RE: [TCML] Diesel for transformer oil?

["Terry Oxandale" <Toxandale@xxxxxxx>]

When I worked for the local utility, sometimes we would have an OCB with
some really black oil in it. Our filtering process allowed the re-use of
the oil. I don't know what the filtering capability was for the filters
used, but it was pretty good. Unfortunately, it was an elaborate, rig
that used multiple 12" diameter filter stacks in a highly pressurized
system to force the oil through the filter paper and still catch the
soot. Before giving up though, I'd do a dielectric test on it just to
see what the breakdown voltage would be. With all that equipment in your
garage, and that quizzical mind of yours, I'd think you could do that
tonight. I believe a typical "pass" test was a minimum of 25kvac across
a gap (flat plates, not pointed) of .100", but that was for normal
transmission equipment. Water (sweat, humidity, etc) in the oil had a
lot more impact on the test than any soot did.

ox

-----Original Message-----
From: tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tesla-bounces@xxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of David Rieben
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 2:52 PM
To: Tesla Coil Mailing List
Subject: [TCML] Diesel for transformer oil?

Hi all,

I have recently removed some bad oil from my
x-ray transformer due to some internal arcing 
that had been occuring. The oil was nearly 
black with suspended carbon paritcles (not
good). The tank holds a whopping 25 gallons
and a quick call to my local oil jobber revealed
that the recent lower spot market cost oil crude
had obviously NOT yet trickeld down to the 
transformer oil customer, as the price quote 
for a Shell DialaX transformer oil was $10.01/gal!
Partial fill-up is not an option for x-ray transfor-
mers as they run a very high voltage/volume 
ratio that is entirely dependant upon proper oil
filling to be functional at anything near their 
rated voltage. This got me to thinking about
stories of scrap metal dealers running their 
diesle trucks on the oil of reclaimed transformers
and wondering if diesel fuel could also possi-
bly be used for a suitable dielectric oil for 
filling transformers. Diesel has an oily consis-
tancy and can now be purchased for less than
$4/gallon. I know properly rated transformer oil
is the BEST but I just can't see dropping >$250
to repair a transformer that I only paid $50 for
when I bought it! How much does mineral oil
laxitive at the farm coops generally go for per
gallon? Any suggestions?

David Rieben

PS - Too bad that I couldn't have filtered the 
contaminated oil to reuse.
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla
_______________________________________________
Tesla mailing list
Tesla@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.pupman.com/mailman/listinfo/tesla