A word of caution when buying parts.

[Deplorable]

I recently bought a few spare bits for the still on Amazon, from Dernord. I've had good quality from them in the past and the prices are good when you factor in the free Prime shipping.
I bought a 5 pack of PTFE gaskets, as its always good to have a few extra, an 8 inch spool to bring my packed column to 43" packed height, a spare 5500W ULWD element, and another clamp because I needed one for for the new section of spool.
So this afternoon, Im finally getting around to stripping a batch of corn I fermented and squeezed in September. So I put my element in the boiler using one of the new gaskets and the new clamp, tighten it down, and proceed to fill the still with 40L of cleared corn squeezin's.
As I'm working on racking the other 40L of wash off the custard, I notice the still is leaking at the element. So I give the clamp a couple of twists and the f*ckin knob on the clamp breaks!!
So I drain the boiler, and removed the busted clamp and inspect the gasket for a flaw. Compared to my older gaskets its about 1mm thinner on the face, and 1.5mm thinner overall. So it doesn't seal in the seat of the ferrules.
All that to say buyer beware. Dernord quality is slipping.

[Yummyrum]

Wouldn’t mind a pic of the busted clamp .

Man , is it a shit clamp too or were you using a spanner on it to tighten up . They really should just be tightened by hand .Something wrong if they need more than that ….but in your case faulty gasket too .

[Deplorable]

Wouldn’t mind a pic of the busted clamp .

Man , is it a shit clamp too or were you using a spanner on it to tighten up . They really should just be tightened by hand .Something wrong if they need more than that ….but in your case faulty gasket too .

To be fair, I gave it a twist with a screw driver hoping to get a better squeeze on the gasket. I got about half a turn past hand tight, and the knob cracked. At that point, it was time to drain the still and see what the heck I was dealing with.

[Expat]

Has to be a flaw in the casting, the clamp shouldn't break that easily. Else you've been eating your wheaties lol The gaskets are shit though, good warning.

I've bought all of mine via ebay, sometimes having the opposite problem, too thick to clamp on. LoL.

[howie]

while we're on the subject of dodgy stuff from fleabay........
my power controller stopped working last week, bought on ebay from an ozzie supplier.
i found the back of the on/off switch burnt out.
the controller is advertised as 4000w 220v, best used on 2000-3000w items. with a current rating of 9A, max 18A.(my element is max 1900w)
the on/off switch was stamped as 6A.(probably about 1440w?)
i bought a bigger 10A switch, elongated the hole with a dremmel and put the new switch in.

[Deplorable]

Has to be a flaw in the casting, the clamp shouldn't break that easily. Else you've been eating your wheaties lol The gaskets are shit though, good warning.

I've bought all of mine via ebay, sometimes having the opposite problem, too thick to clamp on. LoL.

I'll be stopping at the hardware store for a metric nut and a washer. I can use this one for my element that rarely needs to come out, and keep it in service.

[Expat]

Has to be a flaw in the casting, the clamp shouldn't break that easily. Else you've been eating your wheaties lol The gaskets are shit though, good warning.

I've bought all of mine via ebay, sometimes having the opposite problem, too thick to clamp on. LoL.

I'll be stopping at the hardware store for a metric nut and a washer. I can use this one for my element that rarely needs to come out, and keep it in service.

20211031_083023.jpg

Great idea!

[RC Al]

I've noticed that with cheapy ones when you push them a bit, they spread the tynes (?). A washer may help - it would have to be a solid one though as the std wing nuts are tapered.

No doubt your replacement nut will be higher grade than the thread, make sure you lube it.

Some of the clamps I have are a tiny bit smaller in size and struggle to get started on thicker ferrules (inc kegs), they are about 2/3 the weight of the more expensive ones.

I have a bunch of cheap ptfe seals that have very low qc, flaws on the sealing face, will be trying to find a supplier with iso or similar certification next time I buy any, hopefully trueness, dimesions and purity of materials will be a bit better

[Demy]

I saw many things "Made in China" in online stores .. I think it's one of these but probably higher price. The good news and that you can easily repair it. In any case, I think the problem is too much force to tighten, even the metal looks like a alloy and non-steel.

[tiramisu]

Made in China and Cheap are not necessarily synonymous but cheaply made in China is a thing and if you aren't willing to pay for the QC you can buy and resell garbage from unnamed factories pretty easily. Dernord is not generally an el-cheapo brand though. Did you reach out to the mfr, reseller?

[Bushman]

Amazon is pretty good about returns and replacements.

[LWTCS]

Should be no issues exchanging.
If there is, definitely a problem.

A good example of why redundancy is important.

[Deplorable]

It cost me US$6.99 for the TC. the cast thumb nut was the weak link. Yeah I pushed it a little, but not any more than I have with others. I got a bad one. It happens. It cost me US$0.40 for a SS nut and washer at the hardware store today. It's on the element, so It rarely has to come off. It'll serve it purpose.
About half of my TCs are Dernord. They are lighter, and narrower than the others. The thumbscrews aren't as well cast, but they work.

