First of all. Even with a used and serviced pump that pump should hit 5-10 microns almost immediately when you turn it on, and within a minute or less peg at 1-5 microns. Instantly we know you have a pump issue.
(And you can limp home with a pump like you have, I suggest getting it back to baseline and it’s operational parameters it’s supposed to run in)
Second. The way to do a poor man’s test on a system is to assemble it dry, with no extract. Grease joints. Pull vacuum. Now I have demonstrated to customers and everyone my short paths can hold 1+ micron easily with zero issues or leaks. So in a another reality where you do have leaks and a healthy pump - you should still be at 10-30 microns(with leaks) because your Alcatel pumps actually at vacuum had about half a CFM that it can shell out molecules with a small leak. I’ve even seen leaky short paths and your pump in good condition sit at 5 microns on a short path.
Getting to my next and third suggestion. While your short path is setup dry and without Earl in it with a light greasing under vacuum; take a spray bottle with very very hot alcohol in it. And spray the joints. Watch the guage. The one that makes the guage go up, is your leaky joint(s).
Warm maybe 90+ f. Just nothing boiling hot. Some people even use a heat gun on the glass to warm up the joints Makin the hot alcohol vaporise trough the leaks more
Looks good, no matter what anyone says tou only learn from doing over and over so tou know what to look for. Since there are so many variables and no real “recipe” tou are definitely on the right path.
This thing is pulling SUPER slow. Probably 4.5 hours so far and maybe got 400ml. We’re going to keep going as long as we can but might have to shut down and resume tomorrow if that’s possible?
We’re noticing the distillate stacking pretty high
You can shut it down since your nust making personal the lil bit of oxidation wont matter. You can always turn your condenser heat up to get it to go a lil quicker
You can shut down almost anytime. Just leave vacuum running while system is cooling down. Don’t allow vacuum to be broken while it’s hot. The reaction will die out and the molecules won’t really be affected that much.
When starting it back up, with the crude being rock solid, can we just jump to like 160? Or does it still have a chance to bump even though volatiles are pulled? I was thinking hit it to 160, it’ll probably overshoot to 200? we shut down around 202°C so assuming it should start back up once we hit that temp and vac stabilizes the thermal energy?
If water or moisture vapors don’t get in sure, just don’t ramp fast. Do in steps. That’s becusee at room temp the band will glow red until it gets to temp and can cause damage to some mantles.
thats way too long to pump down you want to be at 100 micron or less ideally. My 10l SPD would reach 100 micron in under five minutes with an edwards 28. You’ve definitely got some leaking issues. Check that the oil ballast screw on your pump is screwed all the way down. common beginner mistake.
