spearinol oil (in ASC caps)

[jarthel]

are they really flammable? or are they as flammable as your ordinary cooking oil? thanks

[kevinkr]

My understanding is that spearinol is no more flammable than normal cooking oil, maybe less and in any case to burn there has to be steady supply of oxygen - and since they are hermetically sealed in pretty rugged steel or aluminum cans there isn't going to be much available oxygen anyway.

The motor run caps are designed for many years of operation in very demanding AC applications and are generally operating at a fraction of their ratings (all but voltage) as DC filter caps.

Most electronic components will burn, and I have seen more than a few electrolytics explode or burn - the ASC film cap does not have these failure mechanisms. AB and other carbon resistors are quite flammable, and burn like a match or worse when grossly overloaded, that and their lousy precision and life keeps me away from them.

Back in the late 1980's there was a dubious fascination with photoflash caps due to their low esr/esl and compact size for the voltage rating/capacitance values. I used a lot of them in my early designs, and despite using them in low ripple/no ripple locations some of them lasted a year or less, and all died in flames. None were run at more than 90% of rated voltage, (regulated) ones that didn't fail ran at less than 80%. I ultimately designed them all out.

I doubt you will have any problem with the ASC caps, just use them within their recommended voltage and ripple current ratings and you should be fine.