My First Coil... Think it turned out alright.

[cwalker]

Well, finished my first coil today..... Kinda proud of this little thing.

I cant see anyspots on it were it flattened out too much, but with my pump I only get just over 350-400 ml a minute... just over a 1/3 of a ltr. The pump is just a small fountian pump rated at 500gph...

Ive seen many people use 1/4OD pipe for a condenser so it has to be my pump right?? Go big or go home?

Btw its a little over 8 inches, so maybe the small flowrate will be ok???


There was one spot on the bottom were it flatned a little bit bit i got it round again with some pliers.
Also, the pic of the bottom it looks like the inner and outter coils are touching, they are. It loosens right up about 3 coils up, You can see it in the pic of the top theres a decent gap between the inner and outter.

[qball]

That looks great!

[cwalker]

Thanks qball. I was smiling like a little school girl when I pulled it of the madrel...quite happy with how it turned out.

As much as I really wanted to run this off a pump, anything that will do the job is a couple hundered bucks.. to rich for my blood.

Stuffed the copper end into tip of the hand held sprayer on my hose, got soaked in the process but it put out more then enuff water for efficient cooling. Off to the hardware store again tommorow for somemre fittings.

[rad14701]

If you can get at least 1 liter per minute of flow from the tap then the condenser is fine... From that point you can make whatever pumping modifications you need in order to insure that you can knock down 100% of the vapor you throw at it...

[Bushman]

Nice job, better than the first attempt I had.

[NcHooch]

Nice job, better than the first attempt I had.

Yep, my first one was nowhere near as handsome as that baby.

CW, pay attention to how far you're pumping UP with your fountain pump, that'll make a big difference in the volume you get through the coil.

[astronomical]

elevate your cooling water and youll get more bang for your buck .... youll be cutting the head pressure dramatically thus enabling it to move a lot more water with a lot less effort... if your using something like a 50 gallon drum I think youll still get a large improvement by having the pump near the surface... elevating 400# of water ain't no easy task


Edit: I wrote this 3 hours before NC said that, then I rode my bicycle 35 miles, got back and hit submit... just sayin'.. i dont ride no f'in coat tails yo

[cwalker]

I wish it was that easy...did the test with about a ft of head... had pump in the sink and coil on the counter. still only able to get 1/3 of a ltr. Was only a $13 pump from home hardware, didnt have the highest of hopes for it. Worked great on my liebeg condeser tho, lived up to its 500 gph rating. I can still use it for the stovetop pot still so its not a total loss.

Didnt make it to the hardware store today, but i think a hose bib connection is in order. Have to rig up a way to route the output water to somewere suitable. Ive been warned that if the lawn turns into a lake, my stillin days are over lol.



Btw, for all those who are wondering. Winding the coil only took about 15 total and most of that time was spent adjusting the coils as I didnt use a "spacer" as i wound everything. None of that wind a 1/3 count to 10 wind a 1/3 count to 10, I speed wound tryin to get the inner coil done before the ice melted lol. Filled the pipe with water(gotta suck it thru like a straw), crimped one and and threw it in the freezer for an hr. Makes winding it soooo much easier and faster. With the crimped end, It got harder and harder to wind as the "pressure" built up on the ice to the point I had to cut the crimp off to get the pipe to sit flat against the mandrel. oh ya I was winding towards the crimp. Held its shape real nice.

[NcHooch]

Interesting ....so do ya just cross your fingers and hope it doesn't burst at 59 minutes (in the freezer) ?

[cwalker]

Filled the pipe with water(gotta suck it thru like a straw), crimped one and and threw it in the freezer for an hr.

One end*** my bad I type to fast for my own good sometimes.

My thinking was if I forced it to only push out the one open end of copper, I would end up with "harder" ice if that makes an sence.

The one spot it did flatten out a bit, I had just spent a few minutes spacing out the inner coils and when I went to transition to the outter coils I kinda mind blanked for a sec. Started "agressivly" winding the outter coil thinking there was still ice in the copper......Aperently it melts faster then I thought. Slowed it down a bit and got the rest of it done with no ice. Didnt really need it for the larger diameter outer coil, little bit slower and held it shape well.