Some others who have responded have indicated that the capacitors may contain PCBs. I simply threw out the other possibility because it's worth looking into, especially because knowledge costs nothing.
here they come, and in droves. the wolves who have no information themselves to offer, but they smell blood....
aint the internet great!
randy
Is there some particular reason you can't use the UPS as it was origionally intended? I bought a 14 kva unit on Ebay for $41 and after $125 for new batteries have unit powering my electronic assembly pick-and place machine at 230 VAC. I can pull the plug and the machine just keeps on running.
If it only lacks batteries, it is worth at least $50.
The input/output are changed by internal wiring plus software parameters.
Just w> I am demolishing a huge 8 kVa UPS. Lots of nice wires, screws etc. >
Jesus guyz. The friggin' thing is a "dry-type" transformer! There are no (read my lips) ***NO*** PCBs in a dry type transformer.
The copper isn't worth more than 5 cents per pound. It is classed a mixed copper and nobody wants it.
The laminations are usually and E and an I type on each layer reversed positioned for each layer.
There is no liquid in a "dry-type" transforemt and therefore no PCBs
PCB were only used in large transformers full of cooling oil for usage indoors because of the flammablity rating of the PCB oils.
Did you know, **NO***, I repeat ***NO*** death has ever been related to PCBs?
considering
All minor ailments and no deaths have ever been attributed to it.
Did you wash your hair >
I believe he stated that in the first post. All you guys have a bad Christmas or Jewish and didn't see Santa or something?
LOL
Ignorance...
f*ck off
Hey moron! The copper is considered "mixed" copper and is worth about $0.02 per pound, if he seperates it all.
IOW: they d> >It has a large transformer, it weighs around 200 lbs. It comes from a
Can I use this copper as a grounding wire?
i1) I have enough UPSes and a few to spare, already (made 2,500 on a $45 lot of 28 UPSes and kept a few cosmetically bad ones) 2) This thing is a monstrosity.
3) It is missing the front control panel, likely unrepairable
i
For those who are interested in a little of the history of PCBs I work for a utility that has some experience with it.
Firstly, size doesn't matter, it was everywhere at one time, and ignoramus's original post did not mention if the transformer was dry or not. So I think Doug's response to be wary of PCBs was the right thing to suggest, given the possible dangers involved.
PCBs were the answer to a maidens prayer for transformer and capacitor manufacturers, since it had much better heat transfer characteristics combined with excellent dielectric strength. Plus it allowed more compact designs, and a cheaper overall product cost. All was well in transformer and capacitor land until a couple of incidents that drew attention to some of PCB environmental effects.
One incident, came about because PCBs look and smell remarkably like cooking oil, somewhere ( Japan I think ) a barrel of it found its way into a restaurant and it was used to cook food. A number people were hospitalised from its effects, burning of the mouth, throat etc.
Another incident involved a fire in a basement substation in a high rise building in the US. Although it is hard to burn, a fault in the transformer set it alight, and the buildings airconditioning system pumped the smoke from the fire through the building. PCB's produce dioxin when they burn, and the building was contaminated with dioxin. I'm not sure the mess has ever been cleaned up.
Once they started looking at the chemical, they found that it had the property of being very stable, and of accumulating in the food chain. If someone did dump it in a lake, it would still be in the lake 500 years later, most likely in the fish at the top of the food chain.
Experience in our own area was with a customer who bought us a sample capacitor to have tested. They had been asleep in bed, hot night with the fan on, when a capacitor in their ceiling fan leaked PCB's on to them. They had fairly serious skin reactions on their faces, necks, and legs, like a reaction to strong bleach, although the reaction was not immediate. The fellow who bought us the capacitor had the burns, so I've actually seen the effects of pure PCB.
We removed all our PCB capacitors from our network, and replaced them with non PCB types. We stockpiled these for disposal on an incinerator ship which cruised the world destroying the PCBs by burning them at exteremly high temperatures, to destroy the dioxin, out at sea, since it was too dangerous to attempt it on land. Funny thing was the ships kept sinking, the cynic in me thinks it must have been cheaper to load up an old ship to the gunnels with the suff, and sink it rather than actually burn it.
While we had no PCB transformers on our network, we acquired a network which did have some. The problem was that maintenance processes had cross contaminated a lot of other transformers with the stuff, and at one stage the EPA here had set a limit of 5 parts per million contamination of PCB before the oil was clasified as hazardous. I believe it is now at 20 ppm. I believe this to be a major over reaction to risks involved, it's the pure stuff that needs to be treated with respect.
While there is a fair bit of hysteria surrounding PCBs, there are some real risks with the pure stuff that people playing with old transformers and capacitors need to be wary of.
regards,
John
Thanx for the warning, I was not aware that there still might som PCBs arround in old oil filled transformers and old capacitors so I'll keep that in mind next time I go shopping at the local scrapheap :-)
/Morten
Thank you for an extremely interesting article.
iIf you mean bury it? NO! It is insulated copper probably!
Polysol insulation will burn off, Polythermaleze will burn off with a lot of heat, Formel insulation will probably not come off with any fire. These coatings are usually made to withstand severe heat in use.
You could use it for a long wave antenae or how about a lightning collector to power that 25W bulb for a few seconds with the $100K in equipment to catch that once in a lifetime strike?...LOL
Wind a huge Tesla coil on your roof and show the neighbours your nuts! (or drop your pants when they are looking)
Can't this tranformer be used by somebody to generate a second 120V from a single phase 120V inverter? It sounds pretty beefy.
BTW: once you knock the wedge out of the coil form the laminations will be easier to get out. This keeps them from buzzing until the varnish and other impregnations go into it.
You may consider it a "minor ailment", but have you seen the photos of that Ruskie politician who was purportedly poisoned with dioxin? A year ago he looked about like baby faced John Edwards, now he looks more like a puffy faced, acne ridden Andy Rooney...
DJ
I am mystified as to how they manage to put the windings on Toroids.
The Copper wire can be used as Grounding but you must check the diameter required against the load it is intened to Ground, this can be achieved by twisting many strands of it together of course (as with any other type of wire).
As for getting the wire off a laminated transformer in one peice, whew?
Most of my component stock is derrived from this sort of venture and that odd screw is very usefull to have around if you need one!
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ashley Clarke
I thought we were talking PCBs?
You quoted me and answered my post in the thread.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.