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Thread: my oil change story with a twist

  1. #1
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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    my oil change story with a twist

    Storytime:
    Today was a great day, but ended with a twist. I had Lunch with an old friend, then met up with a Facebook garage-saler at the Goodwill store to sell him an item I had listed on FB, then while waiting for him, I spent some time at the Goodwill and scored a high end stainless european pressure cooker for pocket change!

    OK, This is gonna be a long story, so buckle up

    When I get home from all that fun, I decide to change oil on the car, it is hot out (about 90º and humid and chance of storms), but I'm feelin' good, so what the heck, I'm up for crawling on the ground My car is in the driveway ...sidenote: there is a utility pole about 1 foot off my driveway, I park my woodsplitter next to the pole, and chain/lock it up.

    Anyway, changing oil on the toyota went well. For 30+ years, I've always changed my own oil. But, one time, many years ago, while changing oil on my 68 chev van, the oil filter didn't get put on correctly, when I started the van and drove it down the block...oil squirted everywhere, what a mess.

    So, because of that, I always double check the oil filter and drain plug by starting the car, running it for 10 seconds or so, then shut it off and check under the car for leaking...again, that only happened to me one time, many years, but that mess made an impression, so I always check.

    Now the oil has been changed, so I start my car, then shut it off, check for leaks, check the oil level, document the oil change in my log book, It's all good. Then I start the car again and proceed to go to the gas station to top off the gas tank. As I back out of the driveway, I see oil sprayed all over the street and on the utility pole and all over my woodsplitter! That startled the heck out of me!

    I quickly pull the car back into the driveway and shut it off. I look under the car...no oil on the driveway? I feel some oily mist in the air? I look up, and a transformer on the utility pole was leaking oil and at stupid crazy rate, the breeze turning the leaking oil into a mist as it fell to the street and on my woodsplitter.

    I move my car, so it doesn't get sprayed with oil. I move my woodsplitter, and I go in to call the municipal electric company. They come out, and say, yup it's the transformer. They leave and come back with a replacement transformer. They cut the power and started to replace it, just as a big storm rolled in...thunder and lightening...they said this won't take long.

    Then wind picked up and then a downpour rain, they had to quit, they weren't finished, they left and said they'd be back after the storm passed. The power was cut to my house and the neighbors business. No big deal for me, but I suspect my neighbor wasn't happy. An hour and a half later they came back, which was about 45 minutes after the storm ended. They said we had some 60 MPH winds and one tree fell in town and took out a powerline...They told me they had to fix that first, that's why it took them so long to come back to my neighborhood.

    Anyway, that was a heck of a twist, eh?
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  2. #2
    Boolit Master
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    Sounds like a typical day around here.

    I'm joking, but not by much!

  3. #3
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    Wayne Smith's Avatar
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    Good on you to notice it and get it fixed. What would happen if one of those runs dry? I have no idea, but I'll bet its not good!
    Wayne the Shrink

    There is no 'right' that requires me to work for you or you to work for me!

  4. #4
    Boolit Master



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    Quote Originally Posted by Wayne Smith View Post
    Good on you to notice it and get it fixed. What would happen if one of those runs dry? I have no idea, but I'll bet its not good!
    The oil is an insulator and heat dissipation resource. A pole transformer like that would continue to operate but would die young from overheating with a winding eventually burning/opening. Sorry that it took so long to replace, it should have been a quick job but Mother Nature doesn't always agree.
    BDGR

  5. #5
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    Hickory's Avatar
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    That transformer is filled with PCB oil. It you get any of it on you it could be far more hazardous to your health than eating prepared meats and drinking beer.
    Political correctness is a national suicide pact.

    I am a sovereign individual, accountable
    only to God and my own conscience.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hickory View Post
    That transformer is filled with PCB oil. It you get any of it on you it could be far more hazardous to your health than eating prepared meats and drinking beer.
    PCB oil has NOT been used in transformers since 1979. "IF" that oil was PCB they would have had all kinds of EPA issues. The whole PCB thing was overblown a good bit - Seems like the reason it got banned wasn't incidental contact. Perhaps in 1950's? Don't remember just went, but some Japanese families found a good cheap source of oil to cook with - turned out it was oil that had PCB, and after using for cooking a few yr the families developed a high rate of cancer.

    That's as I remember reading in an engineering book, but that was many years ago and my memory never has been all that good...... and it has gotten worse over the years.

    Ken H>

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    As a retired serviceman (electric not military) I've changed out hundreds of transformers. Its just another day at the office if you live in farming country and have thousands of electric irrigation wells in your territory. Older transformers may or may not have had PCB's in their oil. New ones, probably for the last 30+ years, did not have PCB's. The danger in very minimal, the PCB level is minor and measured in parts per million. Like KenH said, PCB contamination was way overblown. Sure, you don't want to eat it, cook with it or bathe in it! Many things have PCBs including used motor oil. My company did take oil spills very seriously and would have sent an environmental crew out to dig up your yard, replace the dirt and sod and clean up the driveway and even your truck. Bulldogger is correct, the oil is an insulator and a coolant. The transformer will overheat and fail without it. If I could have gotten my truck to that pole and had a transformer with me that would have been about a 30 to 60 minute job, depending on if I needed to upgrade the switch and animal protection or not. I probably would have just gotten wet and finished the job, or sat in the truck until the rain passed on through.

