Jacket style condenser ideas....

riff42 · Post by **riff42** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:52 am

I gave up on the 20ft coil of 1/4" Cu in a 4" PVC pipe. I didn't want to seal it and I couldn't easily kept the water cool. (it was closed loop)

So I sucked up the $$$ and made a 24" x 1/2" (3/4" outside jacket) Cu Leibig condenser. (like http://homedistiller.org/image/simpleStill.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow )

I'm thinking that with that short length (only length at the store, unless I wanted 20ft pipe!!!), that some vapor might end up coming out the end also. I've ALREADY read the condenser calculator, but I didn't do a full temperature readings on the condenser yet.

My whole long-arsed post points to this: Can I put some Cu mesh/packing in the hot end of it, just to slow the vapor down, and be more effective for a short length?

jmc91199 · Post by **jmc91199** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:18 pm

I use a 1/2" X 24" pipe with a 1" jacket and it works like a charm. I hook it up to the kitchen sink and run the water at half pressure. The end of the condensor is cool to the touch but not cold.

Have you run this condensor yet?

masonjar · Post by **masonjar** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:17 pm

The copper packing will improve the heat transfer rate from the vapors to the water by allowing more surface area to condense, but if the water flow rate isn't fast enough to keep up, then it doesn't matter. My guess is that it will work just fine either way. My water jacket is a 1.5" pipe with a .5" pipe in the middle and it is 2 feet long. It doesn't take much water flow at all for me to keep it cool even when I'm blasting the vapors out and collecting at a rate of 3L per hour.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:43 pm

The big thing to remember is that the velocity of the cooling water is going to make the biggest difference in how the condensor works. If you have a small voume of water moving quickly thru the condensor then that will remove more heat than a lot of water moving slower. This is important when you want to choose a pump for a closed system. Aquarium pumps don't have much muscle for the job...

so, yeah, have you run this condensor? if you just had a worm in a bucket then the bucket has to be at least the same voulme as the boiler or you are more likely to overheat. gotta keep that in mind with a closed system too.

riff42 · Post by **riff42** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:39 am

junkyard dawg wrote:The big thing to remember is that the velocity of the cooling water is going to make the biggest difference in how the condensor works. If you have a small voume of water moving quickly thru the condensor then that will remove more heat than a lot of water moving slower. This is important when you want to choose a pump for a closed system. Aquarium pumps don't have much muscle for the job...

so, yeah, have you run this condensor? if you just had a worm in a bucket then the bucket has to be at least the same voulme as the boiler or you are more likely to overheat. gotta keep that in mind with a closed system too.

1: it's a large arsed pump.
2: I think my avg output temp was about 82deg with the pump, and fresh cooling water (i don't have a sink faucet adapter yet). The output is barely warm, but I was just praying that nothing was getting past the condenser.
3: One run, and it was water to clean it out. I ran it for awhile with cooling, and without, just to clean ot the flux.

With the replies, I figure I'm safe. Good. might shove a tiny bit of packing in the front for the helluvit.

thanks