Building 6" Reflux Column with 4" Condenser

Hello everyone, I’ve been lurking and learning for awhile now and am planning to build a stainless reflux column... looking for suggestions.

The Plan:

  • 6" dephlegmator x 12" long
  • 6" column packed with copper mesh made with five 1' sections and tri-clamps (plan to upgrade to ProCaps and sight glasses as money allows)
  • Boiler is TBD
  • Condenser will be 4" and 4' long with a 4' section mounted to the floor.

I’m sure there will be many more questions as I move along, but my first is the following.

Would you connect the dephlegmator to the condenser via a 4" diameter or 2" diameter pipe or does it matter?

Thanks!

Bill

Comments

  • edited April 2019

    No one ever complained about having too big of a condenser. Your column seems fairly short, but I believe column diameter should ideally equal condenser diameter.

    The connection doesn’t matter.

  • The cost of 12" long vs 24" long is insignificant. Personally 12" is way too short if you wish to do complete reflux. If you are building it from scratch, don't muck around, go 24".

  • I don’t think you fellas read his question clearly.

    Honestly I’m not sure what the vapor out of the dephlegmator would be but if you have a 4” condenser then a 4” pipe would probably be best and you won’t have to get a second reducer.

    I can push 20l/hr of water vapor out my 4”-2” dephlegmator so it would prolly be ok to run a 2” for a while if costs are a big deal.

  • All the StillDragon units up to 1000l use 2" piping for the vapour. It will be fine.

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

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