Setup is more or less ready to rock an roll. Any feedback would be very appreciated.
Am a bit worried about the PTFE Joint Thermometer Adapter as the fit doesn’t seem to be too tight. Can I use teflon tape in order to try to get a tighter seal on the temp probe?
After multiple oil changes my Edwards pump pulls straight down to 9 with the DigiVac gauge attached to it.
The same Edwards hooked up to the SPD only pulls down to 444, and as soon as I close off the pump vac level goes up…guessing I have multiple leaks, but also haven’t greased any joints, yet.
Yes i believe a few are wrapping ptfe tape to get a good thermoprobe seal on those ptfe joints
You definitely have a leak, grease the joints wrap that probe and see what it fixes, ive left mine greased overnight and it held fine, generally you wanna do a dry pull to source any leaks, and that requires grease.
I think youll be fine greasing today and running say monday/tuesday. Just clean the grease off of the hole you put your extract in then regrese that joint before running
Nice setup is that all across international glass?
Sweet it looks awesome!
I honestly cant answer that as i do not know,
I would grease everything else pull a vac see what it reads and if your pump doesnt get it down below 50 id still assume you have a leak,
Then try greasing those if you cant find it elswhere
my edwards 30 pulled to 36 and was still dropping, only slowly, and that was with gl fittings so i assumed it was good enough, with the setup you have you should at least be able to get it there, likely lower still
Tried to close the mono cow. When I do, vac level drops to 1, but when I take off the red GL screwcap in order to break the vacuum and switch flasks the vac level raises to 1610.
After the switch and once I open the mono cow again there was another short bump up to 3000 but immediately down to 6 again. Thats normal?
I greased all joints before my run. Pulled vac, then from the bf probe back i twist probe adapters and fittings and look at vac gauge to see if any leaks.
Inuse distillate on the cow tonthen3 reciever flasks and those 3 flasks. Allnothrr joints got vac grease
Looks good but one thing I’m noticing that may be a problem. Is that a thermowell for the temp probe in the boiling flask? I have the same mantle and by the look of it the length of the thermowell will prevent the probe from actually going down into your crude. Is the probe touching the bottom of the flask?
Another thing to keep in mind is your system won’t pull a low vac until you have dry ice and alcohol in your cold trap.
Yes, that is a thermowell . Actually the probe is not touching the bottom of the flask. There is a gap of aprox 1/2" from bottom of the flask. Will this be a problem?
1/2” is not too bad but could cause issues towards the end of the run when your crude gets low. I would keep an eye on the level of crude on your first run to see if it dips below the end of the thermowell.
Sounds like your isolation valve is a little leaky, im not sure its supposed to cause the vac to jump like that, its indicative of a leak and its not completely breaking the vacuum to your recieving flask. It will probably still work,
i would say next test is can you remove the flask with it going?
If so your probably good to go
Half inch sounds a little high, how much crude are you expecting to run?
When I close the isolation valve the vac gauge drops to 1 but as soon as I open the red GL screwcap and bleed in atmosphere in order to take off the flask, this also affects the gauge reading as it shoots up immediately.
I can’t remove the flask if I don’t open the red screw cap to bleed in atmosphere.
Expecting to run aprox. 500 - 700ml. I take it closer to 1000ml would be better.
Yea with the well being only able to get your probe to 1/2" your likely going to end up stopping short on a 700ml run, however my probe wasnt in far enough last run and it ended up being out of the fluid for a decent amount of time, and my mantle held steady,
If you do have to stop short you can always save that leftover and use it in another run…
Did your mantle come with the black plug that fits the probe port for burn in?
I hear u concerning the thermowell, alternatively got a glass thermometer adapter as well but thought the thermowell probably helps minimizing the vac leaks.
And yes, the mantle came with the black plug. Did the burn in twice and max overshot was 1C.
I personally would run it, once your in the end of main/ tails for a while check to insure probe is in the crude, if it comes out, put that black plug in to make it only read the internal thermostat and i bet it will get you by…
people say Chinese glass sucks…
I bet you saved at least 5k and are achieving = to or better than American made glass on your vacuum level, lets see how she runs with crude keep us updated ill be watching.
I was just about to ask about this. Not sure if adding alcohol would make a difference. Other than adding the cost of alcohol since it’ll end up pulling a bunch of water sitting in dry ice for that long.
people say Chinese glass sucks…