Successful start-up of any fuel cell is one of the basic and mandatory requirements before a useful power can be drawn out of it. In a liquid electrolyte alkaline fuel cell, the start-up dynamics are slightly more complicated as compared to the solid electrolyte type of fuel cells.  The reason being that besides reactant gases, liquid electrolyte has to be present. This is to ensure that it acts as a barrier between the reactant gases to allow a useful cell potential to be obtained. During start-up, the competition between each of the fluid’s dynamics dictates the voltage of the cell. The cases, in which the cells are either facing a lag in air supply or a lag in fuel supply, would be temporarily starved of reactants and will not be able to establish a useful open circuit potential. The experiments show that during such events, the underlying cells may reverse in polarity and locally damage the electrodes. This damage can be prevented if the local reactant supply is restored as early as possible; therefore, the cells are able to generate useful driving potentials. The analysis suggests that the presence of air/fuel mixture in a single compartment is the likely reason for cell reversal.