Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

While cleaning up after the flood I realized the flame went out. Re-Lit without dephleg and have a steady drip. Can't seem to hold a steady drip/ can't seem to run the dephleg while producing without causing the flood.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=727Irf_9J-c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

heres what it was doing when running dephleg and collecting distillate.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

FreeMountainHermit wrote:Check your dephlag output cooling line to see if the flow is fluctuating .

After that last flood I'm afraid of even turning it back on til the hearts come through.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

FreeMountainHermit wrote:Check your dephlag output cooling line to see if the flow is fluctuating .

If it is indeed fluctuating then what you think the problem is?
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by FreeMountainHermit »

Wild guess would be pressure variation. Are you running off a well ?
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Something is wrong. That's what I say.

I never have run a deflag, but your problem isn't with operational tweaks, I'd say something more basic is broken.

Maybe deflag has a cracked joint somewhere allowing cooling water into column.
Maybe your heat is surging.
Maybe not enough water through deflag and its boiling.
Maybe somebody is flushing the toilet just to screw with it.

I'd say something is broke.
But I don't know.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Oldvine Zin »

With that low abv output, my guess is a pin hole leak in your rc

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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by rgreen2002 »

This will happen to me when I run my 4" flute. I cannot really figure it out. My best guess is that the way the inlet/outlet are for the dephleg, it never really fills up. Thereis is always a little air in the dephleg. This will allow fluctuation within the dephleg itself that can show up as surging( OK that's what I call it.) where you get a quick pulse of stream followed by slow stream. I have run inlet from the top and the bottom and have still seen the issue so I am not helping the problem as much as lending support :thumbup:

Posted with OVZ... and agree that a small leak can cause issues.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

Yes I'm running off a well. I bought a hose pressure regulator, thought it would help.

Something broken...hmm..I'll have to look upon disassembly. If I just put it in reflux for 20 mins then shut it off, my proof goes up some and I don't run into the flooding problem. However if I try to collect AND run dephleg, I flood. Very frustrating
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

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rgreen2002 wrote:This will happen to me when I run my 4" flute. I cannot really figure it out. My best guess is that the way the inlet/outlet are for the dephleg, it never really fills up. Thereis is always a little air in the dephleg. This will allow fluctuation within the dephleg itself that can show up as surging( OK that's what I call it.) where you get a quick pulse of stream followed by slow stream. I have run inlet from the top and the bottom and have still seen the issue so I am not helping the problem as much as lending support :thumbup:

Posted with OVZ... and agree that a small leak can cause issues.
I'll look for a leak when it's torn down.


Good to know I'm not the only one experiencing this.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by FreeMountainHermit »

rain distillate wrote:
Something broken...hmm..I'll have to look upon disassembly.
Start looking now.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by skow69 »

I don't know what that screen is about, but it would be my first suspect.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Hound Dog »

[quote="rain distillate"] Could it be my new s.s. mesh screen I installed? Its a lot higher micron then I would have liked i think 100. /quote]
Where did you install a 100 micron screen? Is this what you are using for packing?

Edit:posted same time as Skow
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

Hound Dog wrote:
rain distillate wrote: Could it be my new s.s. mesh screen I installed? Its a lot higher micron then I would have liked i think 100. /quote]
Where did you install a 100 micron screen? Is this what you are using for packing?

Edit:posted same time as Skow

I installed it 18" up the column from the boiler. I use the screen to keep the ceramic rings from falling into the boiler.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

Lots of folks bought Shelby AC Cobras back in the '60s and never lived to pay 'em off.
I don't think that's off topic.

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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

I put it into reflux again. output water pressure does not seem to be fluctuating. Do I dare risk another flood and try to collect in 15 mins with dephleg active?
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

skow69 wrote:I don't know what that screen is about, but it would be my first suspect.
Its a ptfe gasket with a s.s. screen inside the middle.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

FreeMountainHermit wrote:
rain distillate wrote:
Something broken...hmm..I'll have to look upon disassembly.
Start looking now.

