Bunny's small boiler

In our view 30 gallons and under is considered hobby size. Do not bring anything larger than this to our site.

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bunny
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Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Hi!
This is my first boiler. The size is perfect for me with my plans to remain at, or under, 1 inch plumbing.
The original rubber top handles and rubber bottom make this very easy to handle/dump/whatever even when hot.
All the viton has been removed except the main seal which I have covered in PTFE tape.
I silver braised the 1 inch SS half couplings onto the lid and side and then drilled through the couplings with a bi-metal bit leaving a very nice finish. The 1440 watt element is PTFE taped and screwed in with it's original gasket. I removed all the original wire attachment stuff which left just 2 rods sticking out the back. There I attached the male portion of a Leviton receptacle. It seems to work pretty well with nothing bare showing.
The first pic shows it setup for stripping (less water lines).
The next batch of pics will show it setup for reflux.
I do not use the controller for stripping, just refluxing for now.
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CopperFiend
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by CopperFiend »

Looks very slick! I assume those are copper or steel pipes on top, just painted black?
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bunny
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Here's my latest small boiler:
It's a 1/6 barrel with 1500 watt 120v element.
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First spirit run after cleaning started today and will finish with a restart tomorrow morning after shutdown tonight.

1 1/2 m (60") of Eheim sintered pearl shaped glass media in 1" copper tube:
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Liquid and Power management with slant "jumbo" 3' x 3" x 3" x 3/4" "air condenser":
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Take-off via OS Max nickel plated brass needle valve with hardened steel needle:
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So far, it does a real nice job with about 300 watts. The air condenser handles that amount of power with ease.

Eheim "pearls" on left, Siporax "mini" on the right:
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bunny
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Here is #3 boiler.
Short 1/4 barrel with 5500w element running on 115v.
Column packed with 48" of red lava.
VM head 1" x 1/2" take off
1/2" all the way through to the collection jar.
Kind of funny how things that didn't scale up well to larger columns work just fine at this scale.

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Jstroke
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by Jstroke »

Bunny,

Nice collection you have there. I have to admit, if you enjoy tinkering and running a still more often as a hobby, a smaller set up makes alot of sense. Better maybe to try lots of different recipes without too much volume.

J
If in doubt leave it out.
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by BlueSasquatch »

I like your air condenser, I have a pre-heat keg design that needs a way to condense early vapors, since it's not directly getting heated and the goal isn't for it to produce anything (just approach the right temps, vs room temp) and I'm not wanting to invest in another large condenser.
"In the silence of the study one can discuss theories, but only in practice one becomes an artist" - Meunier
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Stripping @1325w with 6' "air condenser".
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by fzbwfk9r »

I'm just learning and reading as much as I can, trying to see how my own set up may align with others' successes.

I love the simplicity if your stripping boiler!
Do you have the part number of that Leviton male plug?

I have a coupla ??s regarding operations.

on your LM still, would it be better to have your valve as close to the air cooled reflux column as possible? This would eliminate smearing when you would close it for full reflux.

on your stripping boiler, is that element corroding?
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

fzbwfk9r-

Leviton plug comes in orange (or yellow) Model# R52-05256-BVO

If your valve is internally the same size as the take-off port I think it should be as close as possible to the main column.
My take off pipe is 1/2" straight through the valve and the condenser to the final collection point.
If your valve is smaller than the take-off port your guess about valve placement is as good as mine.
I think you would be really lucky if smearing was your biggest problem with this hobby.

My stripping element lost it's plating during the cleaning runs.
It's probably getting a little thinner as the number of acidic runs piles up.
I haven't actually "licked" the element so I don't know if it's flavor is coming through with the low wines or not.
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by fzbwfk9r »

Well... remember to unplug it and let it cool before you lick it!

kinda the opposite of licking a frost covered aluminum ladder.
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by cob »

bunny wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:26 pm Stripping @1325w with 6' "air condenser".
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collecting in plastic jugs if severely frowned upon.
be water my friend
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Not to worry Mr cob.

No one will be chugging any of this stuff.

