no iso valves. I’m letting it just sit under heat right now at 200C…but the shit won’t defoam and turn into a liquid…it’s just a big foamy mass right now.
3 Likes
I’m sure you can throttle your vacuum in an emergency from that cow hose like you let in the air in.
I learned in the future I’ll decarb at 140c under full vacuum.
1 Like
be gentle on it and try throttling the pump, if it foams up let up on the vac. A good valve between the pump and the distillation apperatus is essental.
3 Likes
thats what I’ve been doing, throttling it. I turned it up to 250, no vac just to see if it’ll stop.
honestly though, I may have to quit on this today shortly. I’m dealing with a bunch of other very big issues in my life right now and it’s making it very hard to focus on what I’m doing here.
There’s also some mental health things involved and this constant frustration isn’t helping me any.
1 Like
Well take care of yourself before getting overly frustrated. We will be here when your ready. You can always distill it again.
Decarb it untill the small co2 bubbles stop, then your done.
Dont be discouraged, let every opertunity be a learning experence. Reflect on today, come back tommorrow with a belly full of fire!
8 Likes
Don’t put down on yourself, you’re organized, and understand preparation, the keys to a successful project.
I still think your problem is trusting the temp controller of your stirrer/mantle to be high tech magic that does all the thinking for you, when actually it’s making it difficult for you to follow the boiling rate.
We all sincerely appreciate your willingness to openly share, a quality of true scientist.
3 Likes
I think that pid’s have a high likelyhood of overshoot with the incorrect thermocouple placement. @Killavolt does your mantle have an internal thermocouple? If so that might be a better option for more accurate heater controll.
You could also do what @SkyHighLer has suggested with the variac controll, although controlling the heat will be a manual process.
1 Like
ya my mantle has a temp probe that goes inside the boiling flask.
and no, I don’t trust that damn PID, I know how they work and it’s ridiculous…this thing swings like it’s the 70’s.
There’s just nothing I can do right now. I can’t buy a variac or anything else… I basically have to work with what I have right now.
8 Likes
When I was in that boat I used baby steps to get the temp up (a couple of degrees at a time, start really low). You kind of have to control the pacing. Make it take longer and it will keep the temp a little more consistently. If you have a thinner thermocouple I would use one between the boiling flask and the mantle.
3 Likes
You can afford a thermocouple.
https://www.google.com/shopping/product/16086766899919686188
4 Likes
why do I need one though? I have a probe already
A probe between the glass and heated mantle will give a more accurate BF temp vs the probe inside the BF.
I just ordered 2 of these
7 Likes
ahhh ok i see what you’re saying.
1 Like
I kinda recall you’re up in Washington State or Canada, definitely not near me here in SoCal, so I can’t hook you up in person, but you’ve got everything in that house for success, let me buy you a 10A Variac and a Kill-A-Watt power meter (the power meter lets you watch the watts and dial in exactly and repeatably the boiling rate.) I can send the funds by PayPal if you’d like, private massage me if that would help you turn this around.
10 amp 110 volt (at the max crank of the knob, it boosts your 110 volt line input to130 volts, giving you extra wattage if/when you need it) Variac for only $48.42 including shipping.
P3 Kill-A-Watt power meter for $20.98 with free shipping. You put it between the wall outlet and the Variac, and besides allowing you to monitor the load/consumption from the mantle in amps and watts, it will tell you if the line voltage goes up/down due to some high draw device switching on/off within the household or in the neighborhood.
9 Likes
Bro you are a good man I hope you yourself are working out your issues I would hate to see you leave this community
4 Likes
Easy on the man hè s having tough times and needs support
5 Likes
You see why we all want to help You ?
You stuburn old man 
3 Likes
wow, thanks for the support guys, I’ve got the issues at home kinda of dealt and am moving forward there.
I’ll be posting more videos a little bit later today after I get this fucking mess cleaned up.
I have to say, I am absolutely shocked at the support from this community, this is a great place and I c an’t thank you guys enough for all the support… To say the least, I’m really not used to it.
Keep an eye out for the vids… I’ll be posting stuff in a few hours.
SjyHighLer…we’ll chat in a bit. I really appreciate that.
13 Likes
This guy does it for personal consumption last time I checked.
3 Likes