MOT Shunts : Remove or not remove? and other MOT stuff

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

Original poster: "Dave Hartwick by way of Terry Fritz <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>" <ddhartwick-at-earthlink-dot-net>

Since I am a PDT (Pole distribution transformer--Ed W.) widower, I have
assumed the lifestyle  MOT power supply construction forces upon you. Eyes
glazing over at Walmart looking for containers. Hands bleeding from ripping
ovens apart. Observing the glazed over eyes of appliance repairmen who can't
conprehend why I would want such a thing as a used MOT. "What are you going
to use it for?" "Well....."  Scanning a table full of different units,
examaning each more than once trying to figure out which will take the most
voltage.

By the time you buy all the odds and ends necessary to make a good supply,
you may as well get a PDT.


A question is whether I should pull the shunts on some or all of xfmrs? I
seem to remember Tim J reporting that the quiescent current draw is less if
pulled, but I'll be darned if I can find where I read that. I'm compelled to
leave them in at this point, thinking this may ease ballasting headaches.

I finally settled on mounting each MOT inside an empty virgin paint can
(Lowe's) and immersing in the oil from my dead PDT. I was thinking
tupperware, but thought a metal container will provide better heat transfer
and may or may not be superior from an electrical and safety point of view.

I think the oil from the PDT will have to be filtered throught cheese clothe
and heated to 250 F or so to drive off any moisture. I think T&R failed to
recondition the oil, maybe the entire PDT and I wonder if that's why it
died.
Dave H