Hi Tom,
A pretty easy and good way to dry out a transformer is simply to apply
low voltage DC to one of its windings, to warm it up from the inside. A
transformer for a linear amp might need something like 20 or 30 watts to
get warm enough, but not too hot. Simply measure the resistance of the
windings, and calculate how much voltage you need on which winding.
I have dried some transformers simply by putting my 13.8V power supply
across a suitable winding, for a few days. But you must measure the
resistance and calculate the proper voltage before you try. Otherwise it
could be easy to burn out the winding.
Other methods to dry transformers are the oven someone else mentioned
(but it must be an oven that does not produce humidity! An electric oven
is OK, while a gas oven is not OK), or packing it in a bag with freshly
dried silica gel, or the same bag with some pieces of dry wood instead
of the silica gel (you can dry the wood in the oven first), or if you
have a vacuum chamber, you can simply place the transformer in and suck
the air out, which will dry the transformer quite quickly, without any
heating.
Among all the methods, I think the DC on a winding is the easiest to do!
Manfred.
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