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Re: Photo of my mystery transformer



Original poster: Daniel Hess <dhess1@xxxxxxxxxx>


Jim;

Thanks for the update and education on PBCs. My info came from some old-timers where I used to work who claim that they used to lift equipment from tanks of the stuff. Said they used to 'have it up to their elbows!' I wonder where they are now?

Wikipedia has become the Ebay of information. Good links! Thanks.

Daniel Hess


"Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>

12/02/2006 05:25 PM
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Re: Photo of my mystery transformer




Original poster: Jim Lux <jimlux@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

At 02:09 PM 12/2/2006, Tesla list wrote:


Uhh. no..
PCBs (poly chlorinated biphenyls) were used in electrical equipment
because they are non-flammable and relatively inert (so they don't
breakdown with heat, age, ozone, etc.). Post WWII, where major fires
occurred from insulating oil fires after bombing raids, there was a
LOT of interest in non-flammable insulating materials (also SF6, by
the way). The problem is that there inevitably contaminants from the
mfr process, and one of those is dioxin, which is particulary
troublesome even in part-per-billion concentrations. Because the pcbs
(including dioxin) are so durable, they hang around forever, and
accumulate in fatty tissues, wreaking their havoc forever, even in
ppb concentrations).  Phenyl grops are benzene rings hanging off some
other thing (a biphenyl is two benzene rings linked together) Almost
everything with a benzene ring is persistent and toxic (benzene,
toluene, xylene) and if you halogenate it (which makes a variety of
useful things: DDT (based on toluene), 2,4,6-T, etc) it's worse...
durable molecules that don't break down that cause troubles in living
organisms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biphenyl

PCBs won't flame, nor are they oil, nor do they smoke.  And the
concern is not with a failure situation, but because they are so
longlasting, that when you'd drain a transformer and need something
to do with the leftover oil, it would get used for things like "road
oil" to keep the dust down.  Spraying a long lived toxic substance
like dioxin is a recipe for disaster.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri

>I agree with the consensus of the list; keep mum and enjoy. A cool find.

Indeed.. most PCB insulated stuff has little or no carcinogen (most
PCBs are non-toxic), it's the potential for contamination that's the
risk.  And, the fact that the making of PCBs inevitably results in a
mixture of compounds, and nobody wants to do expensive analysis on
every suspected widget, so they treat them all as hazardous.