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Re: Mineral Spirits
Tesla List wrote:
>
> Original Poster: ElectronX-at-aol-dot-com
>
> I've been looking around for mineral oil to build my poly plate cap, and I
> found that Home Depot sells mineral spirits. They say it is the same as
plain
> mineral oil. Will this work?
>
> Matt Behrend
Matt,
It's so hard to get good technical help these days :^) - the Home Depot
people guessed wrong! Mineral Spirits are NOT the same as Mineral Oil.
Mineral Spirits are (is?) a flammable, volatile solvent used to clean
oil-based paint from paint brushes. It has low viscosity (similar to
water). As a hydrocarbon-based fluid, it may have fairly good insulating
properties... but it's NOT what you want to put in your capacitor. The
mineral oil that you're looking for has an appearance and viscosity
similar to baby oil (which is simply USP-grade white mineral oil with
some scent added). You want electrical-grade transformer or insulating
oil, which is similar to USP white mienral oil, but has been refined &
processed specificially for high voltage use, and is typically a clear,
pale straw-color.
Your best bet is to check your Yellow Pages under "Oils - Industrial" or
"Oils - Lubricating" for distributors in your area, and then let your
fingers do the walking. Hardware stores or chains simply don't carry
this stuff! You can also call the parent oil companies and ask them
where their local distributors for transformer oil are located. The
difficult part is often finding a place that sells it in 5 gallon pails
- most distributors carry it in 55 gallon drums. Some popular brands (in
the USA) include Shell Diala-X or AX, Exxon Univolt 60, N61, or 33,
RTEmp, Castrol Insulax T, Esso Voltesso 35, Mobil Mobilect 44, etc. For
your application, either "inhibited" or "non inhibited" will work. An
inhibited oil simply contains an additive which helps prevent chemical
breakdown at elevated temperatures (i.e., HOT-running transformers)
Another option is to call your local power company to see if you can
purchase some from them - they buy this stuff by the truckfull, and you
can sometimes get 5 gallons or so at little or no charge.
Happy hunting!
-- Bert --