Re: Capacitor oil

• To: tesla-at-pupman-dot-com
• Subject: Re: Capacitor oil
• From: Scott Myers <scotty-at-wesnet-dot-com>
• Date: Tue, 09 Jul 1996 08:30:03 -0400

> > Are there any oils (other than mineral oil) that are good for use in caps?
> >
> > How about:
> >             1.  Castor Oil
> >             2.  Paraffin Oil
> >             3.  Vegetable Oil

> In addition how about hydraulic fluid? The oils
> should have the water 'baked' out. Has someone
> done this?

Any oil that has a high dielectric strength and a very low viscosity will do.  Typical
hydraulic oil is out because it has a zinc additive for anti wear.  This reduces its
dielectric strength considerably.  It also has too high a viscosity.

I have no idea about the other oils.  All I can say is that those oils listed above have too
high of a viscosity, in general.

However, transformer oil is CHEAP.  Why try using an oil that was not made for the purpose
intended?  I bought a 5 gallon pail of transformer oil from an oil distributor for $23.  It
already has the water removed, is very thin (SAE 7-9) and is the oil normally used in
capacitors.

Scott Myers

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