CLS Help: Filter Drier and Coil Placement

Hash and Stuff Extraction
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1

Just joined but been lurking on here for some time as I try to spec out a small CLS for personal use. Using 100% n-butane as a start for solvent, passive recovery, and about 150g of fresh home grown material at a time. Also looking to use nitro to push cold solvent through the material and some light filter media. I have already learned a lot and am very thankful for this community.

I find myself a bit confused about the placement of some of my recovery components, specifically a condensing coil and filter drier. I’ve had people chime in and suggest the condensing coil should be after the filter dryer. At the moment I have one of these cheap filter driers:

https://shopbvv.com/en-ca/products/bvv-filter-drier

It says it’s for the liquid line, so would it be proper to put the coil before the filter drier? Or are these filter driers crap and I should just look to outfit my own with beads and triclamp parts? Even if I did that, I’ve read enough to suggest that my solvent should be liquid anyway for the drier to be most effective, so is there any rationale for the coil to go after the drier?

Thanks in advance.

2

I haven’t used a filter dryer in ages. But if you insist, put one together for vapor. So collection tank>filter dryer>heat exchanger/condensing coils>solvent tank. If you go this route, remember your beads will need baked and recharged every single day. When they aren’t in the oven or in your system they need stored in a sealed vessel or they’ll be pulling moisture from our atmosphere. Personally, I haven’t used one since I started extracting and now days if you use any sort of media it really isn’t necessary since most the medias also act as excellent desiccants and will be drying your solvent every run.

Good luck and happy extracting

3

Thank you. The point about the filter media acting as a desiccant is very useful to think about and would certainly simplify things for me.

4

we use molsieves, and regenerate them regularly…we still get water in our solvent tanks occasionally. which is a real bitch when it reaches the liquid withdrawal dip-tubes on our solvent tanks (ice plug == no solvent flow).

we run them in the vapor phase, feed from the bottom.

have you read: Molecular sieve beads yet?