Thank you to every one who answered questions on my first post.
Dry vac test at 4 microns with Welch 1400. Probably getting started on the first run tomorrow. The crude I have is not ideal but I figure it will make for an excellent practice run.
I am sure I will have many questions along the way! Any critiques on my setup are welcome.
Full bore is the only way to go.
are you going to leave the Welch on the table with the glass ? nice table tho. maybe make sure with all things going and heating your not going to trip that circuit when you’re running for real
Thank you.
I believe the mantle and pump only draw 700 watts so I should be good on one circuit… hopefully.
What’re you using to heat your condenser?
Agreed that the vibration from vac pump may be an issue if the surface is not stable… but my stir bar is honestly the worst rn for shakiness, massive egg of a thing
The table is SS so pretty heavy and this Welch pump is really smooth and quiet. I added a piece of foam just in case and the vibrations are barely there now.
I have a chiller from Lab1st. I just need to pick it up from storage in the morning. I have seen people do it with a heat gun before but it didn’t look fun. lol
What is the minimum amount I can run in a 2L? I have 2 kg of crude and want to get as many tries out of it as possible.
do 500g at a time.
Word. Thx.
Well… I knew everything was going to well.
Suddenly my Inficon Pilot Plus vacuum gauge stopped working. It turns on but no matter the vacuum it always reads 760 torr. The calibration button has also stopped working. I took it off and saw a tiny bit of pump oil around the flange. Any one have experience with this gauge?
I think I am getting the hang of it. It seems to be a balancing act between evaporation rate/vapor pressure and the vacuum. Temp goes up, stops, goes up again. Vacuum goes up, then slowly back down again.
I am at 130C and now collecting heads and the cold trap is still dripping. I think this crude had a lot of junk in it. So far so good I think.
What kind of crude are you using? Why no head vapor temp thermometer? It was my understanding that knowing the head vapor temp was pretty important. I’ll be having a first spd run if my own here shortly…so I’m here with my popcorn trying to learn.
I was so hyped when I did my first run and had you fine people follow along. Good luck man!!!
I’ve been told you don’t need a head temp thermometer necessarily, but in my (limited) experience knowing the head temp let me know exactly when they system was gonna go into thc cruise control
And also, I would insulate that boiling flask. I used fiberglass rope and just wrap it around my whole boiling flask and up to the head… but I’d assume atleast tinfoil would
Help. Anything to keep that keep inside and constant instead of fighting the room temp
Again, I’m a newb too, so that’s my slight input I have to offer lol
Even tin foil and paper towel works great for insulation. Or an emergency heat blanket
I made the crude myself with alcohol and dry ice but a) the material had been sitting in a hot shed for a year and b) my cheap thermometer was messed up and reading off by about 15° so I think I pulled some wax. It also had a ton of volatiles and took forever to purge. I had a vigorous boil in my flask without even turning on the mantle.
Thanks for the encouragement ya’ll! I appreciate it. I am jazzed but the hairs are also standing up on the back of neck until I see that golden coil.
I have some tinfoil ready but I figured I’d wait until I hit main body to put it on. I wanted to see everything clearly just in case I had any bumping.
