Stumbled on a big chunky CPU cooler today whilst looking for something in the garage, and remembered this conversation from the thread on my gin still.NZChris wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 11:03 pm Over the years, I've seen some very efficient CPU cooling units that could easily be used to get rid of a lot of heat from a still. I have some in my stash for if I ever want to experiment with building an air still or some type of air-forced reflux hybrid, but I have thrown away some good ones.
So I drilled out and halved a bit of Ali to fit snug on my 22mm condenser tube and bonded it to the heatsink block where the heat pipes go through. Couple of binder clips for now to hold together around the tube.
It gets rid of a hell of a lot of heat as expected, the upper face of the heatsink is blood temp but the other face (Underside) is too hot to touch, maybe 60°C?
But also as expected it only sinks heat in a very short area, the copper heats back up again downstream within half an inch of where it's clamped on.
A row of these with a push/pull fan setup on each end would condense pretty well though I think.
If you get to read this Chris, and you have enough of them to give it a go it would be a very interesting experiment!