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WHY a hot ZW?

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  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Austin, TX
  • 10,096 posts
Posted by lionelsoni on Thursday, April 20, 2017 8:38 PM

 The difference may be in the core laminations, which in the hotter transformer may have lost or never had an adequate insulating coating.  These iron or steel plates are used instead of solid metal because, in addition to being magnetically permeable, they are also electrical conductors that would act as a short-circuited secondary winding.  Separating the metal into thin, insulated plates blocks that short-circuit current and keeps it from heating up the core, without inhibiting its magnetic properties.

The core insulation is usually a thin coating applied to the plates before they are stuffed into the copper windings.  It doesn't have to be perfect to do its job; but there's a limit to how much plate-to-plate electrical contact you can get away with.

It might be something else; but that's the only thing that comes to my mind.

Bob Nelson

KRM
  • Member since
    January 2011
  • From: North Bluff above Marseilles IL
  • 6,506 posts
Posted by KRM on Thursday, April 20, 2017 5:55 PM

phillyreading

Do they both have the same power rating? I have seen post war ZW's with either 250 or 275 watts, not sure if it matters. 

How were your ZW's doing before getting the rollers replaced? Did either one get warmer then the other one? Sometimes repair shops only do the service you request. If you mention about checking the ZW fully while being serviced most places will service it and charge a slight fee.

Lee 

 

One is from 1959 to 60 and the other is from 1965--to 66.

 The older one is the one that gets hot. They are both 275 Watt.

 The guy who did the work is a 82 year pro with transformers and I had them both done before I used them. Then the one stuck a roller after 6 years on the job and I took it to him and he found the stuck roller.

That one is the one that has always ran warm.

 

Joined 1-21-2011    TCA 13-68614

Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL. Whistling

 

  • Member since
    January 2005
  • From: Lake Worth FL
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Posted by phillyreading on Thursday, April 20, 2017 12:51 PM

Do they both have the same power rating? I have seen post war ZW's with either 250 or 275 watts, not sure if it matters. 

How were your ZW's doing before getting the rollers replaced? Did either one get warmer then the other one? Sometimes repair shops only do the service you request. If you mention about checking the ZW fully while being serviced most places will service it and charge a slight fee.

Lee 

Interested in southest Pennsylvania railroads; Reading & Northern, Reading Company, Reading Lines, Philadelphia & Reading.
KRM
  • Member since
    January 2011
  • From: North Bluff above Marseilles IL
  • 6,506 posts
WHY a hot ZW?
Posted by KRM on Thursday, April 20, 2017 10:51 AM

WHY a hot ZW?
Got a question?
 I have two ZWs on my layout and one always gets warm after it has been on for a while. The other stays cool. Both seem to have plenty of power and if I switch the loads it does not change the one from getting warm and the other not. They both have new rollers and have been serviced.
I never noticed this until I pulled the one off because of the extreme heat caused by a stuck roller and had it serviced and the rollers replaced. It was only when I started using my back-up ZW did I find out that one does not get hot like the other one always has. Huh?
Any ideas on why??

Joined 1-21-2011    TCA 13-68614

Kev, From The North Bluff Above Marseilles IL. Whistling

 

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