3" CCVM

[ecir54]

messing around with some pipe i had for a mandrel and decided to make some rings to see the clearance i would have, outer ring went good. when doing the inner ring it was going good to decided to roll with the rest of the spare tubing i had. ended up with a 8" length coil, salt was used. Have a 20' roll on hand so should be good to go.

cheat sheet and pic of inner coil

[Chauncey]

Lookin good bro

[Wildcats]

Nice Lil coil. Should be easy to attach a cold finger to.

[OtisT]

^^^ yes that the plan also going to use a 1/2 pipe down the center to feed water to both coils from the bottom.

wouldn't have thought single 10" 3/8 would be enough to knock down 5500 watts, thanks for the info.

I found my data on two 3/8” tubing coils. For comparison, both were in a 4” column so in a 3” your dwell time will be less. The input water was cool (city water. Consistent cool temp and pressure.)

3/8” tubing wound 10 times around a 1” core (1” coil ID, 1 3/4” coil OD). 6.5” tall coil overall. The flow required to knock down 5500 W was roughly 4.5 lpm.

3/8” tubing wound 8 times around a 2 1/4” core (2 1/4” Coil ID, 3” coil OD). 6” tall overall. The flow required to knock down 5500w was roughly 4 lpm.

This was in a 4” column. In a 3”, because of the decreased dwell time, you would either need to increase flow rate or lengthen the coils (more winds for more surface area) to get an equivalent efficiency out of a similar diameter coil.

For comparison, I have a 1/4” tubing coil in a 2” column that will also knock down 5500w. Very low dwell time compared to the 4”. That coil is a 10” tall coil, 26 wraps, with a flow of 3.5 lpm. This one is close to maxed out at 5500w. I can’t get more flow through it and as is, the output temp is very warm to hot.

[Salt Must Flow]

That looks great!

When I wound the coil for my 3" VM, I didn't think I could pull it off using 3/8" tubing so I went with 5/16" and it works just fine. Your coil will work great. It will allow for a higher flow rate due to having less restriction/back-pressure and therefore more potential knockdown power in comparison to coils with smaller diameter tubing. Mine knocks down more power than I've ever needed to throw at it so I know yours will work great.

It sounds like you also intend to install a Cold Finger. You really don't 'need' one with this 3/8" double coil (considering that it is already optimal). CCVM stills typically use a significantly longer reflux coil than any other reflux still design so that's another reason. If you do use a Cold Finger, your Reflux Condenser will have all the bells & whistles I can think of other than a thermowell on the hot side (not required). A thermowell (or using a thermometer probe) is one way of monitoring your flow rate by observing the temp of the outgoing water. There's nothing wrong with using a Cold Finger.

[ecir54]

thanks for the feedback guys

Searching the archives don't know if cold finger would be the right term, would call it a supply line to the bottom of both coils. Now thinking will use a 3/8 line down the center going to a tee to connect the coils together, i wound the coils in opposite directions to accommodate this. still a bit more work to finish the condenser.

Wouldn't say it was easy with the rig that was used had to man handle it have green hands to prove it damn i hurt lol. Also have to say the salt was nasty to mess with, filled the whole 20' section with it.

Rounding off took 10' to do the outer coil and 6' to do the inner, made both 11" long to have some to play with for the connections. Thinking of annealing the ends a few coils to help make the connections, this 3/8 is not forgiving.

Used the little pry bar as a gauge to keep the spacing 1/4" on the coils.

Salt do have probes on a rig that was made out of 1/4 od tubing attached to the garbage can with the condenser water and pump for the supply and return lines, see pic.

[Wildcats]

Sounds like a plan. Thanks for the pictures. Have fun and stay safe.

[ecir54]

Hadn't had much time to work on the reflux coil but did make a little progress. Used tee's to connect the coils, added a pic how the pipe and tee was tweaked to work in comparison to one not modified. Compressed the coils to be 8" of length, lost a couple of rows until came up with the fit of the tee's. Did anneal the inner coil a couple of rows to help soften the tubing for fitment. Next up will be installing the supply and return lines but project will be stalled for the next couple of weekends, going on a anniversary trip.

