[Amps] Dummy load. Can distilled water be used instead of oil ?

Glen Zook gzook at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 11 11:22:50 EDT 2013


Water would work.  However, the power handling of the load would be reduced from what it is with transformer oil.
 
Glen, K9STH


Website:  http://k9sth.com


________________________________
 From: Jim Thomson <jim.thom at telus.net>
To: amps at contesting.com 
Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2013 6:52 AM
Subject: [Amps] Dummy load.  Can distilled water be used instead of oil ?
 

I built a dummy load consisting of 4 x 200 ohm globars in parallel.  Each resistor is 12 inchs long x 1 inch OD. 
Each resistor resides in its own 3 inch od x 12 inch long AL pipe.  All  4 x AL pipes are heliarc welded  together. 
The entire mess will sit in a 7 gal new paint can.    A 5 gal can + top part of a 2nd can were brazed together.  
A 7-16 DIN was installed dead center in the top lid....along with a pressure relief tube, off to one side.
Instead  of xfmr oil,  can distilled  water be used instead ??    It will only be used on 160-10m..and maybe 6m.

If something goes terribly wrong, Id rather have water all over the basement floor  vs oil.   Distilled water is
an insulator.   Heck, Bird + CD have water loads that use tap water.  AG6K depicts a hb water load...with a 
single 500W resistor inside some pvc tube and a garden hose fitting on one end....and  coax connector on the
other end.  

I realize water boils at 212 F.   Has anybody tried distilled water in a 1 gal dummy load ?  Is it still 50 ohms ? 


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