cooling plumbing options looking for advice

[Big Stogie]

I have two options that seem good. out of the pump into a tee, a line into both condensers with needle valves on the outlets and back to the cooling drum or direct to the PC then to a tee one leg to the RC the other leg to a needle valve then back to the drum and a needle valve on the outlet of the RC them back. there seems to be some opinion that the cooling water for the RC should be preheated, What are your thoughts?

[HDNB]

my rc can only hold back about 10% of the column capability with cool water, so my vote goes to direct, not preheated.

i bought a aluminium radiator for a for a gen 2 camaro, complete with 2 fans for 175 bucks and 500w 12vdc power supply to run them for 50...put that on the output to cool the return line to the tank...and damn, that works good.

[still_stirrin]

...the cooling water for the RC should be preheated?....what are your thoughts?

No need to pre-heat the RC coolant. Just be sure it is "counterflow", that is - the water discharge should be on the vapor inlet side...meaning your coolant inlet should be on the top, while the outlet is on the bottom.

A similar question just arrived in this forum and I explained that if you route the water discharge line above the inlet, the condenser will stay full of water. But, as you've eluded...always keep the flow control valves on the outlet/discharge side of the condenser. This way, the condenser will always be operating at the supply line side pressure....and stay full of water.
ss

[HDNB]

...the cooling water for the RC should be preheated?....what are your thoughts?

No need to pre-heat the RC coolant. Just be sure it is "counterflow", that is - the water discharge should be on the vapor inlet side...meaning your coolant inlet should be on the top, while the outlet is on the bottom.

A similar question just arrived in this forum and I explained that if you route the water discharge line above the inlet, the condenser will stay full of water. But, as you've eluded...always keep the flow control valves on the outlet/discharge side of the condenser. This way, the condenser will always be operating at the supply line side pressure....and stay full of water.
ss

mine has control on the output side. if i route water in top, it will percolate if i'm trying to run minimal reflux. and that does all kinds of bad shit. so i run the water in the bottom, out the top from necessity.

mind, my i/o are about 1 inch off of the top and bottom, so if your input is closer to the top of the dephlegmater it may not be so bad.

[shadylane]

What are your thoughts?

I try to keep most of my thoughts to myself, don't want to break rule #4

Is your still a CM, LM or VM
How much heat, must the RC disipate
How big is your "cooling drum"
Is the RC a shotgun or Dimroth
What pump is being used
Why preheat RC cooling water

[still_stirrin]

....if i route water in top, it will percolate if i'm trying to run minimal reflux. and that does all kinds of bad shit...

....if you route the water discharge line above the inlet, the condenser will stay full of water....

But you’re correct...with a dephleg the flow direction of the coolant doesn’t really matter as it would with a concentric or Liebig (tube in tube) because the vertical distance is small compared to the diameter of the jacket.

Even with a coil RC, I would run the coolant “top —> down”. But with a coil, the outlet is out the top of the vapor tube (by design), so the coil will always stay full of water as well.
ss

[Big Stogie]

I bought some push loc tubes and fittings so I can reroute the lines very easy I will try a couple different ways and report back, thanks for the response