    As to oil changes, I've always changed my own up until the last few years. Truck, car, ATV, tractor, mower, everything. I used to buy oil by the barrel and bought a years worth of filters when the parts stores had their spring sales. I always start the engine and check for leaks, then shut it off and check the level. The first time I changed the oil in my current tractor I was not sure exactly how much it held so I put 10 qts in and started it up. I left the filler cap off expecting to have to add a little more. Well, I guess diesels have more crankcase pressure than gas engines and I blew oil all over everything! What a mess, lesson learned!

    By the way, that was a cool story!

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    Boolit Grand Master WILCO's Avatar
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    Great story Jon!
    "Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face!" - Mike Tyson

    "Don't let my fears become yours." - Me, talking to my children

    That look on your face, when you shift into 6th gear, but it's not there.

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    Boolit Master OldBearHair's Avatar
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    Heard of people using grain from a spill on the highway to eat. It was seed grain treated with something to keep the bugs away. Bad results occurred. Another time 1960s in Harlingen Texas the newspaper had a story about a tank car side-tracked full of Methyl Ethyl Keytone discovered by a group of Mexican people who thought it was good to drink, and did, and died. Don't remember the exact number. Very tragic indeed! The Japanese family mentioned above is what sparked my memory about this.

  10. #10
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    The way your story was going I expected you to say you found some errant wheel weights on the driveway slab?Robert

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hickory View Post
    That transformer is filled with PCB oil. It you get any of it on you it could be far more hazardous to your health than eating prepared meats and drinking beer.
    To Hickory (and others commenting on PCBs)
    That was my first question when I called the Electric Co. They said every transformer in our system (Glencoe Municipal) has been updated with PCB-free oil...he said it's 'like' vegetable oil as far as being dangerous...I'm thinking it's a grade of mineral oil?
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    “If someone has a gun and is trying to kill you, it would be reasonable to shoot back with your own gun.”
    ― The Dalai Lama, Seattle Times, May 2001

  12. #12
    Boolit Master

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    My mistake, I thought that PCB's were still used in transformers.
    Political correctness is a national suicide pact.

    I am a sovereign individual, accountable
    only to God and my own conscience.

  13. #13
    Boolit Grand Master popper's Avatar
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    I missed getting the gasket out of the old cartridge units (MGB), messed up budy's garage big time. Worst was a Toyota with a pinhole in the filter. They mount upside down on the top of the engine and I got everything under the hood soaked. Didn't see any drips till I was leaving work.
    Whatever!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hickory View Post
    My mistake, I thought that PCB's were still used in transformers.
    When they were used it was mainly commercial loads and less than 4% in use in the 50's to 70's. Scare was accurate just not a large application.
    [The Montana Gianni] Front sight and squeeze

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    theres mineral oil in a transformer to cool it. When the boil like that there shorted out internaly. Little story from an ex lineman. My partner and I had a trouble call one summer day. I was just an apprentice at the time. We got there and you could even hear that transformer it sounded like a growl. It was still on and hadn't blown the fuse. The paint was all burned off of it and we swore we could see it expanding and contracting. I went up in the bucket with a hot stick to open the fuse. I actually had two extensions on it to keep me far enough away. Just about the time I got up to where I could use the stick the lid blew off of it. At that time the fuse blew too. Scared the **** out of me. Oil went everywhere but luckily my parterner and I didn't get any of the hot oil on us. I wasn't watching like my the transformer at the time I was more conserned with the fuse. My partner was though and he said that lid blew way up in the air out of sight. We looked around for about an hour and never did find the lid or pieces of the bushings anywhere. that was just a small 15kva transformer. We also had one of our substation (very large 69000 volt) transformers blow. Our substation is about a 1/4 of a mile from the office and we felt the building shake at the same time the lights went out. As to pcb's like gianna said there rare. Every transformer we took down newer or older had to be tested. In 30 years I saw two come back positive for pcb's. Most of it was used in older (pre 60s) substation transformers.

  16. #16
    Boolit Master
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    I wonder what size cast boolit hole was in the transformer to cause the leak??

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by jimlj View Post
    I wonder what size cast boolit hole was in the transformer to cause the leak??
    I've actually replaced a few transformers and reclosers that had been shot. Capacitors too. Redneck will be Rednecks! Not sure if they were shot with cast or not!

  18. #18
    Boolit Master
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    I was just kind of jabbing JonB.
    I too have replaced many transformers that had been shot in the oil fields of Wyoming. Usually the first few days of hunting season each year. I guess with enough adult beverages the bushings might look like antlers.

  19. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hickory View Post
    That transformer is filled with PCB oil. It you get any of it on you it could be far more hazardous to your health than eating prepared meats and drinking beer.
    Apparently not more hazardous than eating bacon or sausage
    I Am Descended From Men Who Would Not Be Ruled

    It is not with strength one will prevail; those who oppose The Lord will be broken

  20. #20
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    the real stupid ones shoot the insulators our on a 69000 or 138000 volt transmission pole. Ive seen the power in one of them and sure wouldn't want to be within a 1/4 mile of one of those lines hitting the ground. Every year we had a 4 man crew replacing shot insulators for a month or two.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check