19 Mar
2005
19 Mar
'05
1:53 p.m.
Often, older oil-filled capacitors will have the
'nasty' oil in them
containing carcingenic PCBs, which is part of what makes oil-filled caps
hard to find. I've often pondered on that fact with the big caps one
sees at surplus stores. I.e.: which are the ones that transform your
home into a mini-superfund site if you cut them open?
The oil found in some* caps is carcinogenic, but it is really not all that
bad if you spill a little on yourself. You really need to be exposed to
the stuff for a very long time for the cancer spectre to come up. About
the worst you could do to yourself with a little spill is a good slip on
the floor and a sore behind.
The real danger of oil caps is when they burn - the resulting fumes are
NOT nice (dioxin compounds, I think). Just the little oil in a few motor
start (errrr...run) caps won't really cause too many problems. If the caps
are burning, which they do not do well, probably plenty of other things
are buring with them, at which point you have a serious fire and plenty of
other fumes to worry about.
* A large percentage are not PCB filled. Just because a cap doesn't say
"NO PCBS", does in mean it has them. Many non-PCB caps were made before
the "NO PCBS" label came into force.
William Donzelli
aw288 at osfn.org