[ARC5] Cleaning Capacitor Oil Leakage

[Richard Knoppow]

     Well, as they say the dose makes the poison.  I don't 
intend to eat the stuff but will use nitrile gloves if only 
because the stuff is icky.  There is a pretty good article 
on PCBs at:

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

     In it the total world production is put at about 1.5 
million tons.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL
dickburk at ix.netcom.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kenneth G. Gordon" <kgordon2006 at frontier.com>
To: "Richard Knoppow" <1oldlens1 at ix.netcom.com>
Cc: "ARC-5 List" <arc5 at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2012 8:18 PM
Subject: Re: [ARC5] Cleaning Capacitor Oil Leakage


> On 27 Oct 2012 at 18:52, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>
>>      What mainly concerns me is the oil. The wax or 
>> potting
>> compound has to be removed enough to get the new caps in 
>> but
>> its pretty soft.  The oil is toxic and I am not sure how 
>> to
>> deal with it safely.
>
> As several of us have mentioned, the small amount of PCBs 
> in those caps (IFF in fact it IS
> PCB) is certainly not going to be dangerous in our 
> situation.
>
> I investigated this at some length back when I was still 
> working at the University of Idaho. I
> had some PCB filled capacitors and other such devices.
>
> I was told that 1) if they weren't leaking, they were 
> perfectly safe to use, and 2) if they WERE
> leaking, such a small quantity was not dangerous, but if I 
> wanted to take care of it, put it in a
> ziplock bag and put it in the trash.
>
> Even the damned EPA doesn't care unless you have at least 
> a MINIMUM of 10 gallons of the
> stuff, and even then, they aren't particularly concerned, 
> Anything LESS THAN 10 gallons
> does not concern them in the least.
>
> Don't worry about it. Wear nitrile gloves (as John told 
> you) put the stuff in a ziplock and toss
> it.
>
> Ken