Distillery Fire

grim

God that's terrible if it's true.

TheMechWarrior

@grim, please post away with regs, links to regs and links to documents like these: Factory Mutual Property Loss Data Sheet 7-74 and the DISCUS Fire Protection Practices Manual

grim

Let's take it out of this thread and maybe pull some of the other safety threads together into a big tome.

TheMechWarrior

Start a new thread mate and we'll add to it over time.

grim

There are a couple already - The LEL/LFL thread, the explosion thread, some sprinkler threads.

CothermanDistilling

@grim said:

Never, ever, ever let a still run unattended. Ever.

more true words have never been spoken....

FloridaCracker

Just kinda throwing this out there while we are on the subject; During the warm up and through the run, the smell has to be coming from somewhere. I'm now rethinking all of my seals and where DOES that smell come from? Theoretically, with the PC on there shouldn't be much smell, right? How does one tell FOR SURE that there are no vapor leaks? I always run my stuff in a well ventilated area but I have been thinking more about how I don't want to be the next story on the forums.

punkin

Uncondensible gases.

CothermanDistilling

fill your parrot with water next time you warm up?

BourbonJunkie

@FloridaCracker said: ...where DOES that smell come from?

That smell has had me concerned also. I have blanked off the fitting to the parrot, turned the still upside down, and filled it with water looking for any possible leak without success. That smell incites me to make sure I have good ventilation through my distilling area to ensure I don't have any vapour buildup.

CothermanDistilling

actually, filling parrot with water will not help, surge breaker emanates vapor... for a test, remove surge breaker and clamp on fitting with hose into bucket of water... put it in 1' of water, and when you see the thing start to push the water down, use a spray bottle with soapy water on all joints... maybe lower power to a tiny bit of bubbles from the hose...

BourbonJunkie

@CothermanDistilling said: actually, filling parrot with water will not help,

I actually took the surge breaker and parrot off the still and blanked of the 3/4" triclamp fitting my parrot attaches to. I then turned the still upside down and was able to fill it up with water to the triclamp flange normally attached to the keg. I then went looking for water leaks.

However, I like your concept of running a hose off the bottom of the PC into a bucket of water to lightly pressurise the still and then using soapy water in a spray bottle to find leaks. This is something that could be easily done at the very start of a run any time you wanted.

FloridaCracker

What if I remove the surge breaker, cap off the opening and hold my ear to each joint?

8-X

punkin

You could fill the keg with water and use a 2"tc endcap with a thread to attach a hose and pressurise it to 50 psi if you wanted. You're still going to get the smell from non condensable gases like Co2 etc.

Harry

non-condensable gases should be vented to atmosphere outdoors, or if they are abundant, trapped and processed for sale.
Be aware there is also the possibility of ethanol loss with vented gases...

Minimizing loss of Ethanol with non-condensable gases in distilleries Perera, DHN; Cooray, PLHM

Abstract:
In a distillery where concentrated ethanol is manufactured, a large amount of ethanol vapour is lost during distillation. It was hypothesized that reduction of reflux at the fi nal disti llation column where non-condensable gases are vented reduces loss of ethanol vapour. This hypothesis was tested and verified using computer aided process simulation with application to a working distillery in Sri Lanka. It reduced the loss of ethanol vapour at a rate of 6.8 kg/h. The associated net financial saving was Rs. 400 000 per month.

TheMechWarrior

So Harry, reducing the reflux ratio reduced the losses...but why?

Harry

@TheMechWarrior Note which condenser AND position they are talking about... reduction of reflux at the final distillation column where non-condensable gases are vented This is NOT your normal refluxing dephlegamator seen on a strip section of a trayed column. It is rather the overhead HX at the top of the final rectifier column. Product is removed at a point a few trays below this and non-condensable gases are vented at a point above this.

punkin

I love the story you posted on Artisan @Harry.

Silver Trail Distillery - Our Story - Introduction

punkin

This was posted on Artisan this morning;

With great sadness, I must pass on the news that Kyle, one of the two distillers caught in the recent explosion, has lost his fight, and is now at peace.

My thoughts and prayers, as I am sure are everyone else's - with his family and friends at this difficult time.

Amen!.

FloridaCracker

Sad news.

grim

damn

Smaug

RIP. So sad to hear this.

Prayers go out to his loved ones.

Kapea

The history story on the Silver Trail website is an excellent read.

I'm very sorry to hear of this disaster that has befallen the distillery.

Combined with their history, it makes one wonder...

It certainly makes one take a good hard look at one's own distilling and safety procedures.

TheMechWarrior

Holy shit! That is terribly sad news.

FloridaCracker

The family took him off of life support. I can only hope that the other guy isn't as badly hurt.

Sunshine

and there are still people out there, who think they can skip the safety part.... [-(

CothermanDistilling

I feel bad for them and their families, however people not following simple, basic rules of never having an umonitored still are going to make us all be completely XP and H3, which means, along with 10x price tags, no more than 3 people in the room the still is in at a time, and no decent sized windows between occupancies....

grim

We had occupancy restrictions included as part of our zoning variance anyway. We can't have the public onsite at any time production operations are taking place. In addition, we have max occupancy restrictions at any time - which is 6 public occupants (not including employees). C'est la vie.

Kapea

We need more government in our lives! I love people thousands of miles away constantly telling me what I cannot do.

grim

Looks like fingers being pointed at the manufacturer, interesting. They are saying it wasn't a vapor explosion, and that the still landed 50 feet from where it stood. Pressure explosion? No PRV? Wasn't the flour paste still.