Why is it huffing at me!?

[Jwolfrom80]

I just made a new coil for my 2-in boka, I've had the boka for probably 15 years and it's always worked fine. But recently the coil stopped condensing the vapor well enough to keep it from escaping out the top. I figure it's a flow issue so I made a new coil earlier today, trying to run a batch that's been sitting in the garage for a couple months now and it seems fine. The trouble is it's gargling and huffing at me. Nothing coming out the top temps look good, just gargling. Here's a link to my YouTube video showing what it's doing.


Anyone know why it's doing this?

[dunluce]

Stuff some copper scrubbie pads in the end - fixed it for me.

[Jwolfrom80]

Thank you,
In the top above the coils? Is it affecting the product in any way? If its just making noise but the product is still good then I don't mind it.

[dunluce]

No, placed at the end of the spout. I cut one in two, twisted it up, and shoved it into the output.

[Yummyrum]

Is there still a space between the bottom of the coil and the top slant plate ? Wondering if the new coil is a bit longer than the old one .

Also wondering if its more efficient . Have you tried reducing the coolant flow ? Thats the huffing fix for a Liebig .( although its not your liebig thats huffing from tje sound of things)

[shadylane]

How much power are you running?

[greggn]

I just made a new coil for my 2-in boka,
The trouble is it's gargling and huffing at me.

Does it make the same sound when the coil is outside of the column ? I wonder if it is either ...

(a) a bent/crimped/restricted section in the coil
(b) trapped air within the coil

[still_stirrin]

Shadylane figured it out.....you’re hearing the boiler, or rather, the rolling boil in the boiler.

With the new, more powerful reflux condenser, you have turned up the heat input, thereby creating more vapor. And that rapidly producing boil is noisy. Since the sound is muffled inside your insulated column, it sounds like it’s coming from the top. But it actually originates in the boiler at the liquid/vapor interface. Turning the heat down would reduce, or eliminate the sound.

But, I wouldn’t worry about the sound as long as you don’t have vapor coming out of the top. Your RC is doing its job. While I was a little concerned by the use of 1/4” soft copper for the RC, you have 3 (parallel) circuits which should give you enough coolant flow to manage the vapors in the top section. And the multiple tubes provides plenty of surface area for the vapors to condense upon.

I’m curious about what type of packing you use in the column? I use glass marbles and sometimes I hear that type of “purring” in my column, especially at high heat/vapor production. Since the falling condensate cools rising vapors and triggers condensing and reboiling cycles, the process creates a “bubbling” sound in the packing. I suspect that may be a possibility in your system as well. Again, it is not a worry.

And it isn’t “huffing” as we typically note. Huffing is from rapid vapor collapse in a product condenser where the change of state (vapor to liquid) is dramatic due to the hot vapors contacting the cold water cooled condenser wall. This occurs most frequently in Liebig PCs where the water flow is too fast and/or the water is too cold. The vapor stream does not condense gradually, but rather “instantly”. The collapse causes the condenser to pull outside air back into the condenser to offset the volume change between the product in the vapor state and when condensed.

So, I think Shadylane gave you a clue to the cause....vapor production “bubbling” in the boiler (or column).
ss