200L Pot Belly Boiler Optimisation

Myles

@FloridaCracker not sure how that works. I saw the early schematics when the ProCaps were being developed and at that time a plate drain faccility was not included.

Has the design of the standpipe been changed to allow the plate to drain into the vapour lock?

Or do you mean that by cooling the boiler at the end ot the run you can syphon most of the fluid off the plates and they retain enough heat to dry out?

TheMechWarrior

+1 what @Myles said.

FloridaCracker

I'm not sure how the liquid is draining back but I will tell you that the plates are dry as a bone after a run. Only takes maybe 5 minutes to drain. Maybe a drop or two but absolutely no liquid bed. I'm going to disassemble part of my column today and will have a close look at what I think it is. Theoretically if fluid can drain back down then vapor can go up so maybe I'm not running as efficiently as I could be. The caps look like even a chimp could assemble them to the plate but maybe somehow I F'ed them up?

Smaug

The entire plate assembly simply screws together. Nothing about the assembly is liquid tight. When running, the pressure within the entire system keeps the plates loaded.

FloridaCracker

I wonder why some guys keep liquid on the plates while others like me have plates that drain completely?

Smaug

The original BC design is more likely to hold liquid.

FloridaCracker

Glad I didn't drill holes before I used it. I almost did

Unsensibel

I also think that if you drain the boiler without opening the fill opening up, the vacuum created sucks the liquid straight from the plates

Smaug

@Unsensibel said: I also think that if you drain the boiler without opening the fill opening up, the vacuum created sucks the liquid straight from the plates

+1

FloridaCracker

I was going to try that trick after my first run and looked in the sight glass; Nuttin to drain!

Myles

Well if there is slight seepage between the plate and the bubble cap standpipe that is actually convenient. Any vapour that passes through that gap would end up under the cap anyway, so it is not an issue.

I had assumed that the cap standpipe was a tight fit into the plate, and that as a consequence draining the plate might be difficult. If there is a seepage fit then IMO this is actually an advantage.

On the mini caps I believe the downcommer cap actually pulls the assembly into the plate for a tighter fit, so these are less likely to self drain.

If you are thinking of running a 4" column them IMO this is actually another reason to consider the (slightly more expensive) ProCaps option. Provided you can supply the slightly higher power that is needed to run 3 ProCaps instead of 5 mini caps.

CothermanDistilling

If you let the still charge cool, it will naturally drain the plates via suction... Think of how your car cooling system sucks coolant out of the overflow... now if you put a water hose at the top of the column and shoot a little cooling water in, you accelerate the process and it will suck harder than.. well... something that sucks hard ;-)

FloridaCracker

After a run yesterday I watched the drainage and it appears that it is going around the OUTSIDE of the plates and down the side. The plates on this still don't fit inside of the gasket they just kinda sit on top of the tee below. The gasket keeps the vapors from going to the outside but evidently not separated from the tee above or below. I'm sure that any vapor coming up would be minimal so I'm hoping that it won't degrade the vapor/fluid contact.