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Watch fadge use his Dash 1!

edited September 2013 in Usage

Let me start this discussion with a copy of @fadge's first video posted in New Style Bubble Caps - Advice for mixing on plates or sections, because outstanding StillDragon videos deserve their own place.

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  • @fadge said: Lloyd and all, first run on mixed plate bubble-caps, used 2 of the long slot caps/plates on the bottom, 2 new style short slot caps/plates on top. All downcomers are short slot with every second tab bend out as suggested. I think it all went OK

    I've added a video of the run, its just over 8 mins and shows the plates running.

    StillDragon Dash 1 - 4 Plate Bubblecap Hybrid Run

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NqL0aJcEWk

    It also shows me stuffing around and my messy shed, but that's gives me an incentive to clean up after playing with my new toy. My wife has not seen me all weekend, she thinks I have something on the side in the shed!

    After the fores and first 1 Lt my run produced about 9 lL @ 96-95 %, then dropped in % slowly for another 2Lt and I then stopped at that point as it was smelly tails anyway.

    Thanks punkin for your help in getting this baby for me, I kept adding orders for bits and pieces and he has done great.

    Fadge

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  • edited September 2013

    Nice new shiny home for your vid @fadge.

    @fadge said: After the fores and first 1 Lt my run produced about 9 lL @ 96-95 %, then dropped in % slowly for another 2Lt and I then stopped at that point as it was smelly tails anyway.

    The instant the alcoholmeter starts to creep up you can either back off the power a bit or add a bit more reflux to keep the purity up and suppress the tails. With that many plates its common for the still to simply stop producing at the end of the hearts when you have her 'dialed in'. You are doing great and thanks for posting the video.

  • Just out of interest fadge, how fast did you run her?

  • Nice stuff Fadge, I noticed that your voltage was pretty severely under (yes, I am a sparky). It showed 173V on your voltmeter for a 240V system?? That would lower the power output to your boiler 1.9kW actual compared to 2.7kW if at full voltage. No huge issue with a simple resistive load, except that it will take longer to get to boil etc

  • edited September 2013

    @Lloyd said: Nice new shiny home for your vid fadge.

    The instant the alcoholmeter starts to creep up you can either back off the power a bit or add a bit more reflux to keep the purity up and suppress the tails. With that many plates its common for the still to simply stop producing at the end of the hearts when you have her 'dialed in'. You are doing great and thanks for posting the video.

    Yea I sort of played with the power and water just a bit, but first run so was unsure what to expect, will take this advice next run. I had a feeling from reading on here that there should not be a lot of heads or tails if run correctly. I actually increased power try to push out the last of the product but it just kept producing (hence 2Lt tails until I had enough)

    @TassieStiller said: Nice stuff Fadge, I noticed that your voltage was pretty severely under (yes, I am a sparky). It showed 173V on your voltmeter for a 240V system?? That would lower the power output to your boiler 1.9kW actual compared to 2.7kW if at full voltage. No huge issue with a simple resistive load, except that it will take longer to get to boil etc

    I actually heat up with 2 x 3600w straight in the power-points, when close to temp I then unplug one element and use with the controller box to try to hit the right power levels. Its a ebay 10,000w SCR controller like one of these:

    10000W AC 220V SCR Voltage Regulator Speed Controller Dimmer Thermostat

    Not the SSR types. I built it with a switch, large indicator light, 12v phone charger added for the fan and el-cheapo lcd meter. It seems to be fairly responsive and I thought it was designed to drop the voltage and amps for control?

    @jonno said: Just out of interest fadge, how fast did you run her?

    Hard to say, as I was stuffing about a fair bit, and when first watching the bubble action in full reflux I well..just watched for a while ! Once I had product flowing I'd guess at least 2Lt per hour, turn on 8:30am off at 2:30pm around 6 hours for 11Lt total output as I thought it was all done.

    The product seems spot on after 2 days to air, I cant tell any difference from jar 2 right through to very abrupt change to tails at the end of the run.

    Thanks for all the feedback I sure will do another run with video again.

