capacitor aging claim

[Chuck Guzis]

On 7 Oct 2010 at 23:47, William Donzelli wrote:


> If the innards are contaminated, it is possible. An example would be
> the aforementioned paper Sprague "bumblebees" - more often then not,
> moisture has penetrated the case and has compromised the dielectric.
> You can safely use them at low voltages, as guitarists do, but at
> rated voltage (200 to 600 Volts, depending on the type), they will
> likely fail.

I remember the bumblebees--black phenolic body with yellow printing, 
right?

How about the steel-jacketed Vitamin Q caps? (they could be pretty 
scary when they went).

Didn't the old paper caps use oil-soaked paper as the dielectric?  

I'm thinking about a bunch of old motor-starting capacitors that I 
have kicking around...

--Chuck