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Removing Hot OP Tubes

shacky

shacky

Addicted Member
I got some nice 6P14P Russian tubes (7189?) Narodow helped me match a quad for my Eico HF-81. I was going to go back and forth with my Baldwin (Syl) 6BQ5's.

The 6P14P's were quite hot after a couple hours of play and it made me stop and think"

Are there any guidelines to changing out hot OP tubes other than wearing gloves or something to handle hot tubes? Will it potentially damage anything by not letting it cool down or dissapate cap charges? :scratch2:
 
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I personally have not experienced any problems in doing so, but I would wait at least 2 minutes in between switching intervals.
 
I try not to handle tubes until they are cooled down, worries me that the filaments are more fragile while warm...Not sure how accurate that is, but it is mentioned in a few different manuals.

Ed
 
There were special rubber coated grabbers designed for the purpose. But I suppose an oven mitt might be good enough, as long as you have enough dexterity to avoid dropping a tube once you pull it out.
 
No problem changing tubes while they are hot, but if you have any rectifier tubes in the amp, you don't want to turn the amp back on until those are cool..
 
Analog_Ed said:
I try not to handle tubes until they are cooled down, worries me that the filaments are more fragile while warm...Not sure how accurate that is, but it is mentioned in a few different manuals.

Ed
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I'd think once the glow is gone there would be not much concern that the filaments are any more or less fragile, and that happens in pretty short time.
 
similost said:
No problem changing tubes while they are hot, but if you have any rectifier tubes in the amp, you don't want to turn the amp back on until those are cool..
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Do I need to wait more than a couple minutes for rectifier tube to cool before turning back on?
 
similost said:
No problem changing tubes while they are hot, but if you have any rectifier tubes in the amp, you don't want to turn the amp back on until those are cool..
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I'm feeling like this may be the voice of experience talking.:D Don't feel bad, I've done it too. A nice ST 5V4 IIRC.:tears: It was pretty though............for a second.:smoke:
 
jaymanaa said:
I'm feeling like this may be the voice of experience talking.:D Don't feel bad, I've done it too. A nice ST 5V4 IIRC.:tears: It was pretty though............for a second.:smoke:
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Nope.. never done that.. I just break tubes... never flashed one..
 
I guess I shouldn't talk about all those times I've swapped tubes while the thing was powered on then.....
 
gadget73 said:
I guess I shouldn't talk about all those times I've swapped tubes while the thing was powered on then.....
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Ha, I'm guilty too. I have a SET amp that runs dual 5AR4 rectifiers which is about 4 times overkill, and love to see folks faces when I pull one out an look at it while the amp is playing.:D
 
dual 5AR4's for an SET ? no kidding thats overkill. Heck my Scott 800B runs 22 tubes, including a pair of 6L6 from a pair of 5Y3 rectifiers.
 
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