Explosion avoidance!!!

grim

Would love to find a triclamp bursting disk setup that didn't cost a small fortune. I've been trolling for TC adjustable pressure relief valves, since they also cost a fortune, but can't seem to find anything low enough PSI.

Great point about the pneumatic valves though, I always thought they would be a big problem to try to automate, but I didn't realize they made 4-20ma pressure senders that just wire right into a PID to provide the air output right to the valve, no air lines or compressors needed.

Myles

I am a consultant in oil and gas. Reliability and maintenance!! I think you need to split the 2 functions. You do need pressure safety valves but these can be sub 1" if you can locate them in a relatively clean area. Definitely set to a lower pressure than the bursting disc.

Normal steam or hot water PSVs should be fine for this. You can get those in ghe 1 to 6 bar range easily enough.

The bigger blow out might be harder to find but it is possible to do this function with a big vapour lock - think oversized p trap.

CothermanDistilling

I wonder what pressure a layer of aluminum foil bursts at in a TC joint? Then again, the tube in a bucket of water is real easy and self resetting...

Myles

And remember, whether you need the bigger blow out port in addition to a PSV depends on what is in the boiler. You only need it if there is a possibility of blocking the PSV. This won't apply to many folks. I used to think I would like to distill on the grain, now though I suspect I wouldn't.

And here is one final point for your consideration. Every boiler should already have 1 port capable of dealing with any content. It is called a drain.

In an overpressure situation, dumping the contents is preferable to exploding the boiler!!

TheMechWarrior

@dad said:

A few months ago I made a post about an adjustable adrino module for ethanol vapor detection. It is cheap. One of you smart sparkies could gin up an ethanol vapor alarm in a heartbeat.

Was that post here or on another board dad?

dad

Here I believe as no one else cares about safety. The modules are on ebay for $3-$12usd.

Grip

Someone at our place made a very VERY VERY stupid mistake last week. Alright, it was me. We were planning a gin run the next day and had the boiler full of about 350 litres of vodka (at 55%abv). Just warmed it up a little bit before closing down and going home for the night. When I came in the next morning I was HORRIFED to find that I had not as I thought shut down all of the heaters. I had left one 8Kw heater running!!!!!!!!!

This is relevant to this thread and has in some ways reassured me because, although the mistake could have been catastrophic, this is what happened.

The boiler was down to 100 litres and the heater was 2" above the fluid level and it was RED HOT! The distillery smelled awful but it was intact. Everything was very hot, but the only casualty (apart from the extremely embarrassing loss of vodka) was the digital clock which has gone into spasm.

I am strongly recommending that none of your tries to emulate my error, but it has stopped my worrying quite so much. I'm sure that if I had lit a match in the distillery at the right time I might well not be here now, but then I would never light a match in the distillery anyway.

grim

Amazing it didn't light up. Was the boiler manway closed? If it was red, it was way over the auto ignition temp of ethanol vapor. Does the stainless look at all discolored? Wonder if it did light up.

Smaug

Thank God everything is ok.

Grip

Yes, @grim the manway was closed. No there seemed no major discoloration. Jees! I never thought that it maybe did light up!! Thanks @Smaug.

I have to say it was an experience to share but not repeat. I now have a big sign on the door -"Have you checked the heaters". I hope it works.

On a slightly brighter side, what was left distilled out to a fine gin X(

TheMechWarrior

Thanks for sharing Grip now go out and buy a lottery ticket!

It would seem the Angels share has managed to get at least one Angel on your side.

It sounds like linking the heating elements to the main lights or some other circuit that is always shut down upon exit of the building might in order. That or "On" lamp for the elemnts that's clearly visible at/near the exit.

Thanks again, experiences shared like this are VERY helpful.

grim

Keyed power switch on your panel, trapped key interlock, keep it attached to your car keys.

CothermanDistilling

I just have a red e-stop that stops all high voltage exiting panel, will be adding a second e-stop near the door, but 100% solves the problem... maybe a red light near the door or even outside showing that things are powered. glad you and you place are OK, and we did not have another tuttiltown or moore... I was just thinking this morning before even reading this that i need an e-stop near the shop desk, and hire someone to do their studying there with an e-stop near them so I can run errands or fart around the shop while the still is running... they have one job: anything strange happens, hit the e-stop...

dad

I like the idea of a safety monitor. Now we need a dog to keep the monitor awake.