Remove “Death capacitor”

[David Zrout]

On my 16a there is a dual segmented .05uf capacity on each of the main power wires to ground. It’s good. But it’s 75 years old. Any issues removing it and putting on a grounded polarized power cord?

[Scott Seickel]

I have seen these old mains capacitors blow in to a million pieces- paper confetti everywhere. 

The capacitor(s) are there for EMI/RFI filtering, so regardless of having a grounded cord, you should have capacitor there.  Use a proper rated "Y" capacitor for the job.  I have never grounded any of my Scott power supply chassis, and it seems to me that nobody does. 

[David Zrout]

Thank you. I’ll replace it.

[Norman S Braithwaite]

Use 0.015 mfd or less.  Otherwise the caps will trip GFIs.

Norman

[David Zrout]

Any recommendations on a “safety” cap? Having trouble finding one

[Scott Seickel]

https://www.justradios.com/cart.html  among others sells the safety caps. 

I never thought about the inrush of these tripping a GFCI.  I don't run any radios or test equipment on a GFCI, so I usually stick with what was original to a device. 

David Zrout said:

Any recommendations on a “safety” cap? Having trouble finding one

[David Zrout]

Awesome. I’ve never heard of them. I will check it out. Thank you.