    Fadge

  • @fadge, whatever you do at your stilling site, shoot a video and keep em coming! :-bd

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  • @TassieStiller said:

    I noticed that your voltage was pretty severely under (yes, I am a sparky). It showed 173V on your voltmeter for a 240V system??

    @tassie, i suspect that fadges volt meter is displaying less than 240v due to the meter being affected by the chopped output from his SCR based controller.

  • edited October 2013

    Ok its been a while, but l did another video on the weekend. Strip run using my sd parts. A new water setup that will give a lot more information on flow rates when l next run the full dash unit.

    http://youtu.be/9ct3Ns2XEX4

    Cheers

    Fadge

  • Thanks again fadge! You have nice setup,that adjustable bench rocks!

    It is what you make it!

  • Thanks Fadge you gave me some ideas. Great setup.

  • Outstanding @fadge. Your collection of gear is impressive.
    I, too, have bouts where my stillin area is neat and organized but that ain't now.
    Love the adjustable bench, the water metering and distribution, the... well, everything!
    You rock.

    And that stream coming from the parrot looks to be about 7 to 8 liters per hour.

  • edited October 2013

    Guys, the videos are for general feedback and usage, if it helps someone with different idea's and another way to do things, then that's great. I'd say my stuff is aimed to the home user starting out or thinking about getting SD gear and seeing just what its all about. My videos are as is, what you see is what I'm doing, that includes stuff ups like overfilling the boiler when not watching what I'm doing!

    I read most of the posts, and have picked up heaps of information as well so its a two way trip this stilling stuff.

    FYI total run took just over 2hrs , Start time 3:15pm, finish 5:15pm collected around 14 lt 65% down to 20% . Used 2 x 3600w as heat up, run with around 5000w during run, puked/boiled up into sight glass section once, turned power down a notch and all was good.

    Fadge

  • works out to be about 9L/hr? that's not bad mate!

  • I'm sticking with about 7 liters per hour. 14L over two hours, wait I'll do the math, carry the one....

  • You forgot to take out the 1/2hr heat up time. 9.3 l/hr total still doesn't give a hearts speed which will be higher again.

    Great stuff fadge, i need to figure out hopw to put other peoples youtubes on my channell. I also should make a few rough videos myself on how to do a few things and how i do some things i guess.

    You are right in that we don't have much for someone new to the game to glean how it all works and my business advisor is always telling me the same thing.

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  • That bench is slick. Your plant is really nice. I hate you.

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  • The plan is to publish worthy videos made by forum members to our own StillDragon User Group YouTube Channel to have them available from a single place. Right now the only possibility is to make the original video file available to me for download through Dropbox or MS Skydrive, so that I can take care of it.

    The advantage is that our channel outranges individual forum members' YouTube accounts, searching for certain videos gets way easier, and videos can be published pretty much anonymously that way (with the forum user's nickname as only reference).

    I'm gonna do that now with @fadge's and @captainshooch's latest videos.

    If you want to participate, sign up with Dropbox or any other cloud/filesharing service that allows you to provide such video files for me to download, and share the respective file with me. Additionally you can tell me what your video is all about, a short summary for the video description, and if some in-picture-comments (speech bubbles) are desired.

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  • edited October 2013

    @Smaug said: That bench is slick. Your plant is really nice. I hate you.

    Over the last year or so I've been lucky and picked a few things..as part of my job, talking with clients, friends etc. My wife goes to garage sales and picks up stuff as well like a 60lt glass demijon with tap "as new", $20 ! (then she told me the guy had 3 more but did not think I'd want them)

    How about I tell you the bench cost me $5 or $10 at a garage sale ! The wood for the racks/shelves for nothing. 4 kegs for nothing. Bloke gave me the water flow meters as he was chucking them out, and told me it was last of a heap of s/s fittings! (was one day too late) The 1000lt water shuttle, yep free. And I've just been given a whole retail shop fittings, so the garage will be kitted out soon with proper shelving/partitions everywhere.

