Can Clor-N-Oil be used to determine PCB contamination of used motor/lubricating oils?
No. The Clor-N-Oil PCB field screening kits can only be used to test transformer oil (dielectric fluid).
The kits do not work on used motor/lubricating oils because the test method does not specifically identify the
presence of PCBs. The kits detect CHLORINE associated with the PCB molecule. Mineral oil, used in
electrical equipment, does not normally contain any background chlorine that would cause false positive
results, but most other types of lubricating/industrial oils can contain 200 ppm or more of chlorine from additive
packages and other sources. When testing mineral oil (transformer oil), a positive result is presumed to be
due to PCBs based on chlorine detected in the sample, but laboratory analysis would be needed for
confirmation.