Re: Transformer explosions?

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

Original poster: "David Rieben" <drieben-at-midsouth.rr-dot-com> 

Steve,

Well, I'm certainly no "fuel combustion or petro chemical expert",
but I do know that transformer oil would have far too high of a
FLASHPOINT temperature for its vapors to cause an explo-
sion. Flashpoint is defined as the "minimum temperature at which
a volatile solid or the vapor of a liquid will flash when exposed
to a brief flame" under certain conditions. The technical specs
of Shell Diala dielectric oils can be found at
http://www.shell-lubricants-dot-com/Electrical/products.php.  Keep in mind that
the
flashpoint temperature is the absolute MINIMUM temperature
at which the vapors of the combustible fluid can flash or have
sufficient concentration to ignite under the most ideal conditions.
There will be no vapor combustion BELOW the flashpoint temperature
under any circumstances. I seriously doubt that you would allow
your MOT stack to reach an operation temperature of over
313*F as this would probably damage or destroy your
transformers w/out the "explosion"! BTW, the flaspoint of
gasoline is -45*F and a carberated gasoline engine depends
on the low flashpoint of gasoline for its operation. This is why
older carberated gas engines do not easily crank in extremely
cold ambient conditions but do eventually "smooth out" once
the heat of the engine has had a chance to "preheat" the gas-
oline. Thank God for fuel injected engines ;^)

David Rieben



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
To: <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2004 7:49 PM
Subject: Transformer explosions?


 > Original poster: "S&JY" <youngsters-at-konnections-dot-net>
 >
 > Hi all,
 >
 > I need some confirming wisdom from list experts.  I just completed a MOT
 > 6-pack and filled the 3 dual-MOT containers (ammo cans) with transformer
 > oil.  I left about 1/2 inch of air space in each container.
 >
 > Question:  will the oil vapors in the air be so concentrated that the
 > mixture cannot explode if a HV arc should occur in the air space?  I
believe
 > this is the case, but I would like to hear from fuel combustion or
 > petro-chemical experts who know for sure.
 >
 > Thanks,
 > --Steve Y.
 >
 >