Predicta Holiday - First power up attempt

[Electronic M]

Anything newer than 1960 I power up replace what (if anything) is preventing it from working right and run it with as many original parts (including caps) as it will run properly with...If an original cap goes in the course of later use I find it change it, and return to using the set. Much of the fun is troubleshooting...Why waste it with a shotgun recap?

If your set is being used properly (with someone watching it at all times) if a lytic goes bad it will be noticeable and unless you let it run in that state for several minutes almost nothing ever gets damaged.

Your claim of fire, and danger rings of trumped up alarmism/over caution to me. I've seen several dozen caps that have gotten hot and puked their guts, but never any cap fire evidence....Hell some sets had problems with the power switches starting REAL house fires when the sets were new and NOBODY here changes a power switch unless it has failed. It's as goofy to me as saying we should gut all our sets and install flat panels cause someone might get hurt from a random CRT implosion. Life is all about calculated risk.

[holmesuser01]

The HV rectifier tube won't get warm with the other tubes. The horizontal circuit and flyback have to be operating for the tube to even work. Normally, you won't even see the filament glowing on the HV rectifier when the set is running.