CRT's / Projection tv cooling liquid - Page 2

Okay, here's my first post. I registered just so I could share this.

As a prelude to my post, I must say that this site is not very mobile friendly at all. It took me at least six attempts to get registered, even though I double checked my registration info... and then when I finally got myself registered; every time I tried to log in, it returned a dead link error. I had to switch to my laptop, and find the thread again just to post here.

You can thank me for my persistence another time. (joke)

I know this is an old thread, and from the looks of it, it is dead. But it is also one of the first results I found when attempting to discover the true nature of what the liquid inside the projectors truly is. I have broken down at least 50 of these TVs on the side of the road over the years to harvest the lenses, and cast reservoirs.

If you remove the front speaker cover, there is access to the screws that hold the screen onto the front of the tv, as well as an access panel to pull the whole electronics out of the TV in one piece. You may have to remove a couple screws at the bottom in the rear to allow the assembly to slide out of the TV too. If you do it properly, you can gut the TV roadside in around 10-15 minutes once you get the hang of it.

I salvage the screens for the plexiglass, the electronics for the wicked magnifying lenses, aluminum, copper, and gold.

This brief tutorial is only for how to disassemble the older style projection TVs with the liquid filled reservoirs, and the large bulb assemblies. The process to break down the newer style TVs with the small lenses is quite different, and I haven't found enough of them roadside yet to be able to write an disassembly guide by rote.

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When you find these TVs, and scrap them, here are some pointers.

Remove the four screws that hold the lens set (twelve total for all three lenses). Do not remove the screws that hold the plate below the lens yet. Doing so will allow the colored lens to unseat, and leak, leaving you with a big oily mess to clean up. These four screws will either be 1/4", or 8mm usually.

Now with a good set of insulated diagonal cutters, snip all of the wires that lead to the bulbs, and the circuit boards attached to the bulbs.

Drop your snips, and go back to the top side with the screws. Remove the four screws that hold the cast aluminum heat sink/fluid reservoir to the steel mount (again, twelve screws). They are either 1/4", 5/16", or 8mm.

If you follow these steps, this will allow you to remove the whole bulb assembly, circuit board and all. This will make disassembly safer, and easier.

Grab yourself a tray to catch fluid spillage so you don't stain your concrete, or work table. I use an old metal shelf from a store rack that is large enough to set all three bulbs in a line, or an old cooking sheet dedicated to garage use, and do them one at a time.

Now that you have your bulbs free from the steel mount, but still attached to the sealed reservoir, set the bulb down with the colored lens facing down. It's time to safely remove your windings without breaking that mercury filled bulb (mercury is poisonous to breathe, ingest, or have on your skin. It is also environmentally harmful).

Wiggle the circuit board free from the tip of the bulb by gently rocking it side to side while pulling lightly. There may be plastic clips to hold it to the windings, if there is, just snip the clips with your diagonal cutters to make it easy. Usually there is no clips though. The board should come of easily. If it doesn't wiggle off easily, look and make sure there is no retaining clip, or hose clamp. Occasionally I encounter these assemblies with a third hose clamp there, but generally there isn't one on the circuit board attachment.

Toss the circuit board aside to pull the aluminum heatsink off later.

Now there will be two hose clamps on the bulb that need to be removed. They are usually 8mm, or a phillips. I like to use my handy 8mm nut driver, because it makes it easier. Loosen the two hose clamps, but leave them on until you have the windings free of the bulbs for simplicity.

Now that your hose clamps are loose, gently twist the plastic clip with the small winding that is in between the large winding, and the circuit board. You should be able to now slip it off of the bulb with ease. Then gently twist the large winding, until it moves a little, and you should be able to slip this too off of the bulb without breaking the bulb, and turning your work space into a hazardous waste dump. Toss the windings aside for later.

now that you have all of the electrical components off of the bulb, turn the bulb on its side, and look at the cast aluminum reservoir. There should be one or two screws on the side of it, and a rubber bubble (often covered by a piece of plastic with enough room to stick a finger through).

