Taking apart a large transformer

You mean all the research was not fiction created by left-wing atheist tree-hugging hippies? :-)

These are likely candidates for PCB, depending on their age. They should be labelled with a date code; anything prior to 1973 will contain PCB.

If you care to post all the capacitor label information here, I can probably determine yes or no.

I thought PCB's were only used as a liquid insulating and cooling substance, like for instance in the big cans up on the telephone poles and substations. I imagine this thing does not involve any PCB'sdue to the way he describes it as being in the open versus being submerged in an oily liquid

From OP's original description I don't think that's a problem here. The PCBs are in the oil in some transformers. If the transformer wasn't immersed in an oil bath, no problem.

(If there was oil in this thing there's a significant problem. Not only do PCBs contaminate the environment, they can give you a nasty skin condition if you handle a quantity of them.)

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

See the UPS nameplate at

I will post a picture of the capacitors. My hunch is that the UPS was made in the 1990s. I think that I saw 1995 somewhere inside.

i

When someone refers to a 'large' transformer, it's reasonable to ask if there was any oil in it. The pole mounted transformers utilities use used to have PCBs in them, for example.

However in this case there wasn't any oil, so no problem.

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

Some others who have responded have indicated that the capacitors may contain PCBs. I simply threw out the other possibility because it's worth looking into, especially because knowledge costs nothing.

here they come, and in droves. the wolves who have no information themselves to offer, but they smell blood....

aint the internet great!

randy

Is there some particular reason you can't use the UPS as it was origionally intended? I bought a 14 kva unit on Ebay for $41 and after $125 for new batteries have unit powering my electronic assembly pick-and place machine at 230 VAC. I can pull the plug and the machine just keeps on running.

If it only lacks batteries, it is worth at least $50.

The input/output are changed by internal wiring plus software parameters.

Just w> I am demolishing a huge 8 kVa UPS. Lots of nice wires, screws etc. >

Jesus guyz. The friggin' thing is a "dry-type" transformer! There are no (read my lips) ***NO*** PCBs in a dry type transformer.

The copper isn't worth more than 5 cents per pound. It is classed a mixed copper and nobody wants it.

The laminations are usually and E and an I type on each layer reversed positioned for each layer.

There is no liquid in a "dry-type" transforemt and therefore no PCBs

PCB were only used in large transformers full of cooling oil for usage indoors because of the flammablity rating of the PCB oils.

Did you know, **NO***, I repeat ***NO*** death has ever been related to PCBs?

considering

If you had transformers with PCBs in them, it most definitely _would_ matter. Under certain conditions transformers will dissassemble themselves in a rather spectacular fashion. And believe me, you would _not_ want to live in a house where that had happened -- even if the authorities would let you stay on.

Immaterial. Even if they were 50 years old the transformers you'd find in a home would not have PCBs in them. PCBs were only used in large or highly specialized electrical equipment.

PCBs aren't permitted in transformers of any size. Period. We have to make do with less effective substitutes.

Well, no. The PCBs were added to the oil in electricial equipment because it helped to prevent arcing in the transformer. It was anything but a byproduct and was considered a major advance in the early 1930s when these products were introduced.

MY point is that both of you need to simmer down. It's perfectly reasonable to ask if a 'large' surplus transformer contains oil. But you can't assume that it does. Or, if it does contain oil, that the oil is laced with PCBs. If the transformer is less than about 25 or 30 years old, it does not, no matter how much oil is in it.

By the same token it's reasonable to be concerned about PCBs in the environment. They may have gotten a bum rap on how dangerous they are to humans, but the stuff is still a prime example of a bioconcentrator and it makes damn good sense to keep it out of the environment.

--RC

"Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

All minor ailments and no deaths have ever been attributed to it.

Did you wash your hair >

I believe he stated that in the first post. All you guys have a bad Christmas or Jewish and didn't see Santa or something?

LOL

Ignorance...

f*ck off

Hey moron! The copper is considered "mixed" copper and is worth about $0.02 per pound, if he seperates it all.

IOW: they d> >It has a large transformer, it weighs around 200 lbs. It comes from a

Can I use this copper as a grounding wire?

i

While this is basically correct, I suspect it is somewhat out of date. IIRC, electrical equipment containing PCBs had to be replaced by a certain date, so there should be no transformers or other equipment still in service in the US containing PCBs.

I believe that the phase-out was done according to type of equipment because all the substitutes for PCBs are considerably inferior. (Or at least that was the case in the lat 70s and early 80s.) The last to go, I believe, were transformers and such in the basements of large buildings where the potential damage from a fire was very high.

(Of course that had its own dangers. There was a well publicized case in the 80s of a transformer fire in the basement of a large building in New York. The fire did a lot of damage, but the PCB contamination caused a lot more damage.)

Also, more recent studies have called into question the cancer-causing effects of PCBs. I believe the general scientific opinion today is that the link between cancer and PCB exposure is now considered unproven. (Not that you'd know that from the environmentalists web sites.) However the rest of the health effects mentioned are definitely real. "Sometimes history doesn't repeat itself. It just yells 'can't you remember anything I've told you?' and lets fly with a club. -- John W. Cambell Jr.

1) I have enough UPSes and a few to spare, already (made 2,500 on a $45 lot of 28 UPSes and kept a few cosmetically bad ones) 2) This thing is a monstrosity.

3) It is missing the front control panel, likely unrepairable

i