New upcoming spd here

Down to 815

Im not finding any vac leaks with the helium test on all the vac connections. A super super minute one at the head temp probe that raises it 1micron.

I did 253 yesterday from cold trap to the vac pump, just warming up, not hot. Today after adding the cow, head, and bf, im at 815

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Do you know what your pump pulls blanked off?
Its interesting that your not finding with helium, perhaps its the heat, you BF is empty right?

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Bf has aprox 700ml of crude in a 1000ml flask. Cold trap is empty

Down to 793. Just kinda fine adjusting the mantle, stand and such.

I never was able to do a blank off test. Was told 5 micron. I just hit 253 yesterday colt trap to pump

When i move the head thermometer to see if any leaks, there is a leak there 100%. I see my bullseye going up.

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Oh, you have stuff in it, your likely good then cuz its the volitales starting to evap off causing your vac to be high because the pump is working against a theoretical pressure being created by the crude… i think… it will go down as you raise temps and enter a fraction, are you doing a pre run test or actually starting your run
Whats your set temp?

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I do have spare flasks n such. I have a new epmty 1l bf i can test out, but id have to re-tape up my bf joints.

Ceude is currently room temp 77f. No heat

The head probe is the spot that makes the microns move

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This is the start of my run,
Sv/set value, pv/probe value, hv/head value
my vac slowly went down until i hit about 125, 140 set value, then it started climbing, so i was wrong on a previous statement, vac goes down then climbs again as you enter a fraction due to more stuff traveling through the vapor path,
So depending on your heat i think your okay, im no expert ive only done this once so i dont have much to go from
But if your not starting your run and can fix the probe leak it will likely help

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738 after oil change
So it went down 20 micron
Gonna flush once more in 1hr with frsh oil

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Says “stable”? No vac leak?

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Potentially, my guage is a cheaper one, but when i had a leak it was at like 350 ish and the number went down slowly like a point a minute,
Killa informed me it should pull down to below 100 within a minute, it wasnt jumping around or climbing but slowly dropping, once i fixed the leaks it pulled to 36 within 5 minutes tops then was slowly like a point a minute dropping and i called it good enough and continued.
I never pulled vac with anything in my flask i started heating once i got the crude in… and assumed i had no leak, which i think was correct

Hopefully someone more experienced with a loaded flask can answer, if the crude is bubbling id say its likely not going to pull down as low as if it were empty

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Down to 650
2nd oil change. And wrapped the thermocoupler brass fitting area.

623
Every time i twist the thermometer afapters my microns go up. Obviously its leaking there. Im on Clone duty now. Ill redo both bf joints later tonight. Was really hoping to run tomorrow.

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Hopefully someone will say thats pulled a vac on a full flask so you know for sure, but once you fix those two spots it will be good,
When you pull the tape off check for bubbles in the grease

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Much appreciate the help!

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Blanking off the bf and head thermometer joint to do some testing.

Down to 543. Getting some bubbling in the mantle. Im assuming its a bot of etoh. I did a good purge and decarb in the mantle

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Thats pretty close to my # when i started, i would think the bubbling would prevent you from achieving an ultimate vac, possibly a sign that your getting a good pull on the system now.
looking at my notes my pump was catching up until i got into heads fraction.

So is it slowly achieving a deeper vac or holding a constant?

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Blanked off at the vac pump
5 micron

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Thats lower than mine pulled to, hmm
The gas ballast valve closed all the way when it was hooked up to the system right?
All the experts must have taken the weekend off on the forum :rofl:

Im kinda thinking you have leak still cuz thats a good # blanked off

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Im retiring for the night.

Hit 153 at the condensor to pump. Going to 1 spot at a time tomorrow. May also get rid of the Y vac break valve. That will free up 2 potential leak points. Ill just use the gl to break vac.

Theb14/20 joint where the adapter goes, the gasket is way to large hole for the probe to go in. Ill run by uslabs tonorrow after dripping my damn jeep off at the dealership yet again.

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I pieced together this spd, which is 95% the same listed above. I plan to hard pipe my vaccuum as described. Ill be following this thread . Thank you all. Another lonewolf here in Sparks Nevada look

ing for a mentor.

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Helium is a bit overkill but :man_shrugging:

Also if you put a valve on there you shouldnt have to remove the tubing except when done with the run.

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Ignore the stable or leak on those gauges… it soesnt take into account distillation.

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