RQ gaps was -JF efficiency theory (again)

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-uswest-dot-net>" <Tesla729-at-cs-dot-com>

In a message dated 2/18/01 7:17:14 PM Pacific Standard Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
writes:

<<  My static gap is starting to show signs of
 < being overpowered and I can't recommend using a similar TCBOR/RQ gap on a
 < coil any bigger than mine.  I have no way of measuring input power to my
 < coil.  The NST produces 200ma out at 120VAC input but I have been running 
it
 < at 140VAC lately. >>

Hey Ross, all,

You mentioning RQ style gaps has reminded me of a question
that I had about these gaps that I have been wanting to post to
the list for a while. This may have been covered in the past, but 
if it was, I must have slept thru that class :-) I've constructed one
of these in the past and ran a medium sized NST system with it.
I also utilized a "Dirt Devil" vacuum cleaner motor for forced-air
cooiling of the copper tube electrodes. The question I have is has
anyone else noticed browning of the PVC pipe support between
the copper tube spark gap electrodes, where the sparks blaze 
against the PVC? I've heard that PVC is susceptable to UV radi-
ation and I've noticed that the browned areas are electrically 
weaker and tend to want to flashover more than the unstained
areas of the PVC. BTW, I was running (3) 15/30s in parallel with
an 18 nFD primary cap. The gap worked good at quenching the 
arc for a couple of hours of continuous operation, but after a while 
it started giving some problems due to this discoloration of the 
PVC between the SG electrodes (namely, a loud flashover that
crawled over the surface of the discolored area of the PVC between
the electrodes, and can be heard over the regular SG sound). I
was just wanting to see if any of thge other coilers had noticed this 
effect.

David Rieben