With a new batch of crude I set up for my first hit condenser I didnt set the condenser high enough and had constant clogging issues I’ve now got it set to 75 c. Partly because of the clog the mantle got very hot and I got tails in my collection flask, If I hadn’t done that should I have stopped before tails came over leaving them in the BF?
What do people who run hot tek do with the tails?
Finally to condenser temp I hope it dosent get stuck here again
Looks like you will make it.
I can’t believe the setup though; never seen one quite like that.
It clogged off and on untill tails really started coming over, it was painfully slow waiting for a clog to clear and then having one form right away, need to figure out how to fix this clogging,
If you stop recirculating at 75C you’ll probably be good to go. It’s not uncommon to run with a dry condenser
It’s also common to run the condenser at 100C+ to avoid clogging issues
haha ive got only a simple aquium pump so i cant go above 100 but ill try hotter next time for sure.
Many people run at 130-170+ in the condenser. I think some old old videos did recommend 60C but the consensus for a while is that mains doesn’t need a cold condenser except under certain circumstances like you’re really pushing your boiling flask temps up.
When you’re at 75C in the recirculator you’re cooling down the material from 160C+ down to closer to 75C. That will increase your clogging issues. Leave it empty and Id bet you’ll see the clogs decrease
So is running the condenser even needed for hot tek, wouldn’t the heads still fly by the swing arm with just an air cooled condenser?
“Hot condensing” is sort of a balancing act of yield loss and contaminant loss. To have the best results a heater/chiller circulator is the way.
No recirculator would be my try but I don’t have direct experience with anything but full bore systems where a little overshoot is no big deal. I’d hate for the overshoot to clog one of those lines, maybe someone else can speak more about it with this setup.
I would think this is simple, increase cfm and/or temp. I’m kinda interested to see your solution.
buy a heat gun and use it during your run to prevent clogging.
or go to your local pet store and get a reptile heat lamp and place it close to your cow on the spd
I had a heat gun ready for this exact reason but I’d didnt seem to help much due to the location of the clog being shielded by a double layer of glass, in going to try as hot of water as I can in my next run hopefully it helps the issue. I was hoping the duoseal would be enough cfm for this small system but maybe not.
Clog was always after the condenser and almost impossible to heat
i had the exact same problem but the heat gun should get up to like 600F and can easily penetrate the jacketed glass. you need to lose the plastic clips. Replace with metal and leave the heat gun there for longer.
Check this thread for solution.
Thanks for all the tips everyone they are invaluable in shortening the learning curve. I’ll update when I start my next run in a few day.
I think I’m going to try a heat lamp first I’ve got a chick brooding lamp somewhere around here. But backup having the condenser rigged to the heat gun. Can I run into problems with it being too hot? Excluding melting plastic
Regarding your clogs i agree with everyone above try and run a little hotter on your condenser. However @Killa12345 recommended that heat gun trick be superrr careful with that. Un-even heating of the glass can cause breaks.
If i were you i would keep a very close eye on the level of disty throughout the condenser and as it starts to thicken up slowly heat the area with a heat gun. When i do this i put my hand right behind the glass and if its too hot for my hand to stay there for more than a few secs i back off the heat.
Slowly heating the areas around the clog should get the shit flowing again and you don’t have to heat the direct area. If you heat ahead of it you create a warm slippery slope for the distillate to flow down and if you heat behind it you are pushing warm distillate over the top which will warm up the whole thing and get it flowing again.
Edit: cant stress enough. Please be careful using a heat gun in this manner i believe if u heat one area of the glass significantly hotter than the rest too quickly it will break and be a burning mess.
For sure safety first, hot oil and glass implosion sounds very not fun, I was being very conservative with the heat so far not even melting the plastic clips. I will definitely be careful
always good to be proactive rather than reactive when dealing with clogs. Patience and paranoia are what get me through SPD days
You need to boil off any of the lower boiling point volitiles before you take your thc fraction, hold the mantle just below the boiling point of the cannabinoids and wait till everything boils off, then when the thermometer dips in temp, this signals the end of the fraction, you can ramp your mantle up a few set points to resume distillation. The trick is the beginning of the cannabinoid fraction is a azetroph where you have a mix of the burned terps and cannabinoids co distilling. You may need to wait several minuets after the beginning of the cannabinoid fraction starts before the thermometer will stabilize. when the thermometer gives you a good constant temp and no longer rises you can start collection.
so to recap:
The more you run your still the easier this will get.
get yourself a desk lamp with a heat bulb, control it with a dimmer switch and say good buy to clogs.
