from leaky batteries.

Maglite will replace the light for free if that happens (leaking battery).

Maglite wasn't responsive, they wanted me to contact Duracell.

That's odd. This is taken directly from their website:

I can’t remove the tailcap from my Mag® flashlight. I have even put pliers on it and tried to twist it off, but it's absolutely frozen or stuck. Is this problem covered by my warranty?
When you cannot remove the tailcap to change the batteries, it almost certainly indicates that the batteries have leaked and sealed everything inside the flashlight. Unfortunately, Mag does not warrant against battery leakage, however, we do have agreements with Duracell, Eveready and Ray-O-Vac. If one of these brands of batteries has leaked in your flashlight, send the flashlight to us and we will repair or replace it at no charge to you. We recommend that you ship the flashlight UPS or Postal Insured for tracking purposes. Please send to; Mag Instrument, Inc., Attn; Warranty Dept., 1721 E. Locust St., Ontario, Ca. 91761-7769. You pay the freight to us and we pay it going back. Please also include a letter with your name, address, phone number and description of the problem. Don’t forget to indicate what brand of battery is inside if you know. Once we verify it is Duracell, Eveready or Ray-O-Vac, we will send you a new flashlight at no charge. Occasionally we open the flashlight and we find it contains leaking batteries that are not Duracell, Eveready and Ray-O-Vac. In cases of "off-brand" battery leakage, we can replace your flashlight for a charge of -- $12.00 plus your state's sales tax for a ‘C’ or ‘D’ Mag-Lite® flashlight, or $8.00 plus tax for a Mini-Maglite® flashlight. If you are not sure, send the flashlight to us, with the batteries inside, and we will check to determine the brand. If we find that they are "off-brand" batteries, we will contact you and arrange for payment before sending you the replacement flashlight. ______________________________________

If a Duracell leaks in their light, you are supposed to send it directly to Maglite for a free replacement.

I'm guessing the person who responded to my email didn't know proper procedure.

Duracells suck, had 2 leak after only two months in different lights. I think they are making a cheaper quality version in China

So it's not worth taking the chance just invest in rechargeable , cheers

Duracell leaked in SK68 after around less than a month, but it was almost empty when it did, it self-recovered for many times before I stopped using that flashlight and it took it two or three weeks to leak.

I've lost count of the number of leaky Duracells I've had. Seems to have gotten worse last couple of years. Doesn't appear to be any reliable pattern to it; older ones, freshly bought, frequently or seldomly used gadget - some will be fine, others will spew without provocation. Definitely unreliable.