Get your container that you are going to store the liquid in, a funnel, and some gloves (I prefer a pair of disposable nitrile, but if you have rubber kitchen gloves for garage use, you can always wash the oil off of them with some dawn soap and water). It's time for the fun part. Put your container, and funnel in your overspill tray that you are working on.

Turn the bulb, and reservoir on its side so that the screws are facing up. Remove the screw(s) on the side of the reservoir, and then with it still facing up, pick up the whole assembly, and flip it over your funnel. A little fluid will come out before the vacuum stops the flow. That is where the rubber bubble comes into play.

Stick your finger in the hole, and massage the bubble while holding your bulb over the funnel. This will make it draw air into the reservoir, allowing more fluid to escape. Keep massaging until the fluid stops draining. You won't get 100% of it out, but you will get enough out that cleaning your catch tray isn't so bad.

You can now set the bulb back down with the colored lens facing down, and remove the spring bolts, or screws with brackets that hold the bulb to the reservoir. Once they are free, you can gently pry the bulb free of the reservoir with a stiff putty knife, or wide blade gasket scraper (I don't recommend a screwdriver, as I have chipped or broken them with one. A wide blade is better).

Set your bulb aside in your catch tray, or take it right to your storage bin, and try not to break it while putting it in the bin. Do not throw them in the regular trash. They require special pickup, and the mercury inside can be recycled by a professional. There are places you can mail them to, or hang onto them until your counties hazardous waste day (check with your local collection service to find out when it is). Don't turn your landfill into a hazmat scene if you can avoid doing so.

You should now be able to flip the reservoir over so the colored lens faces up. Remove the screws from the steel mounting plate. There can be anywhere from four to eight screws depending on the model of the TV. They are either 1/4", or 8mm again.

When you remove the screws, and the plate, you are in the home stretch. All that is left is to pop the colored lens free, toss it aside, and remove the rubber gaskets from the reservoir.

Voila! No hazardous waste running all over your workspace, shop, or skin. No poisonous mercury in your lungs, or on your skin.

Toss the funnel in your catch pan, put the cap back on your container, and wrap the lid of the container with some color coded electrical tape so that you remember whats in the container. Use a marker, and a piece of masking tape to write what is in the container on the side of the container.

To clean the little bit of spillage from your catch tray, hopefully it's not much if you were careful. Sop up the bulk of it with some paper towels, or rags that you can dispose of. Take your tray to the yard, or your shop sink, and wash it out with some dawn soap, and water. Good as new, and the soap breaks down the oil to a less harmful state.

If you did this right, you should have little to no spillage of the fluid, sealed containers full of the liquid, and sealed bulbs, that can all be disposed of in a safe, and proper manner for them to be recycled in a safe manner.

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Happy Scrapping,
-Charlie

P.S. Don't dump the liquid, break the bulbs, or toss any of it in your regular trash collection. If you are not willing to dispose of it properly, then leave the TV for someone who will dispose of it properly.

Footnote(s):

If you do happen to break a bulb, bag it up in a couple plastic grocery bags double or triple bagged, and tie it off to prevent further mercury contamination.

I do not know if it is acceptable to pour it into waste oil collection containers. Find out who collects your local waste oil from places like the auto parts stores/oil change places, and contact them to find out if it acceptable waste oil.

The oil used in projection TV's

A preferred composition for coupling fluids of this type has been 80% ethylene glycol and 20% glycerol. Further addition of glycerol would cause the projected image to squirm, due to natural convection associated with thermal gradients in a viscous fluid.


Discussions of liquid coupled projection televisions can be found in a variety of issued U.S. patents, including: Tucker, U.S. Pat. No. 4,151,554; Hodges, U.S. Pat. No. 4,163,990; Bauer, U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,927; Fukuda, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,773; Watanabe et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,143; Roberts, U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,820; and Altman, U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,806.

Has anyone came up with an alternative use for the fluid around the shop, or home?