[sdiy] OT: Today's toxic mess

[Eric]

At 05:08 PM 2/22/01 -0500, you wrote:
>Of course the unit could be old enough to have PCB's in it. Are
>they any different in appearance or smell? Nothing was labelled as such
>back when they were in use.

No. PCB, aka "Pyranol", looks like mineral oil and
has no odor. Personally I think the hysteria surrounding it
is overblown. I saw lots of it used at the Dept. of Energy
power system office in the 1970s. The linemen used to get
it all over themselves, while replacing exploded power-factor
correction capacitors.

It is safe so long as you don't bathe in it for long periods,
(which the linemen did...wonder how many died of obscure cancers)--
or (worse) heat it or expose it to flame, causing it to decompose.
Really nasty byproducts result...

>It's easy enough to dispose of this stuff these days but I don't know what
>to do right at the moment.

Heh heh heh. Now you have joined the
ranks of the HARDCORE surplus junk collectors!

Eric Barbour
METASONIX