Question about pump size for condenser

[bigjuan]

I'm getting ready to do a mock run this weekend with just plain water to see how everything runs, and when I get down to it, I'm almost paranoid that when I run my setup, I may have vapor escape and float on down to the awaiting propane burner and cause unhappy times.

Some info about my setup:

5' feet of 2" copper pipe with Boka slant plates.
8" dual condenser (http://shop.rainierdistillers.com/Conde ... RD1017.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow)
320 GPH fountain water pump for the condenser

My concern is that the condenser isn't going to be cold enough, or that the water flow isn't going to be enough. I got everything set up so I could check the height and whatnot, and I was less than impressed with the stream coming OUT of the opposite end of the condenser. All of this has me wondering...is a 320 GPH pump enough?

[Samohon]

I use a 12v water pump connected to an AC/DC Converter..

Pumps out 20L per hour with a head height of 3 meters...

Works great...

For a 320GPH pump, your gonna need to install a bypass back to the recirculation barrel/tank...

Do a search for water pump bypass...

Hope it helps...

[Bushman]

Look at the pump rating. I have a pond pump I got from lowe's would have to check the size but I know when I got it, it was rated for 12' vertical lift. Going through my liebig and then to my double coil condenser I figured it was almost 9- 10' in the air with a keg boiler on top of a burner and then 4' column before the take-off and then another 10" for the coil.

[bigjuan]

For a 320GPH pump, your gonna need to install a bypass back to the recirculation barrel/tank...
Do a search for water pump bypass...

I feel like a bit of a noob...by water bypass, do you mean "you'll want to have some way to return that now-slightly-warmer water back to the tank of water that the pump is"? I'd planned on recirculating the water and watching the temperature (along with the temperature in the column, of course) and adding ice if needed to lower the temperature back down.

Look at the pump rating. I have a pond pump I got from lowe's would have to check the size but I know when I got it, it was rated for 12' vertical lift.

I completely spaced the vertical lift...mine does, I *think* 8 feet...which, once the keg is on the stand, and taking into account everything...it's probably not enough. I'll double check the paperwork I have with the pump...I may need to buy a different one.

[Bushman]

I feel like a bit of a noob...by water bypass, do you mean "you'll want to have some way to return that now-slightly-warmer water back to the tank of water that the pump is"? I'd planned on recirculating the water and watching the temperature (along with the temperature in the column, of course) and adding ice if needed to lower the temperature back down.

With mine I recycle into a plastic garbage can. It takes me about 11-12 hours for a 10.5 gallon run in my keg. I have to change the water 2-3 times. How I do this is the first part the water recycling is not that hot but I have 4 gallon milk cartons frozen and I put one in the water at a time to help cool it during the run. When the surface water in the garbage can starts to get warm, it is still cool at the bottom, I take my take-off hose and start dumping it into a bucket to empty rather than back into the garbage can. When the garbage can is 3/4 empty I start refilling it with the garden hose. The reason I use this method is I have a double bay out building and the one side has a 12' high garage door. I have that open but I run my rig inside the outbuilding (well ventillated). I have my column insulated but this keeps the wind off my rig that could effect reflux.

[Samohon]

For a 320GPH pump, your gonna need to install a bypass back to the recirculation barrel/tank...
Do a search for water pump bypass...

I feel like a bit of a noob...by water bypass, do you mean "you'll want to have some way to return that now-slightly-warmer water back to the tank of water that the pump is"?

No... Your pump will output 320GPH (1280L Per Hour). Thats 22L per minute approx...
For efficiency's sake, your pump only needs to output between 1L to 2L per minute to knock down all vapours...
Therefore you are putting strain on the pump to output its capacity... Its an easy fix... Quite a few of the members have this installed onto their systems.
You can make it as easy or as ellaborate as you want...

Have a look at my illustration...

Hope it helps...

[Oxbo Rene]

You really need that bypass !
On mine if I close the bypass off, the pump makes noises like it's straining (things ain't right).
I just leave the bypass wide open and pump acts sweet, and still, got plenty of water running
through the condenser (both of em) ......

[myles]

You really need that bypass !

In this instance with a fountain pump this is probably acurate. However, it all depends on your pump and what it was intended to be used for.

I use a water butt pump that was designed to pressurise an irrigation system to 1.1 bar mains water pressure. It will pump water 11 meters high, lift water 8 meters and has a maximum flow rate of 2200 litres per hour. I do not use a bypass, I just pressurise the entire system, and fit flow control valves to the output line of each condenser in the system.

My water system also feeds a fire hose - just in case!!

[myles]

Just looked at the OP again. In some cases you need to consider hose diameter. You can really restrict your flow rates when you use small diameter tube in your coils. It may be that your pump flow rate is much less for this reason. It will probably be good enough. It can be a usefull backup to have some blocks of ice in the freezer that you can drop into your water supply if it starts getting warm.

I nearly boiled 150 litres when doing cleaning runs on a few bits of equipment one after the other.

[duracell]

I have just a single rubbermaid garbage can, 32 gallons I think. I was able to do a 7.5 hour spirit run at 1650w with this single volume of water without changing the water or adding ice. What I did was I put my ladder over the garbage can, tied some cloth to the top rung, and then put the output of my reflux coil at the top of this cloth. I had a fan blowing across the cloth as the water trickled down.

During the whole run the water maxed at 44c and stayed there. Lost a couple gallons due to evaporation. I wouldn't be concerned until it got over 60c so I had a large margin.

[duracell]

Here are some photos:

The lever on the left is the bypass to prevent overloading the pump, and the other two valves are each for the liebig condenser and the reflux coil.

Here's my swamp cooler setup. I don't use it for stripping runs as the water stays cool enough on it's own during those. Not sure if you can see it but the output hose from my coil is at the top of the rags.

And here's the pump I have: http://www.princessauto.com/all-seasons ... water-pump" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
The specs on it are: GPH @ head: 600 @ 15 ft/ 900 @ 10 ft/ 1,200 @ 5 ft

It pushes 1L/ minute at height through my dual wound reflux coil. And my coil sucks; I almost remade it but I figured I'd give it a shot, and it works great despite how much the inner coil flattened during winding. Also, it's only 6" long, but I can strip at 3500w (7.5L output per h). I have a boka LM head.

[Samohon]

Nice coolant system there duracell...

[Bushman]

Interesting idea for cooling, the ice works well for me and I think in 12 hours I might replace the equivalent of one garbage can of water. Not much since I am on a well and not metered.

[duracell]

Yeah whatever works! I don't have a lot of room in my deep freeze to store blocks of ice so that's not ideal for me. When I did this swamp cooler it was about 5 Celsius in the garage; I'm curious to see how it will work in the summer. Worst case I can always pump the hot water out and replace it with fresh water from the hose during the run.