    My shed is roughly 25ft x 50ft or 7.5m x 15m, so it wont go to waste. A pic of the first lot of stuff I unloaded today.

    image

    The SD gear I worked a second job to pay for it all, plus with all bits and pieces, tubs, hoses etc I'd say $2000 all up for a setup that should last me a long time and allow a decent drop to be produced over many years. Beats drinking $40 or $50 store bought scotch.

    Fadge

    2013-10-30 19.09.26.jpg
    800 x 600 - 65K
  • edited October 2013

    Thats the way Fadge. I recycle stuff and sell it as well. Won most of the parts for m bubbler betting on the dishlickers. Sometimes I think there is a God n he loves me.

    Rossco

  • great video Fadge looks like you've got a good eye for using what you can get for cheap/free i really like your boiler setup

  • @cooperville said: great video Fadge looks like you've got a good eye for using what you can get for cheap/free i really like your boiler setup

    Seems just a bit of luck for the most of it, like I might mention to someone.. Q "I want to buy a 1000lt shuttle that is food grade/no chemicals, know where I get one?" A. yea, bloke over there has some he wants to get rid of out of the way, then they will not / don't want to take any cash.

    I pay for a lot of stuff ie retail shops, plumbing etc but when ya get gear that's useful and someone just wants to get rid of it, then that's luck, right place-right time.

    I also went through my parts list and I've underestimated my total outlay to date, I will not list the $ total just in case my wife reads this post!

    The boiler I paid roughly $250 to get welded and legs etc, proper tradesman with tig and stainless. If I did the boiler again, I'd add a separate fixed sight glass and move the element points to the rear.

    The old still will list on ebay one day, have not looked at it since SD gear.

    Fadge

  • That is one thing I've noticed is that I've never seen a second hand SD unit for sale.

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  • @fadge how much does your 1000lt shuttle tank heat up over a run? I'm trying to simplify my cooling water system and trying to decide if that is a direction worth going, Thanks

  • We are in the same boat, @fadge. I have the original 'perfect boiler' but want to replace it with a 70L insulated factory built boiler - only I have to get it past the woman.
    That's the hard part.

    Trying to convince her that buying a small personal boiler when I already have one is not going to be easy.

  • @Cambo I have the same 1000L tank like @fadge , but I also use a car radiator with a fan and a mister. I dont recall exactly but the starting temp was around 24C and a 7 hour run raised it to only about 33C. I'll keep better notes on the next run.

  • edited November 2013

    OH COOL! She surprisingly said OK. Not sure if its love or if now I owe her a present but I'm smelling a shiny new boiler on the horizon. Sorry to detract from the thread but just I'm so elated. A professional quality 70 liter boiler for moi.
    I'd post an engineered drawing but it would be plagiarized by others before it was even produced **sad but true.

  • @Cambo said: fadge how much does your 1000lt shuttle tank heat up over a run? I'm trying to simplify my cooling water system and trying to decide if that is a direction worth going, Thanks

    Actually its not been an issue unless a really long run or perhaps two runs in day, I only have a cheap stick on temp strip that appears to go from starting at say 24c up to perhaps 28-30c. So far I've not run during the hot summer when starting temp will be well over 30c. I do have a simple 3 way tap to direct return flow onto the garden, and a hose to refill if needed, don't think I'll bother with any radiators or anything else.

    It just works as it is.

    Next run I will take temps and times etc.

    Fadge

  • @Lloyd said: OH COOL! She surprisingly said OK. Not sure if its love or if now I owe her a present but I'm smelling a shiny new boiler on the horizon. Sorry to detract from the thread but just I'm so elated. A professional quality 70 liter boiler for moi.
    I'd post an engineered drawing but it would be plagiarized by others before it was even produced **sad but true.

    I doubt I'd be as lucky..!! Perhaps I should ask how much she has spent on shoes? and if I can buy something "for the shed"?

    70 to 100lt would be the sweet spot for me as well, fit the ferments I do, the time to run etc. Looking forward to pics when you get your new toy.

    Fadge

  • @Lloyd i think i smell a rat ! im sure she will want something in return

    Maybe your good looks will do :))

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