A HOT BIG CAP

[n6biz]

BEEN A WHILE SINCE I HAD A TUBE RECEIVER...
THE BIG CAP IN MY HQ170 NEAR THE TRANSFORMER IS HOT...
IS THAT NORMAL?
73...

[W9GT]

If you are referring to a can-type electrolytic.  That is not normal and it is probably leaky and heating-up.  You need to replace it, either with another can type unit or with individual tubular caps under the chassis.

73,  Jack, W9GT

[w1vtp]

Replace it NOW.  I've seen those explode

[N8ETQ]

  Agreed, Not normal.

   Look Here:

 http://hayseedhamfest.com/hq170_a__180_a_recap_kit_260936940.html

  GL with the rig.

/Dan

[W9ZSL]

I had to replace the power supply in my computer.  Two filter caps adjacent to each other got so hot that one exploded and the two actually fused together!  Fortunately, nothing else was damaged and a completely new supply solved the problem.  An electrolytic blowing up is traumatic!

[w1vtp]

A while back when I was group leader in a calibration lab, one of my techs said, "hey Al, take a look at this!"  He had turned his head up from looking down on a Browning TVN-11 klystron power supply.  He no sooner got the words out of his mouth when KABOOM!  A filter cap blew its top off and embedded itself into the ceiling tile.

I shudder to think what would have happened to him if he hadn't looked up.  One of my EICO 720s filter cap was getting warm when all of a sudden it became a roman candle.  Before I could turn it off it filled the shop with a thick white cloud.  It took an hour to clear the air out.  I left the garage door open and waited until the air was clear

Al

[K1JJ]

Once upon a time, back at U-HA, the engineering students got bored in their dorm.  To liven things up, at night they connected a zip cord to a 450V electrolytic capacitor and lowered it down the side of the building to some unsuspecting student's window below. Then the zip cord got shoved into the 120 VAC socket..

T

[Pete, WA2CWA]

A 125 mfd/450V capacitor in a high voltage string mounted under a chassis can be equally traumatic if it blows, plus you spend the next several days cleaning up all the fuzzies that now have adhered themselves to all the rest of the components mounted under there.