Transformer Oil

Hi Ric,

PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls are environmental toxins. They were used for many years as a heat transfer medium, but after finding that these compounds are dangerous (see the link above), more environmentally friendly replacements started being used.

I would almost bet that no PCB-based oil is being made these days, but, there is still remediation going on, such as the power company replacing the "bad" with the "good".

Bottom line is you cannot filter the PCBs out of the oil because it is the oil.

If you find someone that wants to get rid of some non-PCB transformer oil, you may be in business. To be able to know for sure, you may want to have samples analyzed.

Mike

So the pcbs are actually manufactured or blended into the oil? This is not something that happens to it through any useage of the oil itself? So it would be safe to say that transformer manufacturers are not putting pcbs in newer transformers? Thanks for the assistance..

Pure PCB oil is heavier than water and will not burn.

Most large companies filter their transformer oil on a regular basis to clean and condition the oil. It has become the norm to not replace the material unless there has been a completed loss of dielectrics or other problems with the oil. Several companies out there such as "High Voltage Maintenance", etc have large units that heat the oil in the transformer and then filter the unit on site. I would think that the amount of oil generated is little to none in this area. At least from past experiences.

It would be better to stay away from transformer oils because of the toxins they contain.

That being said, if you HAVE to use them for fueling a diesel, i would recommend only mixing in about 5%, as you would to burn used motor oil for fuel. Mixing in a little used motor oil or used transformer oil with 95% diesel or cooking oil fuel should not cause too much trouble. Any motor/transformer oil mixed into fuel should be well settled, preferably with a strong magnet inside the settling tank. Then only draw the oil from the top of your settling tank. Then filter it well, and mix in. As for the comment that transformer oil will not burn, mixed in with 95% diesel fuel, under heat and pressure from a diesel, it should burn just fine.

If running diesels on wvo/wmo/etc, your entire system should be preheated first with pure diesel.

Rigging up a set of continous duty glowplugs also makes a big difference in burnability. These plugs are available from beru ag, out of saudi arabia, i believe.

My cooking oil conversion antique datsun diesel smokes a bit at idle on any fuel. When i turn the glowplugs back on, the engine smooths out more, and doesnt smoke.

I rerouted the glow plug wires through a 50amp household circuit breaker directly to the battery, so i can turn them off and on at will. Running the glowplugs for about 30 seconds prior to starting the truck makes it jump to life very quickly, even when it is very cold outside.

If you are messing around with different fuel mixes, i suggest you put in an exhaust temp gauge close to the block in the exhaust pipe. This MAY may keep you from damaging your engine, should your fuel mixture burn a little too hot.

Many years ago (prior to PCBs), transformers and capacitors were filled with plain oil. People learned that in the event of a fire or explosion, burning oil would stick to whatever it hit and incinerate it (including humans). In response to this horror, the government mandated that PCBs be added to all transformer oil as a fire retardant. It was subsequently learned that PCB's cause cancer and the government mandated the they be removed from the oil. I guess crispy critters don't sue. Since the PCB's were added as a fire retardant, this oil won't make good fuel. To my knowledge, the only way to burn this oil is in special high temperature furnaces.

Welderman is right, but current transformer oils still have fire retardants in them, just not PBC based ones, therefore you are not likely to be able to use them for fuel oil. Interestingly similar PCB based oils were also used in the crankcases of NG/LPG pipeline compressor engines to prevent any NG/LPG that may have leaked past the rings from triggering a fire/explosion.

Is transformer oil also basically mineral oil?

some of it is, but it is loaded with flame retardants, others are silicone based.

The Shell Oil product, Diala AX, is "highly refined mineral oil" with added antioxidant, EDTA I think.

I accept what others have said about fire retardants, however when a local sub-station burnt out following an arson attack, it looked very much like an oil fire.