Polychlorinated biphenyl

**sawmilleng** · 07-13-2013, 09:56 PM

I have been following this thread with interest, having dealt with PCB-containing industrial equipment in the past. (Disclaimer: I'm located in Canada, so laws may be a little different.)

With the exception of Otto, I have not seen any discussion about the location of PCB's on boards or electronic parts. I am of the same understanding as him, in that PCB or PCB-containing oils is pretty well restricted to capacitors, where it is used as a dielectric (insulator).

Here's my understanding of where you might find PCB's in electrical and electronic gear:
1. In larger power transformers, which are oil-filled. The oil needs to be lab tested for the prescense or not of PCB's
2. In capacitors. However, this is too general, since the PCB dielectric is too bulky for small, low voltage capacitors. I would limit the capacitors to watch out for as the larger ones, that are AC rated above 100V. These are quite often metal can capacitors. Virtually all modern capacitors that use an oil dielectric are noted "no pcb" on the label. You would see this kind of capacitor in an industrial lamp ballast.
3. Fluorescent lamp ballasts. The only item within these ballasts that might contain PCB is the capacitor, but it is encapsulated inside the ballast so you can't see it. The newer ballasts say "no pcb" but you need a handbook to look up the older ones to see if they contain PCB or not.
4. Any older power electronics that used high voltages, above 100V. This would be found in industrial electronics and would likely be in a metal can.

As for military electronics, I have no direct experience, other than knowing they liked to use pure PCBs over mineral oils because the PCB was not particularly flammable. I would expect that similar methods would apply to spot the "bad actor" capacitors: metal can, higher voltage.

I have never heard of PCB's being included in the manufacture of things like circuit boards.

I would be interested to hear if I am wrong with any of my comments. But it sure isn't anything to be afraid of. Know the rules, know how to identify it in equipment, know how it must be stored and disposed of.

Hope this helps,
Jon.

**NobleMetalWorks** · 07-13-2013, 10:07 PM

Originally Posted by sawmilleng

I have been following this thread with interest, having dealt with PCB-containing industrial equipment in the past. (Disclaimer: I'm located in Canada, so laws may be a little different.)

With the exception of Otto, I have not seen any discussion about the location of PCB's on boards or electronic parts. I am of the same understanding as him, in that PCB or PCB-containing oils is pretty well restricted to capacitors, where it is used as a dielectric (insulator).

Here's my understanding of where you might find PCB's in electrical and electronic gear:
1. In larger power transformers, which are oil-filled. The oil needs to be lab tested for the prescense or not of PCB's
2. In capacitors. However, this is too general, since the PCB dielectric is too bulky for small, low voltage capacitors. I would limit the capacitors to watch out for as the larger ones, that are AC rated above 100V. These are quite often metal can capacitors. Virtually all modern capacitors that use an oil dielectric are noted "no pcb" on the label. You would see this kind of capacitor in an industrial lamp ballast.
3. Fluorescent lamp ballasts. The only item within these ballasts that might contain PCB is the capacitor, but it is encapsulated inside the ballast so you can't see it. The newer ballasts say "no pcb" but you need a handbook to look up the older ones to see if they contain PCB or not.
4. Any older power electronics that used high voltages, above 100V. This would be found in industrial electronics and would likely be in a metal can.

As for military electronics, I have no direct experience, other than knowing they liked to use pure PCBs over mineral oils because the PCB was not particularly flammable. I would expect that similar methods would apply to spot the "bad actor" capacitors: metal can, higher voltage.

I have never heard of PCB's being included in the manufacture of things like circuit boards.

I would be interested to hear if I am wrong with any of my comments. But it sure isn't anything to be afraid of. Know the rules, know how to identify it in equipment, know how it must be stored and disposed of.

Hope this helps,
Jon.

I think I need to clarify what I have stated before. Older PC boards of the colors I mentioned many times contain PCB. I am using the colors of PC boards used before 1979. Those boards are more likely to contain COMPONENTS that contain PCBs.

Also, another common confusion in the acronym PCB is this. PCB can also be used to talk about Printed Circuit Boards. But is not the same as PCBs that are Polychlorinated biphenyl.

If you see a board of tan, white, brown, black color, it's safer to assume some of the components contain PCBs that not. I also do not want to mislead anyone into believing that it's alright to remove these components because all the methods to de-solder also include heating these components up to the point they will create fumes. It's never good to heat up any PC boards if not well ventilated, but even more important if they are older boards with older components.

Here are a few websites that will clarify anything that has been stated in this thread that may be confusing:

Polychlorinated biphenyl - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) (chemical compound) -- Encyclopedia Britannica

PCB

US Federal EPA page on PCBs

Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)| Wastes | US EPA

Federal CDC page on PCBs

CDC - NIOSH Publications and Products - Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB's) (86-111)

The Chemistry of Polychlorinated Biphenyls: PCB, The Manmade Chemicals That Won't Go Away (EnvironmentalChemistry.com)

If you read the pages I have linked here, you not only will know more about PCBs than you ever wanted to know, but it should clear up any confusing in what I or anyone has posted before.

Scott