So I am wanting to get my recovery times down lower, I know I need more potent water recirculation, I am running on average 30lbs 70/30 blend, running half inch lines to a single Cmep, and I know my bottle neck is at the 3/8 lines the cmep runs on, I just purchased another cmep, and I was wondering if I could work them in parallel in order to reduce my recovery times, I also plan on grabbing a better water recirculator, I just want to ensure my logic isn’t entirely flawed in its concept.
I have heard of a number of people using multiple pumps, I am doing this as a “cheap s***” means until I can go big boy with a larger recovery pump in general.
I typically set my water bath at 120 or so, it dips down into the 90’s throughout recovery, and when it starts to bounce back up, I let the pumps handle the rest.
Currently recovering about 30lbs every hour-hour and a half or so.
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Yes you can, ive ran 4 on a mk4 and 6-8 on a bfe. There will be changes you’ll have to make depending on how tour set up is but you can run many pumps on 1 system. Make you dont over boil your solvent/oil is a problem with running multiple pumps
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I was planning on only using the second one for the main bulk of recovery and shutting down towards the end, for that explicit reason, and thank you for letting me know, I was honestly just needing confidence for my mania. 
Guess now I need to order me some more lines.
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You also have to keep in mind since your running a blend the beginning if recovery will be faster cause you’ll pull the propane first and if your tank isnt cooled your then recovering butane into propane pressure. I run all propane so they can handle it. I dont know your system but for example when i put 4 on a mk4 i had to raise the 2” recovery manifold 18” to keep oil from getting sucked into the pumps.
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What kind of chiller are you using to recondense the gas?
You might be able to speed up recovery by increasing your cooling when recovering. Also, make sure your chiller can handle two pumps.
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all these pumps that cost 4k$ each and to rebuild every year for $1k.
You’d think you might try a hybrid passive active machine.
Would not setting that in dry ice or just opting for jacketed tank and a chiller for the long haul price
Have your solvent tank in the negative 50z pr lower is priceless…not only does it condense the gas to liquid taking the psi down with it. You can actually get ur tane pane so cold it pulls a vacuum for u. Then it’ll be pulling on the filter drier you better have and the collection is warm making positive psi giving it a fast push over
Add a shotgun condenser w jacket of sorts also right before the tank and I bet they’d be neck and neck w 4 pumps
Just saying 4? Holy craps 1 is enough if done righr correct. If it doesn’t ur pump is jacked up
The hybrid passive active beast I’ve seen w chillers were fast as fuck
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125$ rebuild in about an hr if you just do it your self. Passive is definitely faster but with a big machine its a lil different. You have to cool the chiller or have in another room. Hauling dry ice is time and exposure so you gotta pick your poison. I recover pure propane with regular ice and do 12 columns in about 3 hrs
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I suspect done the most correct way would probably eliminate the CMEP entirely and go to a better pump if using one at all, 3/8" lines on the CMEP with even smaller internal passages to fight against would become the bottleneck if they weren’t already IMO.
On a large enough scale I have to wonder if combining semi-passive (think a radiator & fan) + active cooling (chiller) would have a fairly quick ROI
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I saw this coming, yes, if I spent another 10-15 thousand, I am sure I could have much better solutions.
I’m using a 1/2 condensing coil in dry ice. Sorry. Didn’t mention that in my initial.
I’m working with what’s available. 
Spending another grand or so on another cmep, is a short time measure, of course I want better things, they come in time. Passive intrigues the hell out of me, but thats a whole other thing to tackle, that I don’t have time/resources to do so with.
My system I set up with all 1/2 line (I knew I wanted to do other things in the future.) But I didn’t anticipate my bottleneck being my pump, so noticeably.
I swear, some of you guys would suggest to people driving a corolla, “Why didn’t you buy a ferrari?!?.”
"Cause I’m broke mf what do you want??? Let me put my oversized wing and flame stickers on it if I want to."
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If you need to or want to there really easy to rebuild as long as you know the tricks. The bearings are 19-40 ish dollars. Unless you need a cylinder head or something that has to come from them. I would run both the whole time til the very end.
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Now that’s how you get a few extra ponies out of my corolla.
Bearings aren’t a biggie, I have spare heads I send off, on rotation to get rebuilt.
I know cmeps. I looked into the MVP, but I decided that would make more sense once I trade in my corolla.
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I can give you a guys number who does awesome pump rebuilding for a very fair price and usually a 4-5 day turn around for me up here and him down there. They are easy to do, if you run as much as i do its worth knowing how to do it. I sacrificed one when they first came out so i knew how, find a used one for cheap and just tear it apart. If your gonna buy an mvp make sure your psi is under there max outlet limit which isnt much until you get to the 150 and for the price id rather run multiple pumps so theres never down time rather than rely on 1 piece of equipment.
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I have done something similar, I just choose to send off because it helps me focus just on the tasks I am doing, could totes use them details, I usually just send it to ecogreen.
The only MVP I give any s***s for is the 150.
So I made the choice… 11k, or spend maybe 2k and double my cmeps. MVP seemed overkill… and who knows, whenever I look into a larger system, it’s either that or tackling passive.
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If i wasnt 1 foot out the door of this business id buy a corken, but alas i as you am working with what i have and doing as few upgrades as possible. Til the wheels fall off.
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Thats the other thing too^^^ I scaled my business, to my business, if I can’t immediately justify it, then it isn’t worth it to me. I 100% agree with your position, I always make sure to comfort myself with the understanding that if I got a chance to follow a passion, I can take comfort of the fact that I got to do so, be it a moment in time, or for a lifetime. There are other challenges I am sure to find in life.
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Ive been doing this over a decade, its less and less worth everyday especially at production scale
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Wanna hear the most agitating sounds in the world?
“Oh?!?, you’re an extractor? You must make soooo much money.”
My response: “No, I’ve spent a lot…”
People don’t realize it’s a business with a lot of overhead, if you can’t get your hands on cheap worth while material, the margins get tight quick.
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My overhead will make you wanna drink bleach. The problem going big now is the lack of material available, i use to be able to work all yr from 1-2 people. Now its all small #500 lots or less most of the time.
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I don’t need any more reasons to want to drink bleach…
There’s enough reason already to want to.
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Why are people so scared to learn passive thermodynamics…dry ice is .59 cents a lb. No pumps to fuck with sounds like a dream.
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