Re: lightning arresters

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

Original poster: "G by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <bog-at-cinci.rr-dot-com>

Hi Godfrey,

I had a similar set up to test the arrestor on my pole pig. The 
behavior was the same as you describe. Please be careful, though- I 
started watching the arc melt my copper wire and then the arrestor 
exploded. Internal pressure buildup- it was smoking hot!

Gregory

>I have some lightning arresters for from the local junkyard and have no idea
>as to their reliability. If one of the arresters is
>placed across an x-ray transformer with a short spark gap in series,
>bringing up the voltage with a variac causes little
>blue sparks across the gap. As the voltage is increased, the intensity of
>the blue sparks increases until a flame appears.
>In the past, I mistakenly thought the appearance of the flame was a sudden
>switching on of the arrester. But actually the current becomes high enough
>to support a flame. The appearance of the flame is gradual, not sudden. Is
>this how
>arresters are suppose to behave? I thought that the arrester would suddenly
>switch on. Quite possibly the arresters
>are bad. There are a couple of guys on the list who wanted one for their
>14,400 volt pole pigs, but the is no use shipping such heavy objects for
>only shipping charges if they are bad.
>
>Godfrey Loudner



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