A good article on replacing selenium with silicon rectifiers.

http://w3hwj.com/index_files/RBSelenium2.pdf

Good read.

I have a few of these in the Philips (Mullard etc) Tin portables.

There is even one in my University Super tester (TST).

I do plan to change them out but I dont use the Tin Portables and the TST will need a calibration after replacement.

I have made a little gadget for powering up sets, it's just a block of wood with a standard bayonet light fitting, placed in series with the 'active' lead in a small extension cord. If I'm itching to see if something works from scratch, I first place a 40w incandescent bulb in the socket and plug the radio etc into the extension cord and the extension cord into the power point. I then turn on the radio and if the bulb lights up brightly, I know that the radio has a short and go from there. If it only lights up half brightly, I replace the 40w bulb with a 60 or 100w, If I only get a dim glow, I try and tune into stations and usually find them. If the lamp lights up, I shut power off immediately as there is obviously a major problem!
I have never had any issues using this little gadget as 40w of power is all thet 40w globe will let pass through the circuit and should do no harm in a few seconds, long enough to shut off power!

Yes JamieLee, that is a very wise solution.

Major benefit is that a tungsten filament lamp happens to be a PTC (Positive Temperature Coefficient) resistor. The more current you try to draw through it, the more it will heat up and reduce the current, so protecting things from damage. But if things are working normally, the lamp will drop little voltage and effectively "get out of the way" unless a fault develops. Choose the wattage to be about double the normal power rating of the load you are trying to protect.

For first power-up of large chassis like TVs I use a fan heater in series with the mains, lowest power setting first. Saves any drama.

A colleague of mine who used to have to repair KC series Blaupunkt colour TVs would refer to the power-on-after-repair process as "flash-up" - because that was often literally what happened! I HATED those TVs for that reason! Shudder! You could power them up on the isolation transformer as often as you liked and all would be well as the transformer limited the current on the first half-cycle. Direct connection to mains, power on a few times and BANG! Scare the living daylights out of you! Replace the fuses, bridge diodes, SCR and related parts and try again.