"MoiInAust" wrote in message
...
Thanks Richard

But not only does it smell bad, it is positively
dangerous! Believed to be PCB oil which is carcinogenic.
(BTW, they are not electrolytic but oil filled paper
caps). I have received comprehensive advice on disposing
of the leaky capacitors (should I say condensers?) safely
and in accordance with health regulations. They MUST not
be just thrown into the gargbage. I will be removing mine
according to that advice. Either I will obtain genuine
replacements or I will have to do with tagstrips and
indivdual caps. Ouch! I know that's sacrilege but its the
lesser of the two evils if new 'originals' can't be
found --- and by the way I may have found them!

I was refering to bathtub electrolytics and electrical
"leakage". If these are oil-filled paper they may well
contain PCBs. I don't know how one disposes of these in Oz
land but the oil is carcinogenic. This is one reason high
voltage transmitting capacitors are hard to find surplus.
Modern plastic caps are far better than the originals.
If you can find suitable terminal boards you can mount them
so that they will not look out of place. Oil filled paper
caps were considered to be high performance and long lived
at the time. Of course, these are probably sixty years old
so that really is long lived. If the impregnant has leaked
out, even partially, the caps have probably changed in
characteristics and should go anyway.


--
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles
WB6KBL