Zenith had a collector for leaking coolant. NEC and Mits used gutters
for a time. Now we put gutters in set with very slow coolant leaks.

Quality ? VSXX43 series Mits, never been touched, had a broken red CRT
board causing ti to go bright red and shutdown. Problem is the customer
would turn the set right back on and the condition persisting with the
CRT filament still hot and the V sweep not yet started they burnt the
living **** out of the phosphor. Real bad, and they originally didn't
really want the red CRT, they said they could live with it. I estimated
the set and told them to sell the tube. The repair was simple, so $200
something for the red tube wasn't so bad.

So the people are very happy, until about 3 weeks later (this shop
gives a 180 day warranty but it is problem specific). The NEW CRT
leaked coolant all over the signal board ! Damn, it was NEW ! Thus the
gutters. What's more, in all these sets I've never seen them run low on
coolant so as to be noticable or cause CRT damage.

One poster in this forum said it is that the coolant expands over time
and I am a believer. I have fely those bellows, or diaphragms bulging
under alot of pressure. Perhaps this explains my 1973 Olds having
pressure in the radiator after sitting for six months without being
started.

Is it worth the time to relieve the pressure in the tubes rather than
install a gutter ?

Let's put it this way, I had a new tube leak, so the expansion is
probably not caused by use (heat and light) and probably continues
slowly. Now I wonder if there's a limit to this phemonenon, that it
stops after a certain point. Then one time I had a Zenith that had
porosity of the coolant chamber housing itself.

Gutters are fugly and I don't like doing it, forget about lead dress,
airflow is usually affected so it is not a perfect solution. I know an
ASC wouldn't usually install gutters when the product is under
warranty, and I happen to know of a shop that probably would NEVER do
it. I worked there and their attitude was "look at the name on the set,
do you want to put YOUR name on the set ?". What's more, if I got a
brand new CRT/chamber assy from the manufacturer, if I noticed a
bulging bellows and releived the pressure, I might void the warranty.

Damnned if you do, damnned if you don't and damnned if you choose not
to decide. I guess that's the new rule.

JURB