StillDragon® Community Forum

Welcome!

Be part of our community & join our international next generation forum now!

In this Discussion

Digital Temp Housing

edited November 2014 in Accessories

I like to have lots of data. So I added a bunch of thermowell fittings into a 4" dash system. I then needed a place/way to keep the Digital Thermometers organized. So I threw this together for around $20 CAD over an existing piece of 2" tailpipe.

What is everyone else doing?

image

Comments

  • I imagine like me most people don't measure temp. Touch, taste, sight, smell. Keep it simple. What you have there sure does look pretty.

  • edited November 2014

    @Dynauld said: I like to have lots of data. So I added a bunch of thermowell fittings into a 4" dash system. I then needed a place/way to keep the Digital Thermometers organized. So I threw this together for around $20 CAD over an existing piece of 2" tailpipe. What is everyone else doing?

    Can you post more pics of this in service and also explain your intended use a bit more? Will you be mounting that inline/on your apparatus? I like that.

    Did you simply cut the reducer bushing in half and glue the halves back together to mount your housing around the TC pipe?

    What size is the gutter/j box fitting?

    I like that.

    Thanks.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited November 2014

    This is my setup

  • edited November 2014

    @smaug I am using a C Type 2" PVC conduit body as the housing for this. I did have to cut both the bushing and housing in half and re-glue them together around the 12" tail pipe. A little piece of rubber was added inside of the bushings to stop the housing from sliding back and forth between the ends of the tailpipe.

    Why do I have 5 gauges; I have 2 thermo-well 4" x 4" x 3" Tees to measure equilibrium temps (bottom and top plates). And 1 thermo-well 4"x2" reducer to measure temps on the other side of the Dephlegmator so I know roughly what gas is present in the chamber. Plus the standard two gauges for exhaust water temps from the Condenser and the Dephlegmator.

    Sorry the system is dormant right now so I don't have any working photos yet. I'm heading down to the Wisconsin in the United States for the 45th Parallel Distillers class over the next several days. When I get back I'll post some photos of this in action.

    @brewsmith Wow! that is awesome! I love the PID controller setup! Totally jealous of your solution. I'm looking to move my All Grain brewing set up to an Electric Brewing solution in the near future. But you have me re-considering doing my own.

    image

    image

    1.jpg
    600 x 800 - 87K
    2.jpg
    600 x 800 - 94K
  • It looks very neat indeed.

    StillDragon Australia & New Zealand - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Australia & New Zealand

  • How do you expect the heat to affect your device?

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Heat would have been my question as well... :D

  • yeah, maybe put it around the lower portion of the product condenser...

  • Since it is easier to read up where it is at when you're standing, as I slapped the still together to take this photo it ended up there. But who wants to stand for a whole run? Us old guys like (need) to sit during a run so it was going to get moved to post-condenser anyhow! :))

    But I did consider the ambient temperature a lot, and while the thermodynamic properties of outdoor rated PVC are pretty good (455°C ignition temperature etc) which would allow me to leave it in the position it currently is in, one could drill a number of venting holes in the back of the housing (like the DIY Controller) or KISS and move the unit to after the condenser to keep it at room temp.

    I'm a KISS kind of guy

  • Holy shit @Dynauld, that looks amazing! Let us know how it goes for you and do post a vid of it running.

    Cheers,

    Mech.

  • I have PID's inside my Rancilio Silvia espresso machine, which everyone says not to do, 228-300F+... so I am willing to push it... I would say the vent holes on the bottom and on the side near the top would give convection airflow...

    ahem I still want better cheap thermometers...

  • What temp probes/ sensors are you using and where can I buy them? Thanks

Sign In or Register to comment.