[Milsurplus] Water, Water Everywhere.

[Clare Owens]

Hi Dave,

I agree that the dry box would be best, but what I would try first here
would be my Tensor lamp, turned to its low light setting and placed fairly
close to the offending item.  Running the 12V lamp at the low voltage gives
reduced light and Lots of IR in a reasonably restricted area.  I use it to
help dry paint or to speed the setting of glue.  Of course not everyone has
a 50 year old Tensor lamp but perhaps something similar?

Clare

On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 5:48 PM, Bill Carns <wcarns at austin.rr.com> wrote:

> What you are talking about is getting the moisture to diffuse back out of
> whatever material it has gone into that you are unhappy about. The results
> will depend directly on the differential (in this case) humidity between
> the
> internalized environment and the external (air) environment. The diffusion
> is, as you have suggested also a function of temperature as is almost any
> diffusion rate.
>
> So.....you need to do two things to have any significant impact.  I suggest
> building a "Dry box" by making some kind of moisture impervious container
> and then putting a small dehumidifier in there. Then, as you suggested,
> also
> heat it moderately so as not to damage the rig, components or the box.
> There is a real nifty and cheap device that is sold at coops where they
> handle poultry supplies. It is just a plug in outlet that has a thermostat
> on it. They are not very expensive.  The real cheap ones are fixed temp and
> set to maintain just above freezing. The adjustable ones can be set to go
> to
> a higher temp.  OR, you can just make your own.  Bottom line is you need
> controlled heat and low humidity.
>
> Re the temp, Most components can handle 50 deg C.  This equates to just
> over
> 120 deg F.   Watch out for plastics.
>
> Whether it will work depends on how much damage has been done in the form
> of
> corrosion and modifying the molecular structure of the material.
>
> Good luck and I also have rigs long stored and grimace when you bring this
> up. One of them is a real nice TCS set.
>
> Bill
> N7OTQ
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Milsurplus [mailto:milsurplus-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of
> David Stinson
> Sent: Friday, December 11, 2015 10:43 AM
> To: milsurplus at mailman.qth.net; boatanchors at mailman.qth.net
> Subject: [Milsurplus] Water, Water Everywhere.
>
> Many of our beloved old radios have been sitting, cold and quiet for many
> decades.
> Some of them getting close to a century.
> Recently, I've been dealing with bakelite and phenolic in our sets which
> have taken-up moisture over the years.  Right now on the bench I have a TCS
> receiver in which one of the pins of Z202, an IF transformer, is leaking B+
> to ground through the phenolic.  Pulling an IF from a TCS is a pain but
> do-able.
> So may we discuss ways to gently drive moisture from our sets?  I can "get
> rough" in the stove with those bakelite inserts in WWII radio connectors
> but
> that won't do for a whole set.  I've tried powering just the filaments and
> leaving a set for a couple of days but I don't think they get hot enough to
> do much good.  Heat lamps can do some damage.
>  What have you done?    I'm thinking of light bulbs
> with the radio in a thick cardboard box, *outside* in case the box decides
> to catch fire or something.
>
> 73 Dave AB5S
>
>
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