Is rectifier tube arcing a problem?

@gte357s 

One thing that can cause rectifier tubes to arc is too much capacitance at the input of the power supply. What amp are you using?

I've seen a lot more arcing failure with Russian made rectifier tubes. Depending on the amp you may have to stick with NOS tubes to get reliable service.

In some cases its possible to run solid state rectifiers. A bit of attention has to be paid to the amp circuit since doing so will raise the B+ voltage which may not be a good thing. But if you have good rectifiers (like HEXFREDs) they can be nice and quiet. Amps that use solid state rectifiers usually sound more neutral on account of less power supply sag when more power is required. Tube rectifiers are certainly romantic but other than noise they really don't have a place in a hifi power amp; they are great for blues guitar though.

A dirty tube socket may be your problem.

get new ones of the specified type

5U4‘s are definitely on the upper spectrum of the ruggedness stakes for commercial rectifiers, so I don‘t think they are the problem..

Check with your manufacturer exactly which type of rectifier you amp is designed for.

Brands don’t matter.

Maybe you have a manual?

The technician said that its OK to continue using rectifiers that are arcing? Is this the wild west?

Throw those tubes out and get new ones of the specified type, and if it keeps arcing what would your own assessment be?

Where are you buying your tubes from?

Thanks for the reply.  Actually, my question is, do I need to buy another TungSol.  

And if I buy another one, is there a way to prevent it from arcing.  For example, wait a bit longer (5+ mins) before restarting.  Or this arcing is caused by the design of the amp?  Or due to incompatibility?  I read another thread about Elrog 300B failing on Coincident Frankenstein 300B, while EML 300B works just fine.  But since the TungSol are not that expensive, I think I will try one more time.  

Should...

Not the case with my Audion and Bottlehead amps (I’ve blown fuses on both).

Also had the crap shocked out of me by various vintage amps that had been powered down for 8-24 hours (just for fun - because I knew better;-).

Better safe than sorry, plus what’s the hurry?

DeKay

psu. caps should have bleeder resistor that only takes few seconds to lower charge

The rectifiers you note are not "slow start" and I would wait a minimum of 5+++ minutes (depends upon the circuit design) before re-powering the amp.

The power supply caps need to drain stored energy in order for the circuit/design to withstand the inrush current of re-powering the unit.

This said, arcing tubes are not a good thing.

DeKay

Can this be a reason of causing the arcing? 

No.

as long as your amp is fused correctly you shouldn‘t suffer catastrophic consequences due to rectifier failure. The fact that they are arcing does tend to suggest that they are on the way out. Sounds like the Tung Sol you bought was a dud. All assuming your tech is competent.

My first tube amp was a Cary SLA 70 which used a pair of CV729s/5R4GYs/CV378s and I remember when one of them started doing something weird (this was almost 30 years ago, but maybe it arced or glowed or flashed, I don’t remember precisely) and when I called Cray (this was when Cray offered much better customer service than they do now) I was told that it wasn’t anything to be afraid of, but that the tube was probably on its way out & I should probably keep one on hand.

Since that time, I did have a couple of rectifier tubes fail with a flash or an arc on startup, and that would blow the AC power fuse, but no other damage.

I am not an electrician or a tech so this is not advice, only my experience with a somewhat similar situation.

BTW, it seems the arcing can developed over time.  Both the Svetlana 5C3S started arcing after several weeks.  Both the RCA arc right the way.  I just got the TungSol.  One of them started arcing after a couple hrs of use.  The other one doesn’t arc (yet).  
 

I also read I should wait 2 or 3 mins before restarting the amp.  I swap cables and restart in less than a min.  Can this be a reason of causing the arcing?  Once the tube starts to arc, it arc every time afterwards.