Plumbing a Super Condenser

I can't seem to be able to find how to plumb a 4" super condenser (4 water outlets) to a 2" condenser long. I would appreciate it if someone has a picture of the correct way to do it.

Comments

  • need more info about your setup, but for your first attempt, I would take your water supply line and go into the bottom of the PC, then out of the PC and into the bottom of the RC, out the top of the RC... problem is that if you shut off your RC water, you also shut off your PC water... even adding a bit more cooling water to your PC knock you RC out of whack... so at a minimum, you need a bypass on the RC... if this is on a 4", you can use the SD push-connect, if it is on a 8" with pumped recirculation, that hose will be a restriction...

    bottom line is that if you want to run both on the same circuit, you will compromise somewhere... the two condensers have different enough needs that they deserve special attention... if not special and completely separate cooling circuits

  • i think what he is asking is what to do with the other 2 inlet/outlet openings. I also wondered this as the SuperDeflegmator has 4 openings

  • plug em if you don't need the flow, use if you do.... depends upon if it is 4" or 8", and temp/pressure of water... or you can search "super condenser" (or "super condensor" if you want more hits)

  • Thats right FloridaCracker, I'm not sure if you just plumb them in parallel.

  • The multiple ports are their to prevent hot spots from becoming entrained inside the jacket.

    A y for the inlet side and a y for the outlet side should do just fine.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • Just found a video on Youtube that shows what you said Smaug.

    Cheers

  • Could you link to it please?

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

  • edited April 2015

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3IzLdGFkOw

    It's in the StillDragon User Group YouTube Channel too

  • Not sure if it's the right thread or not but here we go:

    My observation so far from running my 4" RC and 2" PC is that it it's not worth the effort of having them plumbed separately as there's another knob to turn and tweak.

    So far, I was able to dial in any exiting temp on the RC that I want within a minute without compromising coolant temp in the PC. Looking at the boundary conditions:

    Letting the RC go up to the 80's C, exit temp of PC was still at 40C, so no problem/danger of knocking down all vapors. I don't want to go significantly higher as we'll be getting out of spec range for the tubings then.

    On the lower end, I'm still able to get to full reflux at about 60% power - after that the RC is getting overwhelmed no matter if it's plumbed separate or in series with the PC.

    => Since I can control reflux from full to +80C exit temp, I'm going for simplicity and go in series. To me, this has the beauty of being on the safe side on the PC with all controllability of the reflux and max efficiency of my water usage

  • A question about the video. There is a thermometer wire wrapped around the parrot beak, with the thermocouple set in the distillate next to the alcometer. Will the plastic/metal junction at the thermocouple hold up to the ethanol without leaking and causing it to fail?

    The reason I ask is I've had other thermometers (not SD ones) that have failed because of the plastic/metal junction being submerged in water. I would like to use a SD thermometer at the parrot as pictured in this video, if it's up to the task.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • Don't know what they cost over there but over here at $4 I consider them pretty much disposable. Now if Smaug would offer them IN FAHRENHEIT it sure would make life a lot easier.

  • @FloridaCracker said: Don't know what they cost over there but over here at $4 I consider them pretty much disposable. Now if Smaug would offer them IN FAHRENHEIT it sure would make life a lot easier.

    I want them calibratable or more accurate in the 70c range, and also a stainless angle bracket they can snap into...

  • edited April 2015

    Thanks - Unsensible

    Series does appear to be the easier option for control.

    Where the best place to put the control valve, before the 2" or after the 4" condenser?

  • edited April 2015

    @CothermanDistilling said: I want them calibratable or more accurate in the 70c range, and also a stainless angle bracket they can snap into...

    We will be looking into that. We are not as happy as we could be with the current throwaways either and the abilty calibrate will be important in the new range.

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

  • @punkin said: We will be looking into that. We are not as happy as we could be with the current throwaways either and the abilty calibrate will be important in the new range.

    don't forget, the current ones are actually made to snap into a panel.... Therefore, a simple little stainless piece of sheet metal that it snaps into, and on the side, an angled flap with a hole in it could screw to something... like a little hole drilled in the TC clamp... which leads to TC clamps with threaded holes or even picatinny style rails... which leads to a rabbit hole of millions of ideas....

  • edited April 2015

    The current ones may be throw-aways but the thermocouple fits nicely into the brass plug that snaps into the push-connect irrigation T.

    For throw-aways they work pretty well. I use the readouts more for trending than dead nuts accurate measurements anyway. I use a lab grade mercury thermometer to determine the digital thermometer offset. That gets me close enough for figuring the temps during a run. I only use the throw-away ones on the cooling water side.

    So with all that has been said, the question remains, will submerging the plastic/metal interface in distillate ruin the thermometer?

    (Sorry about hijacking the parallel cooling water piping thread)

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • I use them for measuring temp in my HLT. I do float them through a piece of closed cell foam to try and keep the connection dry, but it often flips over in the hot water. I haven't lost one from this issue yet, but that's not saying one way or the other.

    I guess there's only one way to find out.

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

  • @Topshot said: Where the best place to put the control valve, before the 2" or after the 4" condenser?

    My preference is to put the valve on the supply side. That way, if anything leaks I can shut off. Also not sure how you would plumb them together without creating a waterpark in your shed ;)

  • It is a bit more complex but I like to put ON/OFF valves in the supply line, and flow control valves in the return line.

    I also favour having the supply in the bottom of the condenser and the return from the top, this makes it easy to drain the condenser and supply lines when not in use. Especially if you use a 3 way ball valve as your supply valve and configure the 3rd port to drain the lines back to the reservoir when the still is not in use.

  • @Myles said: It is a bit more complex but I like to put ON/OFF valves in the supply line, and flow control valves in the return line.

    I could not possibly agree more!

  • edited April 2015

    Myles - Are you running just 1 flow control valve after the RC, so cold water into the bottom of PC then hot out into bottom of RC or do you have 2 flow control valves 1 after the PC and 1 after RC, so cold water into the bottom of both condensers ?

  • Not runing anything at the moment, but i always had all the condensers independently configured. Flow controls on each condenser, with cold feeds to each condenser.

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