Like Larry said, keep a spare handy for the things that are likely to fail. I have a spare switch, pot, SSVR, element, gaskets, and enough clamps for all my bits if I use every component. But if I had to run in CCVM and broke a clamp, I'd be SOL right now.

[jonnys_spirit]

I picked up a few of these double hinged clamps when Still_Stirrin recommended them. Good quality clamps.

https://www.glaciertanks.com/tri-clamp- ... dp300.html

Cheers!
-j

[still_stirrin]

Me too jonny.

The dual pin joint clamps are great. You won’t bend or break them. A good investment.
ss

[Twisted Brick]

I picked up a few of these double hinged clamps when Still_Stirrin recommended them. Good quality clamps.

On ss's advice I almost bought some, but acquired a bunch of these tri-clamps at a reasonable cost and have been pleased with their quality. These US-made Dixon clamps remain smooth as silk no matter how hard you crank them down. Not so much with my Glacier Tanks and Brewers Hardware clamps, both from China. They get kinda 'gritty' when you go past hand-tight and feel stressed.
.

[Yummyrum]

It’s strange you all have tri-clamps with a hole in the knob .

All the ones I have from a few sources and of differing sizes have solid knobs

[Saltbush Bill]

Some of mine have that hole , others don't Yummy, Pretty sure mine come from similar sources to yours......3 different ones that I can think of.

[Crabmanstyle]

Mine have a hole, cast SS, never done much more than hand tighten them, the weight of the condenser (weight supported shotgun) takes up any possible slack or possibility for leakage during heating, if there even is any.

[jonnys_spirit]

I use a screwdriver through the hole and tighten mine down tight AF - Neither the ebay version nor the Glaciertank models have broken like that (yet lol). I'll try just a bit tighter than finger tight next time.

Cheers!
-j

[cob]

Deplorable;

looks like you might have been sold a bill of goods. close inspection of your posted picture shows damage

to the nut the top is rolled over as if it were peened or just beat to death. none of the other pictures posted

show this profile. I just inspected a dozen clamps in my shop and none of them had that rolled appearance.

specifically there is a flat, curved surface surrounding the hole that doe's not get smaller than +- 3/32"

your nut clearly has a lip overhanging the hole, and no flatness at that lip area. the fracture damage

is consistent with impact damage to that thin area. My opinion is that your screwdriver opened existing

fractures. Any luck with a return?

[opus345]

Brick,

Do you have a link?

Are these the clamps your talking about?

https://dixonvalve.com/en/products/sing ... /13mhhm200

On ss's advice I almost bought some, but acquired a bunch of these tri-clamps at a reasonable cost and have been pleased with their quality. These US-made Dixon clamps remain smooth as silk no matter how hard you crank them down. Not so much with my Glacier Tanks and Brewers Hardware clamps, both from China. They get kinda 'gritty' when you go past hand-tight and feel stressed.

[Twisted Brick]

opus,

Yessir, that's the link and those are the clamps.

TB

[shadylane]

Part of the problem might be the wingnut was over tighten.
It only needs 25 in. lb. of torque. More than that means somethings wrong.
I bet somebody could figure out the size, shape and orientation of the screw driver used to tighten the tri-clamp.
The # of threads and truth marks in the metal can be used as a reference.

[LWTCS]

Part of the problem might be the wingnut was over tighten.
It only needs 25 in. lb. of torque. More than that means somethings wrong.
I bet somebody could figure out the size, shape and orientation of the screw driver used to tighten the tri-clamp.
The # of threads and truth marks in the metal can be used as a reference.





20211031_083023.jpg

Yep.
Also a potential issue is that one or both of the flange profiles are too narrow to adequately wedge against the corresponding profile of the clamp. When spec'd correctly the profile on the clamp should sufficiently squeeze both flange faces against the gasket to create a leak free seal.
If you don't notice this difference in profile then it would just seem like tightening more would fix the leak or whatever.
Not all tri clamp components are equal / compatible.

This kind of thing happens when 3rd party sourcing agents (that don't know any better) are sourcing goods for a vendor.

The easy fix (if you haven't bugger'd up the clamp) is to cut a new gasket out of some thicker gasket material.
Can get sheet material on line in small quantities.

[Rrmuf]

FYI: These PTFE gaskets from Flow Solutions are thick. The 2inch ones are a bit too thick some times; My tri-clamp couldn't span the ferule gap with these gaskets for my boiler element port so I had to resort to a thinner gasket.

[The Booze Pipe]

Has to be a flaw in the casting, the clamp shouldn't break that easily. Else you've been eating your wheaties lol The gaskets are shit though, good warning.

I've bought all of mine via ebay, sometimes having the opposite problem, too thick to clamp on. LoL.

I'll be stopping at the hardware store for a metric nut and a washer. I can use this one for my element that rarely needs to come out, and keep it in service.

20211031_083023.jpg

Nice I came across this. I just bought several of these. They were inexpensive for a reason!