Oil-filled Capacitors

[digital-conjurers at ADELPHIA.NET]

Fred, 

Some municipalities will take this stuff off your hands for free...here in Carlsbad, CA, at least they do for the general populace; it's called "The Hazardous Household Waste Program".  I've recycled old caps, TV's MPC monitors, etc, for free.  Talk to your local City Manager or his equivalent.  Most waste disposal outfits that contract with the city won't charge you unless you're a commercial outfit trying to get rid of the stuff.  Sounds like either you got a hold of someone at waste disposal that didn't know what they were talking about (likely), or your municipality has some very old laws on getting rid of hazardous waste.  Make some noise at city Hall!

As to the EPA regs, can't speak to it, don't know the chapter and verse.  I think the EPA regs are aimed more at commerce in it's larger sense, i.e. commercial business, but again, I'm no expert on this.

Some say that the issue is whether the caps are leaking or not...frankly, I'd rather replace them and not take the chance.

In general, though, in terms of caps, there are almost always are present-day safer alternatives available off the shelf.  IMHO, if it's a choice between keeping it original with HazMats and possibly getting a serious enviromentally induced illness, or replacing them with current-day materials, I'll take the latter any day, having personally seen too much of the former.

My .02 .

-Lin/KJ6EF



At 11:04 AM 09/12/2006, you wrote:
>Off-topic but important questions:
>
>I recently won a homebrew novice transmitter on ebay (for all of 99 cents!), and when I checked the power supply, I found two old oil-filled HV caps.  One clearly states "pyranol" (read PCB's) and I assume the other is the same.  So here are my questions.
>
>First, I've been calling disposal companies, the fire department, etc., looking for some way to dispose of these in compliance with EPA reg's without having to pay an outrageous fee.  Has anyone had any experience with this?  Secondly, it's against EPA reg's to "do commerce in items that carry PCB's."  How does this effect us glowbugs that periodically buy/sell radio gear produced before 1977?  Can we, in theory at least, be fined by the EPA?  Gawd, just when you thought it was safe to be a ham...
>
>Ideas are appreciated.  Thanks guys.
>
>Fred - KG6NYK
>
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Products bought, sold or traded here is the responsibility of the
parties involved.  This list and the City of Tempe are not responsible
for losses or misrepresentations of any kind.  Buyer beware!

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This list is a public service of the City of Tempe, Arizona
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