Great idea for an amusing thread, @anon93688! I wish I had room in my brain for all the fails in detail, but I usually just do things the right way with vague but strong semi-conscious alerts to pause right before I make a mistake. I could definitely say what NOT to do if I were explaining a specific procedure, though!
Ooh! I know! Do NOT add a stoichiometric equivalent of cannabinoids as MgO to a distillation flask of crude! Less than a teaspoon per liter of crude is plenty! More than that will turn into concrete with the resin, fucking up the distillation mechanics, making you want to push the temperature way too high just to save it, which can generate an imploding fireball if you vent air into it while hot! Yes, you can reach the actual flash point of cannabis resin in a distillation process! If there is high CBD content, any incoming air will make the condensing vapor turn bright purple, too, but don’t risk it!
Oh I love this one we all been there. Eyes wide, excitement , this is gonna be greee… bang crash pow awww shit. I had a pressure filter looks so pretty slurry layer after layer… and foomp sinter disc imploded sucked shit in my shit awww shit
Ran 4.5lbs of fresh frozen with 500 grams of Activated Alumina in the extraction column and 500g T-5 in the CRC. Ran cold butane and cold column (-78°C) and what I got out contained no cannabinoids.
Made a huge batch and put my vacuum chamber lower then my vacuum pump. Gravity took its course and ruined the whole batch. Didn’t have any way to remediate vac pump oil at the time. Total loss
Using a shop vac to empty a biomass column without checking to see if there was a filter in the vac. Covered the entire extraction lab in a film of dust, we found bits of it here and there for 2 years after
Accidently let a heat gun power cord rest against a 170c thermal fluid line which turn ruptured and pissed hot fluid all over a WFE, luckily it did not get on me.
Classic over ramping of vacuum and temp on undecarbed/degased crude causing rapid expansion through the distillation head and distribution head on an SPD
Using the wrong PRV on a SFE system being run autonomously overnight, causing a large amount of crude to needlessly be splattered on the lab floor, also cooling and hardening overnight.
Don’t microwave wash bottles to heat solvent, blew up a microwave like that… surprisingly enough it was from super heated acetone that super boiled all at once.
When back filling your vac oven with inert gas don’t forget about it… I did and it blew the seal off the oven and killed the vac gauge.Oven still “worked” after but was not great.
Always have a backup pump on your vacuum mantifold, I had a pump that electrically failed right as the head fraction was coming across.
Gaskets … gaskets will leak from time to time from damage, improper torque, or simply worn out. Vigilance, a few room air meters, and a A/C sniffer will keep you safe. I have seen leaks form and had to deal with some situations that otherwise would have been an emergency if I had not dealt with them.
valves… they can leak too, make sure you have all the tools you need to work on your extractor near by.
One of my first big boy runs in a 5L i did not have a thermo well and was using a normal threaded coupler, at about 150c it failed and boom, ruined run, everything was volcanic rock.
Also be careful who you buy crude from! one of my clients got sold 10 gallons of wiper poop.
Had all my heat exchangers freeze up, off grid mind you. It was quite a nightmare had to dump 12 columns into the collecrion. Then bleed and let det thaw over night
Started vacuuming a jar with the lid resting on top of it (not screwed on, just resting on top) after the jar had been in the freezer for 24 hours. As soon as the vacuum depth in the oven reached a deeper vac depth than was inside the jar the whole thing exploded, covering my oven with a thick film of Tangie. Now every time I open the oven I get smacked in the face with orange peels
we all been there. Eyes wide, excitement , this is gonna be greee… bang crash pow awww shit. I had a pressure filter looks so pretty slurry layer after layer… and foomp sinter disc imploded sucked shit in my shit awww shit