If its internal how do I check it now?
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Hound Dog »

If you have a fine mesh screen (like 100 micron) under your packing, your column is not draining back into the boiler. It is just filling up and flooding out the takeoff. The proof is dropping because there is no reflux just a column filling up. Look at this thread to see what you should have in there. The very first example is about as tight a micro mesh as you should have.
http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... =2&t=50707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

As or checking now, shut your still down, let it cool, take off your column and look. You would really benefit from a sight glass above your packing to see what is going on.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

Hound Dog wrote:If you have a fine mesh screen (like 100 micron) under your packing, your column is not draining back into the boiler. It is just filling up and flooding out the takeoff. The proof is dropping because there is no reflux just a column filling up. Look at this thread to see what you should have in there. The very first example is about as tight a micro mesh as you should have.
http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... =2&t=50707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

As or checking now, shut your still down, let it cool, take off your column and look. You would really benefit from a sight glass above your packing to see what is going on.
Now we're getting somewhere. That makes sense!!
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Hound Dog »

That screen acts like a perferated place in a plated column, just with a lot more reflux coming down on it. So with the vapor pushing up, nothing is draining back. Hence, the flood.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

rain distillate wrote:
Hound Dog wrote:If you have a fine mesh screen (like 100 micron) under your packing, your column is not draining back into the boiler. It is just filling up and flooding out the takeoff. The proof is dropping because there is no reflux just a column filling up. Look at this thread to see what you should have in there. The very first example is about as tight a micro mesh as you should have.
http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... =2&t=50707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

As or checking now, shut your still down, let it cool, take off your column and look. You would really benefit from a sight glass above your packing to see what is going on.
Now we're getting somewhere. That makes sense!!

You hit the nail on the head. It's gotta be the screen. That would explain the surge and the flood. It would fill up the column, reach dephleg, dephleg couldn't keep up so it surpassed it and made it up over the top to the condenser. While continuing to fill it would eventually flood.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

And all the while the fine screen is filling up with debris becoming more of a plug than a plate.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by FreeMountainHermit »

rain distillate wrote:
rain distillate wrote:
Hound Dog wrote:If you have a fine mesh screen (like 100 micron) under your packing, your column is not draining back into the boiler. It is just filling up and flooding out the takeoff. The proof is dropping because there is no reflux just a column filling up. Look at this thread to see what you should have in there. The very first example is about as tight a micro mesh as you should have.
http://ww.homedistiller.org/forum/viewt ... =2&t=50707" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

As or checking now, shut your still down, let it cool, take off your column and look. You would really benefit from a sight glass above your packing to see what is going on.
Now we're getting somewhere. That makes sense!!

You hit the nail on the head. It's gotta be the screen. That would explain the surge and the flood. It would fill up the column, reach dephleg, dephleg couldn't keep up so it surpassed it and made it up over the top to the condenser. While continuing to fill it would eventually flood.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Hound Dog »

You got it. Except the dephleg IS keeping up. It's doing its job and condensing the vapor that is not returning back down the column causing you to flood. Once you get a proper retainer, fill your column all the way with the same packing. Run full water to your dephleg and turn the heat up. If nothing comes out while at full boil, you are in full reflux. Let this go for a while then gradually cut back your water flow until you get a slight drip coming out. Then cut a bit more and fiddle with it. By Managing the Coolant you will vary the takeoff. i.e. a C (coolant) M (management) still. :thumbup:
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

I believe I would have successfully used the dephleg with product coming out had I had a better retainer. My process and steps taken were right. If I got enough sheet copper left I'll rig up something to hold the packing up.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Oldvine Zin »

not sure what your flood was because you said cleaning up after. flooded column or just a mess on the output side??

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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by skow69 »

rain distillate wrote:I believe I would have successfully used the dephleg with product coming out had I had a better retainer. My process and steps taken were right. If I got enough sheet copper left I'll rig up something to hold the packing up.
Half a scrubbie will do the job, man.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

Oldvine Zin wrote:not sure what your flood was because you said cleaning up after. flooded column or just a mess on the output side??

OVZ
The column flooded because of my retainer apparently. then once full, it shot out the output. Very dangerous. will NOT be running it again like that.
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Re: Oooops...Need Advice Operating My 3" Copper Dephlegmator

Post by Rain Distillate »

Think I could just cut or drill a bunch of decent size holes in the s.s. mesh on the gasket?? I stand corrected it's 150 micron ooops.
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