Re: "aquarium gravel" in pole pig? :\

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

Original poster: "Harold Weiss" <hweiss-at-new.rr-dot-com> 

Hi Aaron,

I'll bet that it's silica gel to keep humidity out of the windings.  I'm
surprized that it is loose and not in a packet or canister.

David E Weiss

 > Original poster: "J. Aaron Holmes" <jaholmes-at-silicon-arcana-dot-com>
 >
 > Got a couple new [to me] pole pigs the other day.
 > 15kVA -at- 14.4kV.  One's a Westinghouse, the other an
 > RTE.  Both are presently empty of oil.  I popped the
 > lid on the RTE today, and I see what looks like white
 > aquarium gravel in the bottom of the can and some on
 > the top of the transformer (I know that's not actually
 > what it is, of course).  Anybody have any idea what it
 > is?  Both units were certified working by the utility
 > I purchased them from, and I've called my contact
 > there to inquire but haven't heard back yet.  Looks
 > like it would be a real pain to pull the transformer
 > out and dust it off...thoughts?  Other than that, no
 > apparent problems.  Statically tests ok, but I'm not
 > throwing any voltage at it until I've added oil, of
 > course.
 >
 > Regards,
 > Aaron
 >
 >
 >