Vintage Sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Hey guys completely and utterly new to radios but we bought an old Streamlined bullet radio 6179 for a prop to display in the living room.

I may be a bit paranoid but I am concerned about the safety of them as I heard they sometimes contained asbestos.
I will try and attach a few pictures and im unsure if its asbestos or just dust and hairs which have accumulated.
There is also a white thing at the left of the case but I'm unsure if this is a piece of cardboard as there is a wiring diagram/instructions on the left in the same place

Does anyone know about the safety of these old radios by this company and if they did contain asbestos or fiberglass.

Thanks so much

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Sorry if this is in the wrong section I didn't know which one to put it in

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

I am not aware of asbestos in any bakelite/catalin American midget sets, I have a large collection of both pre and post war American midgets and have never encountered asbestos in any of them. Asbestos is more likely to be found in midget wooden cabinets where heat from dropper resistors may cause a fire hazard but even then it is rare. American midgets normally run direct from 115 volts with no dropper as the valve heater volts add up to 115 volts, sometimes a line cord dropper is used to drop 20 volts or more.
The first images appear to show thin paper, perhaps part of a label inside the case. The final image looks more like deposits from a dusting cloth or some such cleaning wipe.
Neil

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Thanks Neil! I feel much more relieved now.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Household fluff, we have cats and their discarded hair penetrates everything. I would like to see a picture of the whole radio too.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Pics attached

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

A quick question I stupidly plugged it into a US to UK adapter which didnt change the voltage from 240 to 110 and the light showed up and then when I tried again it didnt.

I have now ordered a voltage adapter but will I have permanently damaged the circuits in the radio now as the voltage was too high and the light didnt come back on?

Thanks

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Oops, with a bit of luck only the bulb has gone pop, the valves run at a much lower temperature and will cope with twice the voltage for quite a while. And do the usual checks before powering up again, "that capacitor" etc.. A new bulb will help the rectifier live longer too.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Possibly! You may be lucky and only have taken out the panel lamp and/or one of the valve heaters. How are you with a multimeter?



In any case, unless the set has recently been properly serviced and any dodgy capacitors replaced it is very risky (to the set) just to plug it in even to the correct mains voltage supply- see "that capacitor" for starters!


Edit: Looks like it's one of these:


https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/sears_roeb_6177a.html


(There're innumerable "Sears Silvertone" sets- the name seems to be a portmanteau in-house brand.)

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Another caveat..... make sure that the "voltage converter" you get is a proper transformer (auto or isolating) one not some solid state voltage chopper upper thing!

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

I turned it on for about a few seconds, turned it off and then back on again and then off.
So max of about 10 seconds.
What type of bulb will it be?

Thanks!!

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Here are some attached images. Does anything look wrong?
I have no idea what to look for.

Thanks

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

The bulb will (should) have it's rating on it, something like 6V 0.3A.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Thank you all for your replies. I have no idea what im doing so I will leave well alone unless anyone knows a good restorer?
Judging by the pictures nothing looks burned out or fried (although I have no idea what im looking for), I am clinging onto the hope the adapter fuse blew and thats why it didnt work. There was no smoke although there is a sweet musty smell.

I will stick with phones in the future!

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

BTW guys this is the voltage thing I ordered. Is it the wrong one anyway?

https://www.kenable.co.uk/en/electri...693015980.html


Cheers

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

That looks big enough to have a proper transformer in it, is it heavy? If so it is the right one. As to repair pop a post in the "Repairs Wanted" section, there will be someone nearby capable and willing to do it for a reasonable sum. And then there will be another beautiful set working again.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

The one linked weighs almost half what I would expect for an Auto transformer of this rating.

So I'm not convinced its a proper transformer but who knows :thumbsup:

Cheers

Mike T

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

Enough for the radio though.
A pound seems OK for that sort of thing. If plugged in and it hums a bit and gets slightly warm after an hour or so then it is a proper job.

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

The lamp is a #47, brown bead 6.3 v 150ma. You can also use a #44, blue bead, 6.3v 300ma. It uses a shunt resistor instead of a tap on the rectifier valve.
It looks, by the pictures, that it was restored recently.
When you get the step-down transformer, try it again. Because of the heater connection scheme, it doesn't need the dial lamp to work.
Dave, USradcoll1, over 60 years! :wave:

Re: Vintage sears Silvertone radio safety question
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222572662209

these are the bulbs I found and bought as replacements the original said 6.8V TS47.
It looked burnt out if I am honest (attached photo)
Fingers crossed nothing else had the chance to overheat.
The capacitors/resistors say 630V on them which would translate to 250AC so maybe it could have coped with the UK system for 10 seconds.

If the bulbs and transformer come and its still dead Ill pop it off for repair, it is too nice not to be functional!

Cheers