** The primary appears to be EXPLODING !!

You ridiculous ******.

Phil - your mamma should wash your mouth out with soap.


** You need to get your hands off of it.


I SAID the other two scenarios were long shots ..

** And I said they were ridiculous drivel.

- but so is everything else that has been suggested.

** Your opinion is based on your ignorance only.

The windings of the trasnformer do not
APPEAR to be overheated - looks like just blackened at the connections
between the winding and the connecting wires.


** See the vaporised metal coating deposited on the plastic cover next to
the tranny?

That is a damn EXPLOSION !!

It happened very suddenly and made a loud bang too.

I said:

" High voltage spikes on the primary could also cause insulation failure
leading to the damage seen in the pics - lightning does this sort of thing.
So also could back emfs from the blower fan if the is a bad connection in
the AC supply feed."

If the insulation on the enamel wire of the primary is punctured by a HIGH
VOLTAGE SPIKE, effectively shorting out most of the primary - then the
120 AC supply ( no fuse exists remember ) will easily turn the two exposed
wire ends into metal vapour !!!

Cos they just became the fuses.

It just so happens that many small transformers made in China, India & Sri
Lanka etc are very prone to this sort of failure - due to bad manufacturing
practices.



..... Phil