[MooseMan]

Hadn't had much time to work on the reflux coil but did make a little progress. Used tee's to connect the coils, added a pic how the pipe and tee was tweaked to work in comparison to one not modified. Compressed the coils to be 8" of length, lost a couple of rows until came up with the fit of the tee's. Did anneal the inner coil a couple of rows to help soften the tubing for fitment. Next up will be installing the supply and return lines but project will be stalled for the next couple of weekends, going on a anniversary trip.

Nice project ecir54 and thanks for adding all the pics and the build thread.

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished coil and how well it works.

Happy anniversary!

[Yummyrum]

Hell yeah Eric .
Thats not your usual dual wound condenser .
Are you going to parallel feed tham at the top or have seperate feed rate valves per coil ?

Top notch work

[Wildcats]

I like the use of the tee in the coil. Wish I'd have thought of that. Would've made my life easier when winding my coil. Nice work Eric!!

[ecir54]

thanks guys, yummy have a tee on bottom and top 180 out so in parallel one supply one return. About to roll out headed to the mountains in shine country and motorcycle heaven.

[ecir54]

Back at it need to get this coil finished up. All pieces fitted just need to clean up and solder. Last pic is coil sitting in my LM head. Going to use 3/8 push lock couplings to connect to hoses.

[Wildcats]

Looking good man. Nice coil.

[Yummyrum]

Sweet Jesus , thats the nicest coil .

I’m really impressed eric . 1/4” is one thing but 3/16” is a while new level .

[Saltbush Bill]

I saw it earlier ,was going to comment , but didn't , its nice for sure , real copper porn

[Chauncey]

Damn fine coil, as others have said

[kimbodious]

Great work on the reflux condenser! That’s going to be fairly heavy, what are you planning for keeping the coil in position?

[ecir54]

thanks guys yall are giving me encouragement. took the day off and did some needed yard work, decided just to have a few cocktails tonight and have the rest of the weekend to work on it so just did some prep tonight to get her ready to soldered up. Built this jig out of some scrap sheet metal to hold the coils together at the tee's when soldering so the joints don't move and to level it when soldering. Will solder the double 90's first then fit the offset supply line.

Kimbo good eye and on time, your curiosity made me weigh just the coil and wouldn't say it is overly heavy at under 2 lbs, think final weight will be a tad over 2 lbs. Saying that the support was my next step and has evolved to this layout, it was one of the reasons i decided to build a copper coil to allow a copper plate that was easy to adapt to the coil to accept a stepped motor like in this thread here, thanks @Mereside.
viewtopic.php?p=7735762#p7735762
Have a drop off piece from the street 90 that is .090 thick so will be pretty strong to mount the lead screw that will be driven by a stepped motor, still have a ways to go.

[ecir54]

oh yeah sampling some copper and kings brandy from grapes a co worker turned me onto, tomorrow morning i will have better judgement of it .

https://www.copperandkings.com/pages/our-craft

[ecir54]

got good coverage on the 2 elbows

[ecir54]

tacked the supply tube to the top before soldering the elbow on bottom of coil. next up fit the last elbow on the supply to match the other side.

[ecir54]

going to stop here and clean it up before moving on.

[ecir54]

couple minute soak in a 4 to 1 hydrochloric acid bath then a wipe down witch a scotch bright pad.

[werkkrew]

Looks amazing man, well done.

[ecir54]

going to call this a wrap for now, cleaned up and ready to try in my LM rig in a couple weeks.

[MooseMan]

That is some very nice work man, you got skills.

[Yummyrum]

That is some very nice work man, you got skills.

Yup , and fingers of steel

[Wildcats]

Nice. I really like the use of the tees. Should serve you well.

[ecir54]

did a flow test on the coil and metering valve this evening with the pond pump i use, wide open getting 2 lpm.