Stilldragon Dash 1 Experience

Stinger

Clockwise to shut off - normal convention.

Also check that it does stop the flow completely. The valve flow direction might be reversed like mine was. In my excitement to finally get things rolling on my first run I had reversed one of my needle valves. Doh!

Also, I'd run separate waste lines for a while - if they are Y'ed - so you can see the flow through the dephleg and the PC separately.

Law_Of_Ohms

with my 900w watertank pump and 4000W of power, 3 turns is enough to knock it down for me

jonno

3 full turns or 3 half turns? I've got her all setup now for a run. 14 half turns pretty much goes full stick.

I've got her setup in counterflow all way around this time with just 1 needle valve on the output of the deflag. My last two runs i had it setup as counterflow on the pc but rc i had cooling water in from the top. I have noticed the amount of water coming through setup in counterflow is alot faster flow so hopefully this will fix my drama.

Just printing off a run sheet and will keep yo'll upto date throughout my run :)

jonno

Okay had trouble again. Couldn't knock it down so I've now put a needle valve on output of the product condenser. Let's see if that helps

jonno

Still didn't change it. I don't know what's going on

jonno

I've knocked power back to 150 volts on a 2400 watt element to be able to get full reflux. It's all a learning thing isn't it. I'm sure I'm doing something wrong here and we'll work it out eventually

jonno

So things still weren't going right so i tried this

Water in thru pc out top of pc into top of rc and then water out of bottom rc, needle valve on output. Measured 39 degrees on exit water. Have the needle valve fully open and still can't knock it back, its like i'm collecting hearts the amount of speed coming outta this bad boy. Water coming out is at 8L/m

Oh and i've ramped this back upto 2400 watts

I'm at a loss :((

jonno

I just want to confirm with you guys. When i mean knockdown i mean nothing is getting past the dephlag, as in i'm not wanting any drips at the parrot drain. Just to confirm because i tried so many different configurations today and i just couldn't get it.

Yes at all the different power levels i was able to get reflux but not 'complete' reflux

Lloyd

@jonno, did you put a few strands of SS mesh or scrubby in the dephlem holes for turbulence? If not, that will really help.

jonno

Will try that on next run, I was always under the impression thou that it should knock down 2400 watts to complete reflux relatively easily. To get full reflux I had to drop down to around 1500 watts and with about 8l/m water.

rossco

Water in thru pc out top of pc into top of rc and then water out of bottom rc,

No water into the bottom of the RC, out the top of the RC, then into the PC, or best case scenario separate lines for both. If you have a submersible get a Y piece with ball valves. Only restrict flow to the RC with the needle valve, mine is on the inlet side, run the PC flat out.

You rigged it up backwards for mine. You want the coldest water in the RC because flow needs to be restricted there, the PC is always running flat out so it doesn't matter so much.

Run separate lines.

I keep the water temp under 40degreesC, measured on the inlet side of the RC. :D Sorry I didn't read the manual, is that how its sposed to work?

Rossco

unsub

I don't have a dash but I do have a 4", 5 perf plate column and I run my water in the bottom of the PC with a gate valve and then out of the top of the PC to the bottom of the RC then out the top of the RC. The flow is controlled via the gate valve on the PC and knocks down 4000 watts with no issues.

Duck0fDeath

and some of the fores will still power thru... so expect a few drips

bentstick

@Duck0fDeath said: and some of the fores will still power thru... so expect a few drips

That has been my experince also,imo that is worst of the worst coming out first!

moscca

@Duck0fDeath said: and some of the fores will still power thru... so expect a few drips

The same for me.

Stinger

With a nominal 3600w (closer to 3000w as measured) I get NO drips - but that may change when I get my 5500w boiler sorted. The 3" Dephleg is quite a bit longer than the 4" - maybe that makes the difference?

Lloyd

That 3" dephleg is a monster and was purposely overbuilt to sit atop a 3" vodka rig. Maybe I should have made all the dephlegs overbuilt as well?

During their development people were not pushing them as hard as they do now. Back then getting 3L per hour was considered very cool but now folks yearn for 4+L per hour and are willing to pay the extra to get it.

Might be high time for a general and wide sweeping upgrade? Keeping a SS shotgun condenser or dephlegmator priced at $135 has boundaries. I'm thinking we can seriously up the performance and still keep the ticket under $200.

The StillDragon focus has always been to provide the most economical solution. If the paradigm changes to more high performance I think we can quickly adapt to that. We have so far, right?

Law_Of_Ohms

200mm long with 6 tubes?

FullySilenced

what about inlets outlets on either side of the larger one.... shipped with 2 ss pipe plugs

Law_Of_Ohms

cross flow?

FullySilenced

Possibly could improve the crossflow expecially on the large ones like rdd has, would make it more flexible for any set up...

Law_Of_Ohms

IN on one side with a Y splitter, OUTon the other side into a Y splitter

All four ports used.

Lloyd

I like it.

Duck0fDeath

I like that the Fores still push thru. I have found that when it stops the REALLY NASTY stuff is already been compressed. Makes for a nice clean head compression and more hearts.

jonno

it'd be ok if it were just the heads that was pushing through. Its alot more then a drip drip drip that pushes through but anyway, i'll give this bad boy another run when i can and shove some scrubbies through the tubes to give it a little help.

I'm sure we'll work it out soon :)

jonno

@Lloyd i just shoved a heap of ss scrubbies in and will give it a run abit later. When you say loosely do you mean real loose? I just grabbed a chunk and used the end of me pen to shove it done half way. Was abit tight but vapour will still be able to get through :)

jonno

Alright were getting somewhere now. Just ran water through it as i dont have time to do a wash run through it.

2400 watts its knocking down now and can't quite knock down 4800 watts but i cannot be happier :)

Atleast i got it knocking down the 2400 watts and i'm without a controller for a little while atleast i can still do some runs with just adjusting the water flow

olddog

@jonno said: Alright were getting somewhere now. Just ran water through it as i dont have time to do a wash run through it.

2400 watts its knocking down now and can't quite knock down 4800 watts but i cannot be happier :)

Atleast i got it knocking down the 2400 watts and i'm without a controller for a little while atleast i can still do some runs with just adjusting the water flow

2400 watts is all I use, you don't need a controller unless you want to speed up initial boil time.

OD

jonno

Yeah that's what i figured mate. Hence the reason i'm happy as pig in poo :))

Might be able to hold off on my controller build for now then hey

Law_Of_Ohms

My feeling is 3600W is max for the standard deflag. I now use 4000W and can't knock that down