Just finished my first cleaning run with vinegar and ran into an issue and wanted some expert advice on how to solve. I am running an nixon stone setup and it doesn't appear that my coil was able to condense all the vapors. First I was wondering if that is common (not to condense all vapors) on water/vinegar cleaning runs (as I have read it reacts differently then an alcoholic mix)? Secondly, If a coil should be able to keep up with all vapors during the cleaning run, would there be any way to solve this without completely making a new coil.
My coil is just basically a coil that was formed around a 1.5" pipe and is about 8" long made out of 1/4" tubing. Pretty simple, I know, but made it before I found this site and those awesome tutorials in the must read section. And I fully realize that this might not be enough. The coil is located in a 3" pipe and my column is made of 1.5". I am heating with an 1300Watt hot plate currently (as winter is keeping me indoors).
I have read packing the condenser with copper/ss mesh is an option that some people use and I have also read/seen people wrap tubing around the outside of the condenser and said that helped. Would there be any advantages/disadvantages to each approach or could both be employed? I thought I read in some post that wrapping tubing around the outside of the condenser wasn't recommended as the cooling might transfer to the column (which I find hard to believe but you guys are the experts). However, what I was envisioning was wrapping another 10' of 1/4 tubing around the outside of the condenser (with the output water), so that it doesn't affect input water temp but would still offer some additional cooling, then stuff the inner part with ss mesh.
Or Would just scrapping what I currently have be advisable and create a new coil?
Cleaning Run and Coil Not Condensing All Vapor
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JollyMon
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