On Mar 31, 3:32*am, Meat Plow wrote:
On Wed, 31 Mar 2010 10:06:47 +0100, "N_Cook" wrote:

Anyone have a better knowledge of why fatty acids appear in circumstances
where high dielectric strength/ good insulation is needed. Hence the "fishy
smell" of physically broken/leaking electrolytic capacitors.
Possible candidates ( from Googling ie no specialised knowledge on this )
eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and degradation
product 2,4-heptadienal/2,4-hepadienal ?
, PETEP oil (Penta- Etythrite-Tetra Fatty Acid Polyester oil)

And in the case of rotted horse manure smell from some types of old
transformer windings perhaps Caproic Acid or Hexanoic acid giving that smell

Your interpretations of smells can be substantially different than
say, mine. When I smell the magic smoke, I don't think of farm animals
or a tuna boat, I think of #1 not smelling it at all because it's full
of caustic chemicals.

Apparently you haven't replaced capacitors with the 'fishy' smell. It
most definitely is NOT the smoke coming out and it REALLY REALLY
smells like fish -- BAD fish and a LOT of it -- and just from a 6 mm
diameter 11 mm tall cap. Worse yet, when one cap is bad there are
usually many more (often all) to replace so the shop will stink for an
hour or two.

G²