The stripping pictures were to show how a simple "air condenser" can be used in the small boiler world.
The low wines are being collected to add to my heads and tails collection for sacrificial purposes in my new (to me) 1x20" Seiko LM test column.
I will be trying at least 5 different packing materials from Manu's spp, lava rock, 2 different sintered glass aquarium media, and a "secret ingredient".
I should have some results in the very near future.
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by SomethingObscure »

bunny wrote:...
I should have some results in the very near future...
Hi bunny

Did you get any further with your packing testing?

What size is your column? I think your column is smaller than 2" .

Which filter media do you have in the jars?

Ive been wondereding how the sintered glass media compares to lava rock.

I've been considering EHEIM SUBSTRATpro which looks very similar to one of your jars pictured.

I think Mars says for 3" column 5/16 - 3/8" in size works well. and 1/4" - 3/16" for 2" when using lava rock.

Since I don't seem to have to patients to brake lave rock in to such small pieces. My guess from video and photos of the eheim products that these are about 10mm diameter.

Cheers SomethingObscure
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

SomethingObscure wrote: Tue Apr 13, 2021 9:25 pm
bunny wrote:...
I should have some results in the very near future...
Hi bunny

Did you get any further with your packing testing?

What size is your column? I think your column is smaller than 2" .

Which filter media do you have in the jars?

Ive been wondereding how the sintered glass media compares to lava rock.

I've been considering EHEIM SUBSTRATpro which looks very similar to one of your jars pictured.

I think Mars says for 3" column 5/16 - 3/8" in size works well. and 1/4" - 3/16" for 2" when using lava rock.

Since I don't seem to have to patients to brake lave rock in to such small pieces. My guess from video and photos of the eheim products that these are about 10mm diameter.

Cheers SomethingObscure
Hi SO,
I finished my testing with dubious results.
With my self-imposed condition of sticking with a 1" column, they all performed with relatively similar results.
Flooding was the main issue and they all flooded given enough power.
They all will hit azeo without flooding, some with a lot less power.
We're only talking here 200-300 watts, so not much.
That's 11.66 - 17.48 inches per second vapor speed.
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This picture shows 4 out of 5 test packings, the last not shown was ss scrubbies.

Manu's SPP are extremely small and would not run without flooding at my normal speed of 250w.
They did work very well however and produced azeo at a much lower power level.

The red lava worked fairly well but flooded easily and was harder to control than all the others.

The Siporax "mini" performed well similar to the Eheim but was harder to load and unload the packing into the column.

The ss scrubbies also worked fine but were hard to pack efficiently and in a repeatable fashion.

Overall, for my future and everyday use i think I will go with the Eheim substrata pearls. They seem a little easier to use.

I do have a kilo (spelled "spendy") of Manu's SPP so I will dedicate one of my 48" columns to that alone.


I think I have come to a conclusion that vapor speed, RR, and take-off speed are about the only things that really matter in my 1" columns. Being able to precisely control the power and the take off speed determines the RR ratio. Below are pics of my various take off speed controllers:
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Upper left is a telescoping copper fixed take off tube that does about 100mls in 17 minutes. Beneath are two OS MAX needle valves on copper tubing, They have very fine adjustment from 0- too much. The bottom one is a SAITO needle valve that is a little coarser than the OSs. Top right is a set if Mikuni slow and high speed carb jets.They work well but are a pain to adjust. Bottom right is a concentric LM head that accepts all of the controllers.
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Hardened steel needles removed from nickel plated brass bodies.
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I have resigned myself to collecting about 300-350ml at azeo per hour on little more than a lightbulb's worth of power.

OK, I'm off to a different project. :D
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by SomethingObscure »

Thanks for taking the time to write that up.

How did you find the various media with regards to cleaning and such?

Been ummin and ahhing about using glass marbles or sintered glass balls.

Cheers SomethingObscure
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bunny
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Re: Bunny's small boiler

Post by bunny »

Personally I only run strips through my packed columns.
Cleaning so far has been basic and easy.
I believe the sintered glass balls (Eheim) will perform much better than plain marbles and can be removed and re-installed into the column in minutes if need be.
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