1st Run of our 150L Bain-Marie Still

edited June 2021 in Usage

Hi guys. Thought I'd share a video of the 1st time running our new 150L bain-marie still. We're only distilling water at this point as we do not have all paperwork sorted yet. So far so good! Many thanks to the SD EU team for their excellent service:

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

Comments

  • You'll get much more compliant behavior with an alcoholic kettle charge.

    Best.

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited June 2021

    Yeah that's what we're hoping. Can't wait, but must have patience :) BTW we have 12kW elements which we now think is waaaay too much.

    Also notice the control box, it's fitted with 3 x solid state relay switches (the two elements have 3 loops each). also includes a programmable micro controller which we can use for automation (drive the elements), including a temp sensor for feedback loop. We're also working on a system to drive a solenoid valve for the dephlegmator based off measured temps.

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  • edited June 2021

    Looks nice. Difficult to accurately see from the picture, but just make sure that the contactor is wired in prior to the SSR's. This is the general recommendation.

    Also I think you are too light on your contactor selection at 9A for 12KW 3 phase

  • :-bd

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

  • edited June 2021

    You can see what we have done on our high voltage panel. Here we used a 30A contactor for 18KW (3x6KW) total heating elements.

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  • Cool! thanks for sharing. Yes its prior to the SSR's. It's fused at 24A which is just enough to run everything :) Also notice the microcontroller in the door, we're running a PID there, still need to fiddle with the parameters as in our first tests we were overshooting target temp by 20C as temps were evening out in the bath. Ideally we would circulate, still thinking about that. Oh and ignore the -242C :P

  • I have 3 12kW each on a 50A 3-pole breaker and contactor, and 3 3kW elements on a 70A breaker that are wired to 2 contactors as 6kW and 3kW with each element having it's own 30A supplementary breaker, so about 42kW total, and using a clamp-meter, draws about 104A at the main panel when heating...

    I am running Dernord 9kW labeled elements at 240V, and when wired in 3-phase delta, draw 27.5-28.0A, which is actually 11.5-12kW , and is not safe on 30A equipment for hours on end... everything gets warm... bad juju on that, and I upgraded to 50A 3-phase breakers, 8AWG THHN wire, and L15-50 plugs but still using 10AWG SOOW rubber cord for the connection, but looking upgrade to 8/3, but the connections are tight already inside the element head.

    Note:

    • If you wire a 3-phase 12kW element in Y(wye) method, it will be more like 3-4kW.
    • Wye wiring is tying three poles of the element together and then the 3 wires powering to the remaining 3 poles.
    • Delta wiring is tying the poles in adjacent pairs and connecting a power wire to each pair.

    Now it is nearly impossible to get the 600mm long 9kW elements from dernord on AliExpress without paying more in shipping than you do for the element, and even that looks to be going end of life... I really like them for the SD Bain-Marie Kettle.

    Maybe a business opportunity to have SD branded elements that have quality control on the power rating at a reasonable cost ;-)

  • @CothermanDistilling said: Now it is nearly impossible to get the 600mm long 9kW elements from dernord on AliExpress without paying more in shipping than you do for the element, and even that looks to be going end of life... I really like them for the SD Bain-Marie Kettle.

    Maybe a business opportunity to have SD branded elements that have quality control on the power rating at a reasonable cost ;-)

    I've noticed this too, I think the 208v ones disappeared before the 240vs. Thankfully I have a couple spares, but they were an awesome value. I just wish they had more room for the wiring. 8AWG is a pretty tight fit.

  • Dear @Stinky - please share more - you have a great shop running there! So neat and smart! :)

    StillDragon Europe - Your StillDragon® Distributor for Europe & the surrounding area

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