[TCML] Running a TC in snow

[David Rieben]

Hi all,

I agree with Adam here. Although ice tends to be a
fairly good insulator, once it melts, all bets are off!
And as Adam stated, precipitation is definitely NOT
distilled water. Where Adam (and I) reside, on the
rare occasions that we do receive significant snow
fall, the snow will likely be "slushy", which means that
it has a considerable amount of liquid water suspended
in it. Maybe if the snow is in combo with near/below-zero
temperatures (think New England, upper plains, or
Alaska/Canada interior) it would be okay? However,
"I" personally would not be too inclined to do much of
ANYTHING - including coil firing, outdoors in these
conditions!

David Rieben


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Yurtle Turtle" <yurtle_t at yahoo.com>
To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla at pupman.com>
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 5:24 AM
Subject: Re: [TCML] Running a TC in snow


> Precipitation is FAR from distilled water. Ever hear of acid rain? The 
> water dissolves gasses and particulates as it's floating around in a 
> cloud, and while falling. I'd also like to point out that unless your coil 
> is below freezing, snow will melt upon contact. Though my garage is 
> uninsulated and unheated, it's normally a good bit warmer than outside, 
> due to heat escaping from the adjacent wall. Also, your gap will heat up 
> pretty fasy, and the caps may warm up, as well as any conductor that is 
> carrying a lot of current.
>
> I probably wouldn't worry too much about the primary side, but if the 
> secondary manages to get a little damp, it may lead to racing sparks, 
> flashover, or something else undesireable. As long as you're a safe 
> distance away, I'd be more worried about damaging the secondary than you 
> getting hurt. That's assuming you and your control panel are inside and 
> dry.
>
> Adam
>
> --- On Fri, 12/19/08, Mike <megavolts61 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>> From: Mike <megavolts61 at yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Re: [TCML] Running a TC in snow
>> To: "Tesla Coil Mailing List" <tesla at pupman.com>
>> Date: Friday, December 19, 2008, 6:56 PM
>
>> Hate to argue with you Dr. R,  but I just stuck my
>> multimeter into a pile of snow(got plenty of the white stuff
>> around), and with the probe less that about half inch apart,
>> I got a infinite resistance reading.  I would venture to
>> guess that as long as it is cold enough that the snow
>> doesn't melt, it would actually not make a coil run
>> significantly different than if in the same conditions
>> without it snowing.   distilled water has a fairly high
>> resistance as well...which snow would be very close to upon
>> melting...I could see it shorting the spark gap if it were
>> not enclosed somehow, but if you set your coil up outdoors
>> under a tarp until it is below freezing....I don't think
>> much would ever happen bad."
>> Mike
>>
>>
>> > yes, bad idea.  Snow and water do not mix well with
>> high
>> > voltage.
>> >
>> > Dr. Resonance
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
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