I'm building an insulated wooden box to house my T-104's, I was either going to have 3 or 4 banks of 8 in series. I have some 120v strip heaters that I will have on a thermostat. My question is: is it ok to have the batteries sit right on top of the heat strips or should I have an air gap between the strip and the battery?
As you can see from the current replies, it's not a good idea to do this.
A well charged Lead-based battery can survive some very cold temps. AND heat from them charging will help too.
If it's the type of strip heater that normally wraps around water pipes, then it could be even worse! These are designed for metal pipes and if left unchecked could end up melting or warping the battery containers :-(.
Seeing that you will be insulating the area where the batteries will be located , then it would be best to add some cross ventilation to keep the hydrogen vapors from accumulating. Most storage areas posted on here in the past, used old muffins fans from computers, they're easy to mount and can be powered by just about anything.
Hope this helps
Bruce S