I give up!

[General Ripper]

I've enjoyed using my APS and was hoping to build a more conventional
unit to get a higher ABV. This, however has turned out to be quite an
exersize in frustration and futility. The locale plumbing/specialty hardware
store in my area was run out of bussiness by the ever expanding
plethera of so-called home improvement super-stores. "Ye Olde Hardware
Shoppe" carried all manner of obscure plumbing supplies including
copper pipe up to 4 inches in diameter. They were often out of stock on some of these things but they were allways willing to special order.
Not so with Lowes or Home Despot (sorry I mean Depot)! They only
carry a max dia. of 1 inch. When I asked if they could special order a
larger size they told me I would need to show them a contractors
license! The "helpfull" counter person sugested that I contact a licensed
plumber to order it for me. I tried this and found most plumbers weren't
interested unless I was hiring them to do the work as well. Of the to who
were willing, the cheapest said I would have to buy a minimum of 12 feet
at $34 U.S. per foot! I'm not making this up! At over $400 dollars for
just the 2 inch pipe it's obvious that I'm just going to have to save the
$300 or so to buy a Esential Extractor. Ofcourse the way my luck is, by the time I have scounged up the dough, the unit will be off the market.
In the mean time I'm having some fun sipping the low strength results
from my APS and using my computer to design labels for my bottles.
Some samples are at Yahoo's new_distillers photo archive along
with an interesting photo of an abandoned back-woods still that was
posted by someone on the usenet--- look in the folder " burpleson_AFB".

CHEERS!

[outlawokie]

go to a plumbing supply early in the morning and ask a plumber not a contractor you may get lucky and get what you need I can get 20 ftmin of 2inch for 85 bones at a plumbing supply with out a contracter licence

[Grayson_Stewart]

Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time finding 2" copper. The local licensed plumber just gave me some scrap 2" he had in a pile out back after I told him what it was for. Did you tell him that scrap copper was acceptable?

You may have already tried in person, but sometimes being there really makes a difference. Also talking to someone thats really in charge and not the receptionist at the counter or some kid working after school.

[Fourway]

Also remember... even though it looks like America is dissappearing under your nose and being replaced with an endless wasteland of home improvement superstores and starbucks coffee stands and "you can have any color you like as long is it's vomit colored vinyl siding colored"... the real America is still there just below the surface...
sometimes you need to drive a few miles out of your way or go to a supplier who doesn't maintain a web page or a yellow pages listing, but they're out there.
Stuff still needs to get built, old things need to be maintained, (a few)people still have jobs making things with their hands.

There are dirty non-descript buildings and fenced in yards that you pass every day that have things in them like pallets full of heavy guage sheet copper for restoring copper roofs on monumental buildings and old victorians, old guys with lathes making reproduction archetectual accents for the very wealthy, people hand fabricating parts for motorsports and food processing plants and machines you never thought existed....

everywhere you go there are things that don't use the cookie cutter commodity parts.
All the specialized materials have to come from somewhere.
you just need to find them.

[Guest]

I don't know about HomeDepot, but both the Lowes stores in my town carry 2" copper.

[guest]

Go to the local Ace Hardware store. One where I live sells 2" by the foot.

[Hillbilly]

Check with busineses that do commercial and industrial HVAC. They use many sizes of larger copper tubing.