Where can I find a pole pig?

[billybob]

Quick question, where can I find a pole pig transformer? I see some just lying around in fenced off transformer sites near where I live, but they are hard to come by cheaply on the market.

 

[throbscottle]

Maybe if you see someone doing work on the line you could ask them if they know? I can't imagine a scenario where these become available to buy unless you're a utility co.

 

[billybob]

Maybe if you see someone doing work on the line you could ask them if they know? I can't imagine a scenario where these become available to buy unless you're a utility co.

Yup, kinda sad though.

 

[gophert]

And you'll be buying a hazardous waste disposal issue. They are usually filled with some type of oil. The seller would be responsible (liable) for selling the hazardous material to someone not qualified to handle / transport the material. You even need a certification to fill out paperwork to request someone else to transport the hazardous material.

 

[shortbus=]

They don't scrap them any more, or atleast no where I live. I have electric utility depot near my house, stopped in there to ask the same question. They said they send the bad ones back to where they're made to be reconditioned. Reconditioning is cheaper than building one from scratch.

 

[DerStrom8]

They are not easy to come by for the average person anymore. I have had the same experience as shortbus, they recycle them rather than scrapping them.

 

[billybob]

They don't scrap them any more, or atleast no where I live. I have electric utility depot near my house, stopped in there to ask the same question. They said they send the bad ones back to where they're made to be reconditioned. Reconditioning is cheaper than building one from scratch.

Ah well.

 

[gophert]

**broken link removed**

 

[Nigel Goodwin]

What use is one anyway?.

On a related 'theme', when the coal mines round here closed (mid/late 80's) a couple of guys I knew pooled their redundancy payments and bought the scrap rights to the above ground area of the pit.

They did this based on a couple of things - one it was a good financial deal anyway - but more importantly, they knew there were two brand new crated sub-station transformers sat among the contents on the surface, either of which was worth more than ten times what they paid for the rights.

We generally don't have pole pigs here, and while there are occasional transformers mounted on poles they are rectangular and not round - I would also presume they are three phase as well? - all UK mains distribution is three phase, until it gets down to individual domestic properties.

 

[JimB]

On a more practical level, do you have any idea how heavy they are?

Where do you anticipate storing it? please don't say under your bed, you will never get it upstairs.

JimB

 

[JimB]

We generally don't have pole pigs here, and while there are occasional transformers mounted on poles they are rectangular and not round

A few years ago I notice that round and about in rural Scotland we now have quite a few of the round pole pig type transformers.

JimB

 

[DerStrom8]

What use is one anyway?

They're great for larger Tesla coils. I'd love to have one myself but I can't justify the cost.

 

[shortbus=]

Years ago, talking 1940's one of my grandfathers made a stick welder from one or maybe two of them. Back in that time they had square copper wire in them ~1/4" square. Now days they use flat aluminum sheets with heavy paper between the layers.

According to the guys I talked to about them, when they usually go bad, it is a fusible link that blows in them. The link is between the outside terminals and the copper windings. So reconditioning is just replacing the link and cleaning out the case and refilling with oil.