Heres the design I came up with for the condenser on my reflux still that I'm building, just wanted to know if people have any comments about it before i go ahead with building it.
Out the top of the end cap on my 2'' colum I'll have a 1/2'' tube coming up across and down into the top endcap on my 3'' condenser shell. The condenser shell will be sealed at both ends and have water pumped through it. The tube coming down through the top endcap of the condenser will join onto 3 metres of 1/4'' copper tube wound into a coil, coming out through the bottom endcap. This will go down to a 3/8'' T-section with a valve on either side of it. The two valves will be used to control the reflux ratio.
I actually have a few concerns about this design but I'm just not sure how justified they are:
1. Will I have a problem with the pressure building up if I'm running the still under full reflux?
2. Will I have a problem with a lot of the vapor in the column escaping through the reflux valve then out through the output valve without ever going through the condesner?
Mickarus wrote: it looks like a sealed head and will be a risk of explosion
I totally agree.
If You close that take off valve and start her up, it will blow. Your only hope is that you did a bad job of constructing it and it vented the pressure at a joint somewhere but now you run the risk of fire.
If that is all the materials youve got, why not put the condenser on top of the column.
Salus populi suprema est lex. [L.] The safety of the people is the highest law.
I am building a similar one; Mine will be a two inch column with a three inch condensor on top. My collection point is in the 2" to 3" adaptor, similar to yours. I am using two slanted plates, one above the other, to direct the condensate into the collection cup. (similar to one of the Bakabob drawings)
I am at the stage of wrapping the condensor tubing to fit inside the 3" shell. I have allowed about 10" of height.
What outside diameter tubing did you use?
How many feet of it did you put in the shell?
Single wrap? our double helix?
I am thinking about tight wrapping the tubing around a 1-1/2 copper pipe and possibly soldering the tubing to the center pipe for better heat conduction, then inserting the whole assembly. The center pipe could be helpful directing vapor flow over the coils.
If the center pipe has a cap on the bottom, all vapors would be forced to flow over the cooling coils.
If the center pipe has a cap on the top, vapors would still flow primarily over the coils and out, but would also have a large cooling surface to condense on inside the tube.
If the center pipe is left open at both ends....I think I get a chimney, with very liitle vapor going over the coils. I think this won't work.
If I skip the center pipe, I still think I create a chimney up the center of the coils.
What are your thoughts about the center pipe to wrap coils around??
Sorry that drawing is not of a still I use or plan to.
I have not tried or tested it. I haven’t heard of any one doing a still with a capped pipe connected to a coil in the condenser shell either (and I agree with the chimney effect), so any advice I could give would be just speculation. I would however recommend using a tried and proven design for your first still so you know it will without a doubt work as expected.
I drew that with the idea, that’s what Id do if it was all the parts I could find. To do the condenser the way I showed with 20' of 1/4 outside diameter tube (standard to coil condensers) the single coil would be (just a rough guess) about 14" - 16". The shell would need to be a little longer so a scrubber could be placed on top. The condensed etho will drop off the coil into the area around the 2" column. With that design you shouldn’t need plates unless you go with a shorter condenser shell and a double helix condenser coil.
With a condenser shell larger than the column, you can get away from the plates and reducers that can restrict the flow of vapor.
I personally don’t care for the inline type stills. Don’t care for the look of em. They seem to be of a minimalists design, which is fine and an art of its own. Sort of cheap looking IMHO but I hear they work.
Mine is the typical Nixon/Stone type with the of-set head.
Salus populi suprema est lex. [L.] The safety of the people is the highest law.
