Liebig length and cooling water questions

[muscashine]

I'm in the process of switching from a worm to a Liebig, using a 13 gallon boiler with a 3500watt heater. There's a 2" riser coming off the top, which tees off into a 1" section then reduces to 1/2" for the liebig.
I'm using a 1/2" section for the vapor tube, and 1" for the water jacket. My question is coolant flow. How much water is usually required through the jacket? I am planning to go with a 1/4" tube from a faucet diverter (I'm on county water and its REALLY cheap, and was going to just put the output into my hot tub). I see a lot of guys using pond or aquarium pumps.
What size inlet and outlet ports do people typically use on the water jacket? I am putting in 1/2" male fittings which would accept several different brass connecters for the tubing (just for the water jacket, no brass in the alcohol portion of the system!). Right now I have the 1/4" ones, but I could put on a different size.
Also - the pipe from Lowes comes in 5 foot sections. I know that seems a bit long for a liebig. Most of the ones I have seen run between 3 and 4 feet, and I'm planning on a 4 foot length of finished vapor tube, with the water jacket being slightly shorter of course. Based on what I've read, I plan on introducing some turbulence in the vapor and the water, with a slightly crimped inner tube and a spiral wire around the outside of the vapor tube.

Can anyone see any problems with my condenser plans? Critiques?

[cranky]

4 feet of 1" pipe holda a lot of water and will be very heavy when it is running. As far as water flow, mine has 1/2" pipes in and out. Adjust the cooling flow until it is warm to hotish coming out. It doesn't take all that much water flow to keep the condensate cool.

[muscashine]

4 feet of 1" pipe holda a lot of water and will be very heavy when it is running. As far as water flow, mine has 1/2" pipes in and out. Adjust the cooling flow until it is warm to hotish coming out. It doesn't take all that much water flow to keep the condensate cool.

Thanks - I didn't figure it would take that much. On my three gallon boiler with my 5 gallon bucket worm, I only had to change out the water once during a run (I had an overflow pipe right at the top and I'd feed new cool water in from the bottom. The top would be really hot - somewhere around 130-140, but the bottom would stay cool enough that I never saw vapor.

[muscashine]

Finished my Liebig today. So happy to have that done. Definitely less headache than coiling a worm and making a frame and sealing the bucket. Lots of soldering, though.

I don't have a measuring tape handy, and I didn't use one on the liebig itself, instead I used an old technique called "TLAR" that works pretty well. I wound up with a vapor tube about 48" long, with around 40" of water jacket. 1" outside with 1/2" inner tubing, I used a c-clamp to make slight dents in the inner tube for both water and vapor turbulence. On the input side I used a 90 degree elbow and a copper union, so I can put it at any angle from near horizontal to near vertical depending on how well it works. My water jacket has 1/2" pipe couplings, right now I have 1/2" to 1/4" reducers and have plastic tubing for the water supply, but during my clean outs and sacrificial runs I'll see how well it works, and if I need more water flow.
I just need to clean the pipe a little, right now it's sort of ugly from all the soldering.
I had a bad result after I cleaned the 2" still head pipe. I got it bright and shiny and all cleaned up, wiped it down, picked it up and stored it. A couple of weeks later it started to change into a uniform darker color, but where I picked it up there was a perfect palm print and all five fingerprints! I had to polish it again. I'll know to put the polished liebig away holding it by a paper towel or something.

[shadylane]

The 1/4" ID water plumbing will be big enough.
I don't have a problem with finger prints on my condenser.
The only time it was shiny was when I was building it.
Then I rubbed it with vegetable oil and let nature take it's course.

[muscashine]

The 1/4" ID water plumbing will be big enough.
I don't have a problem with finger prints on my condenser.
The only time it was shiny was when I was building it.
Then I rubbed it with vegetable oil and let nature take it's course.

I ran a test letting cold water in the bottom and checked the flow. The flow rate seems pretty decent from the 1/4" fittings, in fact from what I have read here, I think it will be more than enough. I think I'll give that a go. I should be ready for a full-up test by the end of next week. I'm just going to try water at first to check leaks, my temperature controller, and make sure the condenser works as planned.

Vegetable oil? Do tell... what does that do?