i got another question…so yesterday after running all my dewaxing on my normal rotary pump and cold trap… i noticed i went from 3.6l of mixture to around 2.9l of mixture after. I know my cold trap had alcohol cause i was able to hear it. My vac lines had a good amount in it as well. not the one from my pump to the trap though that one didnt have a drop.
Opened my cold trap and found about 700ml of alcohol in it. At least i know the trap is doing its job…haha.
My question is can i reuse this? Should i redistill this? It barely smells like cannabis unlike the alcohol i recovered. I proofed it at 95% ethanol…its was showing 98% but after temp adjustment it was 95%.
I really cant believe i trapped this much alcohol. Does this mean i was filtering too hard? Maybe ineffective?
The carbon scrubbing didnt strip the color like i would have liked either. While it definitely made the oil more transparent…its like a cherrywine color. This material was years old…not 1 probably closer to 2. Not stored correctly, and from shit growers.
Ok, im gonna re-distill all that alcohol. Im a bit confused on the condenser comment though. Where would a condenser be used on a buchner funner? I was using a rotary pump and cold trap connected to my buchner funnel and it collected that much alcohol. I dont know if this is normal or something bad.
Any issues with ever having to rebuild these pumps when not using a cold trap? I know they’re supposed to be solvent resistant, but that definitely doesn’t mean solvent proof. I’m eyeing one of these to purchase in the near future, as water aspirators are a bit of a bitch to set up. I also don’t feel comfortable leaving the room with those damn things as I’ve had hoses pop off or vibrate/creep out of the buckets before and make a mess.
This is exactly how its set up. It actually is Buchner funnel - vac line - vac manifold - cold trap - vac line - pump but same shit…i just have a 4 way vac manifold in case i wanna run multiple buchners. And i think i had it cold enough, as i caught nearly 700ml of alcohol in it. My pump is perfect. I just never seen anyone pulling that much alcohol when filtering which makes me think im pulling too hard? I couldnt believe all the alcohol in the trap.
When i finished filtering i noticed the missing ml. I was preying i didnt loose that mass to carbon scrubbing. I was starting to regret the scrubbing. Once i open the trap. Literally all the numbers started to add up right.
caveat: if the receiver beneath your buchner was too small, it is possible that the solvent in your trap didn’t evaporate & condense to get there, but was sucked in as liquid. in which case it has some of your cannabinoids.
Yeah it was a 1L receiving flask which was not filled with over 600ml of fluid at a time. Thanks…Ill work on stopping the pump for a little in the future.
So we are all on the same page. Welch absolutely sucks since they sold out. Everything went to China and all thier pumps slowly all become cheap China pieces.
The reason why we don’t sell them is bc of huge return rate and warranty issues.
Since its chemical resistant and diaphragm could you flush it by pumping a small amount of ethanol through it? Larger diaphram im used to to are used specifically for liquids. The large ones use a seated ball to provide a one way valve. I was thinking pumping liquid through it could clean and particles off the seal.
Id just get the kit. Or at least the tool and open it up, wipe everything out. If you know what the pump was used for (nothing toxic to human health) and gets to vac then just let her run. I doubt a spurt of etho is gonna kill it, but just wont be a proper or effective cleaning.
Dry scroll is better in almost every way including shit simple maintenance. Agilents aren’t exactly chemical rated, not supposed to use corrosive, explosive or particulate forming gas, but people use em successfully anyways. Edwards C series has them anti corrosion innards. Most Welch diaphram pumps are made for pumping harsh vapors & gases. With proper seal kit maintenance diaphrams are great, Welch isnt shit, I think were just using them wrong, mostly letting them get sticky nasty and sealed stuck shut. Ie on an oven vs assisting a roto, or without a proper cold trap.
I can assure you I have a upper level of pump opperations and maintenance knowledge beyond what most Do.
Welch pumps require maintenance and rebuild in 1/3 the time thier nearest competition …
Welch uses a sprayed liner in thier pumps, the liner nearly melts or peels from the casing after one rebuild(you know thier chemical duty rated pumps)
I hate to break it to you but Welch used to be very very good…since they were bought out everything has been super cheaply outsourced and component wise it is the same price as competition with 1/3 the quality.
Yes some last longer than I’ve mentioned but not many.
What did you miss the Welch crv fiasco with cheap woosung pumps? That wasn’t even that long ago.
Looks like a 500ml short-path with a single 250ml recieving flask. Not sure what kind of a cold trap they have, but isn’t that enough for a reasonable estimate of system volume?
