3/8 condenser and 4" section for my 2" Boka

[Limitedsky]

I was hoping I could get some advice on the biggest issue I have run into with my boka, cooling and condensing using a water pump. I originally made a dual 100mm 1/4" coil condenser for my 2" boka. Did a good job on it, no kinks and running it off mains worked an absolute treat. But it wasted a ton of water, so I bought a decent powered pond pump for its second run, but quickly found out after some investigation and help in another topic on here that the length and size of the 1/4" coils require far more pressure than any pond or bilge pump can offer and I would have to invest in a 600-1000w transfer pump in order to produce the 1L per min or more that I needed through it. The expense of buying the pump is not really an issue (tho still need to spend $150-$200) but I just don't want to add another 600w and a big noisy pump to this set-up. Electricity is not cheap here, I'm already sucking 2400w in the boiler and it simply seems like a waste.

In a fit of frustration I thought I would use some copper leftovers I had lying around to try to make something that might work better, a 100m single 1/4" coil around a 1" cold finger. I hooked it up to the pump and managed to get about 750ml a min out of it! So fired up the boiler, and gave it a shot. It allllmost worked. If I ran it real real real REAL slow, but the inner temp was always jumping around, about 1-2c higher than normal and it took almost constant looking after.

So back to the drawing board. I'm almost at the point of starting from scratch and building a 3 or 4" version and using 3/8 to make a dual coil. But was playing with the idea of instead just lopping the top of my 2", getting 100mm of 4" and a reducer (or two) and just placing the coil in that. But before I do that I thought I'd ask the brains trust if they had any better ideas.

Also, has anyone successfully run a 3/8 coil off a pond pump? I'd hate to go through the all this just to find out I still couldn't run off a low powered pump.

[yakattack]

Dude. Honestly get some 3/8 ccst (stainless steel gas line) twist it up and insert in top instead of your 1/4 inch coil. Its dads 300 condensor. I use one on my 3 inch boka. Just ran off 8l of 95% hearts today and never once had an issue. Using a small pond pump and a 55 gallon res. Copper is nice and all, but for the convenience and simplicity of the ss coil you can't go wrong.

Yak

[Limitedsky]

Mate if I could get SS corrugated tubing here in Australia, I would. But can't find the shit anywhere!

[bearriver]

Mate if I could get SS corrugated tubing here in Australia, I would. But can't find the shit anywhere!

CSST can come in a yellow plastic jacket. You may have passed right by it.

[Limitedsky]

Believe me I have looked for it jacketed and insulated or without. If anyone knows where to get it in Australia let us know!
But otherwise love to get some advice on my idea using copper 3/8 and a 3-4"top section. Or even a verticle shotty instead of a coil.

[Hound Dog]

My first 2" used a single 3/8" coil around a 3/4" "cold finger" center. This allowed to just turn sharp into the 3/4" pipe and cap the bottom. It worked well and didn't have too much resistance for my pond pump. That was before I discovered the miracle of CSST......

[Limitedsky]

Damn I wish I could get it here. Can get it on eBay from the States but it only sells in large rolls and due to weight is just ridiculous to ship across.

[thecroweater]

Damn I wish I could get it here. Can get it on eBay from the States but it only sells in large rolls and due to weight is just ridiculous to ship across.

Don't sweat it bud ya 3/8 copper will work just fine, maybe better