Condenser in/out matter?

[Lessismor]

Hey everyone I have a 5 gal pot still from china. Condenser sits a atop of it, probly a 3 quart pot with 4 winds of copper n it. Is there any reason I can’t run the cool water in the top connection and the hot out the bottom? I plan on getting a better still later after I have figured out all the little things such as this. Reason for my concern is that I use Acua Relief System which only requires a frozen solo cup every 4-6 minutes, but I’m having to constantly mess with the thing to keep the condenser full! The instructions say cold water goes n bottom, but I try putting the pump on floor, put bigger hose on outlet, pinching the cold hose off. And it still fills too fast. Not wanting to work the pump harder than needed I switched the n out and it works great on a dry run, just don’t wanna mess with the chemistry(instruction book)

[NormandieStill]

You want the coolest water to be meeting the coolest distillate so there's some cooling power left. Worst case the other way round at some point the distillate will match temp with the water and start cooling the water.

Also physics. You're not going to keep hot water at the bottom of your flake stand. It's going to rise.

[Yummyrum]

What Normandie is talking about is known as counterflow cooling .
It is the ideal way to run a condenser .

Cool water enters the product end ( the bottom ) and exits the top of the condenser , where the hot vapour enters .

Reflux condensers and Deflagmators opens a whole new can of worms
.

[bilgriss]

Counterflow or worm, you don't want to hit the hottest steam with the coldest part of the chiller. That causes a rapid change in volume, and huffing in the condensor. Also, as has been noted, you don't want the hot water at the end of the chiller to heat your product back up.

[Setsumi]

Sounds if you have a very small flake stand... best would be cold in the bottom hot out top.

Many ways to skin a cat they say,... but i would not want to do it your way.

[Lessismor]

Alright, so I will follow the guide and keep the cold on bottom, if I slow down the cold side, I would imagine it will wear the pump down? Any thoughts on keeping the in and out more even? I thought by dropping the pump down a foot that would slow it down and increase the drain but nope. I guess I will just have to build me a small windmill for the sake of keeping from getting to complicated!! Well I appreciate all the input and schooling

[NZChris]

Heat rises. Use that to your advantage rather than try to invent a way to reverse it.

I use a temperature controller to switch the pump on and off. Depending on the type of pump, a non-return valve may be required.

For a flake stand, I put the thermocouple in the water at the level of the product outlet.

[elbono]

Sounds like the cheap Amazon still I started with.

I used a bin full of water, aquarium pump, tiny C clamp to regulate flow on the hose feeding the water in the BOTTOM. I set it on a old oven grate over the bin so if it overflowed it went back in the bin.

The silicone gaskets mine came with besides toxicity issues didn't work that well so I used flour paste to seal those joints.

If you run the water in the top you'll have to control the flow to keep it full. Better to overflow than run dry. Besides all the real advise above.

[Wyododge]

if I slow down the cold side, I would imagine it will wear the pump down? Any thoughts on keeping the in and out more even?

You can put a ‘T’ in the output side of the pump with a valve to allow the excess flow from your pump back to the reservoir. Pump will operate at full flow that way and you can adjust the cold flow to the condenser with the valve.

[Lessismor]

That’s a great idea! Earlier I drilled out th ID on the hot side from 17/64 to 5/16(dam there goes my warranty) and finally got the level to hold steady but I can the pump working hard with the valve nearly 2/3 or more closed. I will try that tomorrow. Been trying to figure the gph on this acua relief system but don’t wanna tear it apart just to find it pumps more than my little pot can take. Had a fuel pump but that didn’t last long. Thanks again will post outcome Monday while stripping