Re: "aquarium gravel" in pole pig? :\

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "J. Aaron Holmes" <jaholmes-at-silicon-arcana-dot-com> 


Well, statically, they meter out like I'd expect, but
we'll see what I get after I add some oil.  They come
from an urban utility, and the story I got was that
they were replaced with higher-powered units and that
they aren't re-deploying anything smaller than 25kVA.
Guy said he hadn't seen a 5kVA unit in years.  They
offered to add oil before I took them away, but I
opted to collect the oil separately to make
transportation easier.  I just didn't have the kind of
moving equipment on hand to deal with them filled.  As
it was, I discovered that a 15kVA unit doesn't need
oil to be VERY heavy, and looking inside, I have no
wonder why! :)

 > Original poster: Crow Leader
 > <tesla-at-lists.symmetric-dot-net>
 >
 > On Tue, 10 Feb 2004, Tesla list wrote:
 >
 >  > Original poster: "J. Aaron Holmes"
 > <jaholmes-at-silicon-arcana-dot-com>
 >  >
 >  > Got a couple new [to me] pole pigs the other day.
 >  > 15kVA -at- 14.4kV.  One's a Westinghouse, the other
 > an
 >  > RTE.  Both are presently empty of oil.  I popped
 > the
 >  > lid on the RTE today, and I see what looks like
 > white
 >  > aquarium gravel in the bottom of the can and some
 > on
 >  > the top of the transformer (I know that's not
 > actually
 >  > what it is, of course).  Anybody have any idea
 > what it
 >  > is?  Both units were certified working by the
 > utility
 >  > I purchased them from, and I've called my contact
 >
 > This sounds suspect. Why were they pulled from
 > service and sold if they're
 > tip-top? I don't have an exact date, but I think it
 > was sometime in the
 > 80's when RTE was absorbed and the name went away.
 >
 > Skipping ahead, there are quite a few posts
 > suggesting that maybe it's
 > silica gel, to remove water from the oil.
 >
 > If there is water in the oil, the transforer is
 > already destroyed. Silica
 > gel is not the solution. If I slop pop all over my
 > laptop, then dust it
 > off with silica gel, it's not closer to being fixed
 > or good again.
 >
 >
 > KEN
 >
 >