putting stainless tank style cold trap in front of the pump for filtering and evaporating off the ethanol. i use a tank and chiller setup for that. question is- should i set the cold trap outer tank on top of the ice water/calcium chloride slurry too? the inner tank holds the slurry too- just wondering if i need to chill the bottom of the outer tank.
thanks!
Show us a pic of what you’re working with.
Yes it s smart to place the tank in a slurry as well
Reason is the condensate can start boiling off if vacuum is sufficient
By cooling the botom you will be cooling condensed compounds that will become less volitile to boil off again
Please be aware that the hoses and couplings in the picture are 1/4” flare and Trey this diameter only a maximum of 1.9cfm can pass treu this is no matter how large the pump
The lines are restricting flow
Most of the hvac flare hoses are made from nylon / n-buna wich are not very chemical proof
Not sure wich size rug the coldtrap wil be connected to but I would not use this over any 5 liter rig since if heads mains and tails are distilled with this coldtrap anywhere from 200-600ml will get into the trap and overfill
sorry- i am a noob and dont understand some of the words! thanks
i am using this primarily with a buchner filter, to keep from setting my pump on fire!
using 1/4 barbs- a little better. just a kitchen cook! extracting for feco to put in tincture and balm. 12 pounds flower in 10 gallons 200 proof food grade ethanol. trying to get at least 500ml concentrate per batch. been having problems filtering using gravity and coffee filters and need to up my game!
What pump are you using and what temperature is the ethanol when passed treu the filter ?
diaphragm pump, the temps are ambient (50f) then after winterizing (0) thx
Oooo easy peazy
First of for diafragm pumps I don t see the need of a coldtrap when filtering treu a Buchner filter
Reasons beeing
Ethanol is very well tolerated by most available diafragma ( the elastomers the diafragm is made off)
Ethanol has a bp of 78C (96%ethanol)
And getting it to boil under vacuum in a filter flask at ambient temperature or lower ( frozen tincture) almost never happens (diafragm pumps don t go realy into deep vacuum )
As for fire 
Ethanol can and will burn of explode but
It s a bit harder to since it s auto ignition temp is 400C
And it s explosion limit is 3.7%-27%
I have personally never had isseu s with ethanol catching fire in any vacuum pump
Now the best practice is to place a coldtrap in between no doubt ( I never do for ethanol)
As for the pump make sure it can drain any condensed solvent ( place pump higher or same height as operations Equipment
You probably have an exhaust line on the pump placing this end of exhaust hose in a measuring cylinder or any high narrow vessel filed with water will condense/absorb almost all vapors that made it treu
Do not suck liquid tincture in the pump and if you did clean her out
Once all solvent evaporated if any crude of oil is inside it will act like Gleu seen plenty pumps
Not have the capacity to pull the diafragm loose
thx for the tip for the exhaust line!
