United States April
Environmental Protection Agency 1986
Washington DC 20460
Toxic Substances
OPA/86-001
S-EPA
PCB
Transformers
and the
Risk of Fire
A Guide for
Building Owners
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The greatest danger from a fire usually is not
the flames or the heat but the smoke and
gases given off from burning substances. The
burning of chemicals as toxic as PCBs
(polychlorinated biphenyls) produces gases
which are particularly dangerous.
Individuals may be exposed to PCB gases if
a fire occurs in or near an electrical
transformer which uses PCBs in its insulating
fluid.
If you are the owner of a commercial
building, you have a special responsibility to
reduce the threat to the health of your tenants
and local fire fighters that could stem from a
fire in or near a PCB transformer. (A
commercial building is a non-industrial
building—such as an apartment house,
school, meeting hall, or store—which is
typically accessible to the general public.)
PCB electrical transformers were
manufactured between 1929 and 1977. An
estimated 77,000 PCB transformers are in use
in this country today. Only about 18,000 of
these are owned by utility companies. The
great majority of PCB transformers belong to
building owners.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
regulations now require owners of PCB
transformers to take specific actions to help
ensure the public safety.
Do You Own a PCB Transformer?
As a building owner, you need to know if you
own the electrical transformer(s) for your
building. If you are uncertain, contact your
local utility company. If the utility does not
own the transformer in your building, then
you do.
If you own the transformer in your
building, your next step is to determine if it
contains PCBs.
The tranformer will be in or near the
building it serves. It may be on the roof, in
the basement, in the parking lot, on an
exterior wall, in a vault under the sidewalk,
or in some other location close to where the
power cables enter the building.
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Generally, a transformer will have a
nameplate attached to one side of the unit.
Trade Name
THREE
| 500
RISE| 55 |%
H.I
HIGH VOLT 1
VOLTS
13860
13530
13200
12870
12540
[=
AMPS
20.6
21.3
22.8
22.4
23.0
PHASE TRANSFORMER 08692747008
TYPE
| AT
^| CYCLES | 60 | | 6644 |
C IMPED|Tl71%BI.LH.V.| 95_jKV BLLV | 130 |KV
13200
TAP CHANGER
DIAL
A
B
C
D
E
CONNECTS
1 to 2
2 to 3
3 to 4
4 to 5
5 to 6
^
PLAN VIEW
GALLONS OF OIL|H
C
K55 1
ZZ1
L.V.| 208Y/120 |
1
.| IJO 1
1 'U L
APPROX. WEIGHTS IN POUNDS
WHEN UNTANKING | 3000 J
TANK IN FITTING [ 1565 [
OIL (PYRANOL) L1^ [
TOTAL P6250 1
Since PCBs were marketed under different
trade names, the nameplate on a PCB
transformer may not carry the specific term
"PCBs." Trade names for PCBs include:
Chlorextol
EEC-18
Kennechlor
Abestol
No-FIamol
Aroclor
Askarel
Inerteen
Phenoclor
Pyranol
Chlophen
Pyralene
Non Flammable Liquid
Fenclor
Solvol
Saf-T-Kuhl
DK
If the nameplate says "PCBs" or any of the
names on the above list, then the transformer
most likely contains PCBs in concentrations
of between 600,000 and 700,000 parts per
million (ppm). Any transformer containing
PCBs at a concentration of 500 ppm or greater
is subject to the new EPA regulations listed
below.
Should your transformer's nameplate not
carry any of the above labels, or if the label is
missing or illegible, your utility company
may be able to tell you if the transformer
contains PCBs. Otherwise, the only way to be
certain is to have the fluid tested.
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New Requirements
For some time, regulations have been in effect
which govern the use, servicing, and disposal
of PCB transformers. The recently issued rule
described here applies to all PCB transformers
in commercial buildings and establishes strict
requirements for the owners of those
transformers.
• Installation of PCB transformers in, or near,
commercial buildings is prohibited.
(Although PCBs are no longer manufactured
for use in transformers, many PCB
transformers are currently in storage for
reuse.)
• Owners must register PCB transformers
with their local fire department.
• Utility companies that own PCB transformers
located in or near commercial buildings must
register the transformers with building owners
as well as with their fire department.
• PCB transformer areas, excluding grates
and manhole covers, must be marked.
• Combustible materials cannot be stored
within a PCB-transformer enclosure or within
five meters (approximately 16 feet) of an
unenclosed transformer.
• Owners of PCB transformers which are
involved in a fire must report the incident
immediately to the U.S. Coast Guard National
Spill Response Center by calling
800-424-8802 toll-free. (In the Washington,
DC metropolitan area, call 426-2675.)
As of October 1, 1990:
• The use of PCB units that EPA believes
have a relatively high probability of electrical
failure is prohibited.
• Improved electrical protection must be
installed on other PCB transformers to avoid
fires caused by electrical faults.
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It is critically important that commercial
building owners register PCB transformers
with local fire departments or brigades. PCB
fires pose serious risks to building occupants
and fire fighters. If fire fighters and other
emergency personnel know they may be
dealing with PCBs, they can be prepared and
equipped to deal with the fire. Both fire
fighters and building owners also should be
aware of the need to quickly evacuate
occupants in an emergency situation, and of
the need to insure that proper and adequate
cleanup occurs prior to reoccupation of the
building.
A Serious Health Concern
EPA's regulations covering transformers are
part of a series of rules the Agency has issued
in recent years to protect the public from
PCBs. There are a number of adverse health
effects associated with these chemicals. Tests
on animals show that PCBs can harm
reproduction and growth, and can cause skin
lesions and tumors. When PCB dielectric
fluid is partly burned—as it may be in a
tranformer fire—the PCB fluid produces
by-products, which include polychlorinated
dibenzodioxin and polychlorinated
dibenzofurans, that are much more toxic than
the PCBs themselves. Tests on rats show that
furans can cause anemia and other blood
problems. Dioxin is associated with a number
of health risks, and has been shown to cause
cancer of the liver, mouth, adrenal gland, and
lungs in laboratory animals.
For More Information
If you need help in complying with the new
regulation, please contact your nearest EPA
Regional Office (see back cover). For more
information about the transformer regulation,
or other EPA rules controlling PCBs, write to
the Office of Toxic Substances (TS-799), U.S.
EPA, Washington, DC 20460, or call that
office toll free at 800-424-9065 (in
Washington, D.C., call 554-1404).
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EPA's Regional PCB Contacts
EPA Region 1
John F. Kennedy Federal Building
Boston, MA 02203
617-223-4857
Dr. Harold E. Kazmaier, or
Tony Palermo
EPA Region 2
Woodbridge Avenue
Edison, NJ 08837
212-321-6669
Daniel Kraft, or
Arthur Gevirtz
EPA Region 3
841 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
215-597-7668
Edward Cohen
EPA Region 4
345 Courtland Street, NE.
Atlanta, GA 30365
404-881-3864
Bob Stryker
EPA Region 5
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, IL 60604
312-886-6002
Karl Bremer
EPA Region 6
1201 Elm Street
Dallas, TX 75270
214-767-5322
Darl Mount, or
Norman Dyer
EPA Region 7
726 Minnesota Avenue
Kansas City, KS 66101
816-374-6531
Leo Alderman
EPA Region 8
999 18th Street
Denver, CO 80202-2413
303-293-1742
Steve Farrow
EPA Region 9
215 Fremont Street
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-974-8389 Raymond Seid,
or Rick Vaille
EPA Region 10
1200 Sixth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101
206-442-2850
Anita Frankel
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