I have been reading here for several months and am almost done with my first build. It is set up as a pot still with an eight gallon boiler. The arm is a 2" diameter pipe straight up for 18", turns 90 degrees, necks down by 1/2" increments to 1/2" (the reduction piece is about 18" long), then turns 90 degrees down and ties into a 3/8" worm in a 5 gallon bucket with a cool water source at the bottom. I think the worm has about 15-18' usable coil.
I understand from reading that ideally the condenser should have been made of 1/2" tubing and that it may be a bit small. Unfortunately that was the first part I built and hadn't done all of my research yet. I just needed to start with something.
Is there going to be a problem with pressure build up with a diameter worm this size for this size boiler? Also, will this be adequate to ensure that ethanol vapors do not escape out of the end of the worm posing a fire hazard?
I apologize if this has been covered somewhere, but I haven't been able to find anything other than the statement that 3/8" is a minimum for condenser diameter. I just want to make sure I build this project as safely as possible.
Thanks for all the help so far guys, I've already picked up more than I ever thought there was to know from these forums, and still get the feeling I'm just scratching the surface. Seemed like such a simple concept just a few months ago...
