Chill the return line by running it through a coil that’s been packed into a bucket of ice and brine
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condenser coil cleaner. spray, let sit 5-10mins and air compressor clean/dry. do once a month.
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I would also consider putting a second chiller in line on the return line. Any cheap hydroponics chiller will improve your chilling power
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I sell 10-15L 115v -25c to -40c recirculating chillers for the 5L rotos I sell.
20L 220v -25c for the 10L rotos
30L 220v -30c for the 20L rotos
50L 220v -20c for the 50L rotos… etc…
Sounds like your chiller is underpowered & doesn’t have a large enough reservoir.
I would never suggest any of the chillers I sell for short path to work on any rotos.
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What’s the ticket for a chiller for a 5l rotovap? I have 2 currently, just window shopping.
Damnn, this is bad news. I got a chiller from a bad purchase of a complete setup.
I had hoped to use that 7L chiller for my rotovape also a re-501 and felt less bad about that shitty kit i bought, but now im like wtf… what to do… did not plan for this.
My 7L is rated for -20, what was yours since you set it at -10? @Nextracts
Temperature range: -20 °C to 100 °C
Circulating pump: 20 liters per minute
power:1100 watts/ 220volts
Second this as the likely culprit.
If anybody could help if my chiller will be underpowered for my re-501 i would be thankfull,
was just about to pull the trigger on some expensive chiller fluid aswell cause i was unsure if a propylene glycol water mix could be used. but now im a question mark wether i can use this chiller at all.
Could sound like the same one u had Nextracts?
more to rotovapes than i thought, i read the correct condenser temp is -10 - 0°C. i just thought keeping as cold as possible was the aim.
1100w at 0c cooling
An re501 is 2kw heating. Pretty sure your chiller is at least half as powerful as it needs to be
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I have a chiller (used 2x) that works great on a 5l rotovap. My old one. And a buch of other lab stuff.
I put new longer lines and insulation
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@square_root_pharms m learning that it seems, making me even more sad i made a noob purchase with 70% of the stuff i cant use. 
thinking i could use this for my 5l roto took some grief away.
My unit is the exact same as AI sells and @Nextracts have it seems. What did you end up doing with yours?
I have a Julabo FP40-MV also, but damndamn i didnt want to change fluids seems like a mess to do n fluid cross contamination, feels like im never gonna finish after 6 months of purchasing stuff
I just use well water. No chiller
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from the tap? or ice bucket with pump. gettting beat into submission here
What if the lid was taken of the chiller an a SS box was lowered in the chamber filled with dry ice or possible just ice, filling the rest of the chamber with bath fluid helping the missing wattage of the chiller? Lost cause? wouldnt be much space for fluid left either if a box was dropped in.
cursing the hell outta that learning curve
I used tap water successfully for 2 runs before this chiller.
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that is properly the way to go for me aswell, will properly look into the aquarium pump and ice water bucket.
What if one set a stainless steel coldtrap with dry ice/ice before the pump and just ran the condenser dry, that should work aswell? buying a coldtrap looks to be expensive aswell tho.
I use a diaphram vacuum pump with my 5l rotovap. I’ve never used a CT with the rotovap.
Just having a hard time wrapping my head around tap water/ice bucket is enough. and more effcient than a expensive chiller that isnt enough lol. Still hanging a bit on the idea that it should be kept real cold.
have the same 2522 pump aswell bought from reading your comments hehe.
A coldtrap after would in essence do as a good a job as if the condenser on the roto itself was kept cold right?
Wont the pump burp quite a lot with ethanol not condensing with just tap water
No ice bucket. Straight tap, run directly to rotovap, exit rotovap into water holding tank. Aka my garden water tank.
It’s a much slower process.
I tried the 5g bucket, ice water, frozen pop bottles, pump, and was slower than my tap. Even in summer, tap was quicker. Now the chiller I have is 25%+ faster than tap. I can hold at -9 in an 80* room for 18+hrs if needed.
A while back, someone modded a rotovap and used dry ice or ice on the condensor (made a sleeve) and it shattered.
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Ingenuity at its finest!
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