temperature drop couple of times during middle of run

[SMiTH]

Hi All,

Running my reflux still in a different location (400km inland, 900ft higher above sea level than where i was previously running it) and everything was going well, I was collecting at 91% and water flow was ideal until about 2 hours in the temp dropped from 78.4 deg C to around 61 deg C, it went back up over a time period of about 2 mins but this was the first time something like this has happened.

has anyone experienced this? if so do they know the cause of it?

Cheers;

SMiTH

[rednose]

I would bet that you heat with electrisity and don't have a proper controller, so the element cicles.

Is that the case?

Joe

[SMiTH]

I am heating with electricity yes, what do you mean by controller but? I'm not running it any different now than I was a month ago and I wasn't experiencing this previously.

[kiwistiller]

A picture of the rig is always helpful....

[Ayay]

61 Deg C looks like the temp of the reflux straight off the condenser. Is it possible for some reflux to occasionally dribble onto the thermometer probe?

[SMiTH]

Heres a couple of photos, unsure if they will help?

[kiwistiller]

Ah ok, you probably had a water pressure increase and that would have put your rig into total reflux.

[rednose]

I'm still with the idea that the thermostat didn't work well.

That still has a water jacket which does the reflux but it runs down the mini column and doesn't touch the thermometer.

BTW: You have three hoses, two are cooling water in and out.

If the third is what I think try to get rid of it and use a copper tube.

Joe

[kiwistiller]

If that boiler is anything like my old one (which is a fair assumption because the head is almost identical), then it doesn't have a thermostat.

[SMiTH]

Kiwi is right, no thermostat on the boiler, and I am looking into getting some copper tubing to replace the output hose, cheers Joe

[rednose]

Hmm Smith, if you would live in EC I would say your electric energy went for a moment , but...

At the moment I have no explanation other than that your thermometer got drunk.

Good that you change the take off.

[rad14701]

Wow... All that high proof alcohol exiting through a coupler constructed from plastic and rubber, then into the hose... Definitely go with either copper or stainless... An easy fix...

[diesel4ever]

Voltage drop (brown out) of even 10% will cause that. Or a heating element going bad or shorting out. How long did it take to recover? Is your water system on a well? A sudden surge of water pressure could also be the culprit.

[mackay australia]

I have the same unit as you and have had a similar thing happen. I found that the temerature will fluctuate if I have the cooling water flow set too high.

[SMiTH]

didnt take long to recover, I'd say less than a minute. Water flow was normal, ran it back at the usual place yesterday and this didnt happen at all....