New Build Ideas

[piratesteve]

Well Ive finally gotten back at it again. Took a bit of time off after the holidays to deal with the actual work . But have encountered a few problems dealiong with the cold weather and working in unheated garages. It seems that water in hoses loves to freeze when its -20c. so I got thinking about running a system where Im not going to need water at all.

First off Im gonna build an air cooled reflux head. I read some of Bokabobs info and saw some interesting things hes done in the air cooled sections. I saw one in which he used the aluminum finned radiator tubes used in baseboards. This idea had me intrigued. other than the fact of utilizing aluminum for the health reasons, and the inferior heat transfer. so I will construct my own out of copper sheets finned out over a 3/4 or 1" pipe say a meter or so long. Im not 100% sure if this is gonna be sufficient heat exchange at this length. Inside of the pipe i will throw in a flat peice of copper to increase surface contact and turbulation of vapor. The top of pipe will also be outfitted with a venthole (Input would be greatly appreciated on this)

Ooops, I guess the lm should be above the VM take off, but below the ring


Now for the utilization of a car radiator for a cooling system. When I first arrived on this site, my newb brain got thinking of using a car rad for its heat exchange properties to eliminate the use of running water. Actually got a lot of comments that almost shyed me off of here but alas. I was given an idea by another fella (thanks geoff).
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ETHANOL VAPOR DOES NOT!!!!!! COME IN CONTACT WITH RADIATOR

I am going to fill the system with an appropriate mix of water/antifreeze to avoid freezing out in the garage. At first I was going to also use this in a traditional reflux set up as well, but the back pressure has seemed to pose a problem from my research. So until I can find a better setup to incorporate the for a reflux setuup, Im gonna give this a whirl. Trial and error eh? (any ideas here as well will be appreciated)

Food for thought!

ARGGG!

[bfpierce]

you could buy a pump and use non-toxic plumbing antifreeze instead of water, even then I'd definately want to make sure everything is 100% leak free and the reservoir isn't an open bucket. economy plumbing antifreeze is basically ethanol but I'd be pretty sure there's something in it to make it taste nasty.

[decoy]

Well Ive finally gotten back at it again. Took a bit of time off after the holidays to deal with the actual work . But have encountered a few problems dealiong with the cold weather and working in unheated garages. It seems that water in hoses loves to freeze when its -20c. so I got thinking about running a system where Im not going to need water at all.

First off Im gonna build an air cooled reflux head. I read some of Bokabobs info and saw some interesting things hes done in the air cooled sections. I saw one in which he used the aluminum finned radiator tubes used in baseboards. This idea had me intrigued. other than the fact of utilizing aluminum for the health reasons, and the inferior heat transfer. so I will construct my own out of copper sheets finned out over a 3/4 or 1" pipe say a meter or so long. Im not 100% sure if this is gonna be sufficient heat exchange at this length. Inside of the pipe i will throw in a flat peice of copper to increase surface contact and turbulation of vapor. The top of pipe will also be outfitted with a venthole (Input would be greatly appreciated on this)

I wouldnt bother with the air cooled reflux condensor, that is the hardest working condensor on your setup, you need to be able to knock down 100% of the vapor to achive equilibrium and heads seperation saying that you need to be able to knock down 70%+ of the vapor for reflux..

Ooops, I guess the lm should be above the VM take off, but below the ring


Now for the utilization of a car radiator for a cooling system. When I first arrived on this site, my newb brain got thinking of using a car rad for its heat exchange properties to eliminate the use of running water. Actually got a lot of comments that almost shyed me off of here but alas. I was given an idea by another fella (thanks geoff).
PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ETHANOL VAPOR DOES NOT!!!!!! COME IN CONTACT WITH RADIATOR

as far as the radiator, thats a good idea i use somthing similar my self.

aircooled VM-LM column.jpg

I am going to fill the system with an appropriate mix of water/antifreeze to avoid freezing out in the garage. At first I was going to also use this in a traditional reflux set up as well, but the back pressure has seemed to pose a problem from my research. So until I can find a better setup to incorporate the for a reflux setuup, Im gonna give this a whirl. Trial and error eh? (any ideas here as well will be appreciated)

Food for thought!

ARGGG!

[piratesteve]

Nice heat exchanger! What are the cost on those? definately looks a little tidier than a car radiator.

So im assuming that the reflux is also rigged into that system as well?

and if so, what are you using for a pump. Ive heard a lot of the the guys have problems running small circulating pumps with the condensors due to the increased back pressure....

[Braz]

A lot of Chevy/GMC vans came with auxiliary rear heaters. These are a small (~6" x 6") floor mounted heater core with a fan and housing around them. I'd think you could snag one of these from an auto scrap yard for cheap. Might be just the ticket.

Braz

[rad14701]

Around here, every Spring and Fall, the streets are lined with discarded window air conditioners... Plenty of good parts in them to make a cooler...

[squidd]

Pirate Steve,

My hydronic baseboard heaters have a copper pipe with aluminum fins.
Save you a lot of work if you can get one of those.

Also, you may want to consider mounting one at a slant angle rather than vertically, to cut down on the height.
Maybe mount it midsection (like two wings) for balance.

squidd

[decoy]

Here is a close up of the radiator its about 12"x12"x6" and it will circulate 12L of water and hold the temp about 28c
an old window type aircon radiator will be a bit bigger and do a better job.

I picked it up at a scrap yard with a pile of other stuff, probably cost me about $5 AU tops

There is a bit of back pressure, i prime it with a garden hose, once primed it will circulate at about 700L/h and i am using a 1500 L/h fishtank pump.

[piratesteve]

Beautiful....... Think its gonna be a monday morning trip to the junk yard... Have a batch of rum ready to go so itll be nice to test this out!

Thanks all