[TCML] Diesel for transformer oil?

["David Rieben" <drieben@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

I have recently removed some bad oil from my
x-ray transformer due to some internal arcing 
that had been occuring. The oil was nearly 
black with suspended carbon paritcles (not
good). The tank holds a whopping 25 gallons
and a quick call to my local oil jobber revealed
that the recent lower spot market cost oil crude
had obviously NOT yet trickeld down to the 
transformer oil customer, as the price quote 
for a Shell DialaX transformer oil was $10.01/gal!
Partial fill-up is not an option for x-ray transfor-
mers as they run a very high voltage/volume 
ratio that is entirely dependant upon proper oil
filling to be functional at anything near their 
rated voltage. This got me to thinking about
stories of scrap metal dealers running their 
diesle trucks on the oil of reclaimed transformers
and wondering if diesel fuel could also possi-
bly be used for a suitable dielectric oil for 
filling transformers. Diesel has an oily consis-
tancy and can now be purchased for less than
$4/gallon. I know properly rated transformer oil
is the BEST but I just can't see dropping >$250
to repair a transformer that I only paid $50 for
when I bought it! How much does mineral oil
laxitive at the farm coops generally go for per
gallon? Any suggestions?

David Rieben

PS - Too bad that I couldn't have filtered the 
contaminated oil to reuse.
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