NOS purchase, should I be concerned?

[zigzagflux]

This doesn't look real reliable to me. Bought a batch of 46's, and there are a number of them with the getter material that is coated on the inside of the glass broken off. Tried to get a good picture of this.

The valve appears to bias up properly, but I haven't put it into an audio circuit. There is shrapnel inside the glass, which I also took a picture of.

Do I request a refund ?

Thanks.

[zigzagflux]

Another shot of the shrapnel.

[lineup]

i do not know if this will shorten life of those tubes

but thinking glass
there are many antique sorts of glass
that has got a cosmetic imperfect look
and still works as good as any glass
there are ancient 1.000 years old chinese glass
and you name it

glass can be very different - there is no such thing as: a pure glass
because always is some mixture, blend used

now the life of tubes is not determined by the glass
is other thing that becomes of age

unless some body else, who knows audio tubes better
tell you different
then you can use them those tubes valves, just like the better looking

when comes to electronics - the look has very little to do with performance
unless something looks broken or faked

there are some faked semiconductors, you know
and even tubes are semiconductors - and an older semiconductor technique than transistors

[nitrate]

Does the shrapnel move? If it is stuck fast then i would think they are safe. If however it is free to move about i would personally regard them as unsafe incase some of the shrapnel droped into the active part of the valve. However i'm no expert so i would wait until sombody here with more experience come's to your aid.

Leigh

[kevinkr]

I've seen this from time to time, but not all that common. The getter flash has separated from the glass - and I'm not sure how easily that can happen.. (I'm wondering whether these were stored for an extended period of time in unheated space where it might have gotten very cold.. IIRC the examples I have seen that had this problem were stored in locations subject to very low temps during some part of the year. i.e. Garages, outside sheds, and unheated trailers.)

I think you ought to at least ask for a partial refund as I would consider this to be a defect, and possibly more than just cosmetic. Returning them is not out of the question. Not sure how conductive the gettering material actually is but it could create leakage paths on the micas that might result in noisy performance.

I would check any you plan to use very carefully to ascertain where it has ended up.. If any of that stuff gets inside the structure of the tube it could be very bad news.

[zigzagflux]

Thanks Kevin-

I suspected as much, but am not sure of the conductive properties of the material. It does not appear to be free moving, but the flakes are stuck to the glass.

I will contact the seller, and see where this goes.

[DigitalJunkie]

I've seen similar 'floaties' in tubes...to me it always looked like bits of the mica spacers that have come loose?
If the getter is coming off the glass...that's a new one on me.