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Re: mercury amounts & repairs
>> I find a syringe and/or applicator bottle difficult to control. I gave up pretty quickly on these after squirting enough merc to fill the whole trap. What's
your trick?<<
You didn't ask me, but here are my 2¢...
I always used a needle bottle. I would stick the needle in the tubulation, aiming
both bottle and tubulation slightly downward so the mercury was at the top end of
the bottle, in the opening of the needle.
Then a very gentle squeeze to get some mercury started up the needle, then tip all
so needle and tubulation are pointing slightly upwards. The mercury that's still
in the bottle falls back toward the bottom of the bottle and more can't get into
the needle, while that which is already in the needle goes on up into the
tubulation.
You do need to time it right and be just a little gentle with it. The needles are
slender enough that it might actually take several tries to get enough in, but
after awhile you can usually wind up with exactly the right amount on the first
try.
With practice you will find that there is a position in which you can hold the
bottle where a very slight variation in angle will break the physical connection
between the mercury in the needle and that in the bottle.
So you can hold the bottle at that specific angle (for the amount of mercury in
the bottle) while squeezing it in and then tipping the bottle back (and you can
bend the needle slightly to do this if the trap is already on the unit) just when
there's enough.
This works best if you put your traps on the units after the mercury is in them.
It works least well if your method is to first attach traps to the manifold, then
the units to the trap.
Bettina
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