Certain gases have excellent dielectric and electric arc interruption characteristics which make their use in electrical installations very desirable.

Water content, as the test parameter, is of great importance in determining the dielectric effectiveness of the gas. Under certain conditions, water may condense and become a conducting liquid resulting in a catastrophic dielectric breakdown of the insulation. The water content of these insulating gases as expressed by dew point is listed in Specifications D 1933, D 2473, and D 3283.

Once the dew point is determined, a conversion to moisture content may be performed using Table 1. Once moisture content is known, the lowest temperature at which gas insulated equipment can be safely operated can usually be determined by reviewing manufacturers' specifications for the equipment.

The dew point of the test gas is independent of the gas temperature but does depend on its pressure. Many moisture measurement test instruments are sensitive to pressure, and display moisture values at the instrument inlet pressure and not necessarily at the pressure of the system being sampled. It is therefore important to account for this condition to avoid serious measurement errors.

TABLE 1 Relationship Between Dew Point and Moisture Content of Gases

Note-With a known dew point which is indicated by the dew point indicator or recorder, the moisture content can be read directly from the table. The table shows the amount of water in air or other gas at various dew points at a pressure of 1 atm (14.7) psi.

^A Vapor pressures in atmospheres at various dew points can be obtained by dividing the values for "volume percent'' in this table by 100. Calculations for this table were made by using the International Critical Table values for the vapor pressure of ice and liquid water. The vapor pressure of liquid water was used for values from 50 to 0°C. The vapor pressure of ice was used from 0 to − 81°C.