Static electricity ⚡️

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Hello to all!

So I wanted to bring this here hoping there would be some individuals who can chime in.

A buddy and I have had this topic of discussion around “static electricity” that we have been bouncing to and from for weeks now. I wanted to get some more info as to what procedures can be taken place inside the work area while working with, or near the extraction system.

I just read a thread on a very brief and rather basic SOP on safety and some other other good pointers, but I didn’t see them mention anything about static electricity bracelts and their effectiveness and such, nor have I came across anything that I’ve read in depth about the use of These bracelets in place.

I have only done minimal reading on the cloud to refresh my knowledge about the concept, but my understanding regarding static electricity is what I’d say is average.

In the attempt to diffuse the conductivity I went and bought a few bracelets from Best Buy hoping they will do the job. They are originally made to be used for protection while working with/repairing “electronic components.” Whether or not the concept of static electricity translates from desktop sized monitors, laptops, and computers of the like to larger scaled objects such as extraction systems, i dont know. This is why I’m on here making this thread.

But I’m my head, the common sense I thought was “common,” I figured “static electricity” is “static electricity.” Whether it’s from my MacBook Pro or from my big hunk of 3/16 stainless steel system.

I have heard of people using them while working in a licensed facility. I do not remember where or when I saw this post, most likely from Instagram I assume, but I know it’s been done and is probably being done. I just would like to find more info out regarding this subject!

If anyone could chime in and send some response this way it would greatly benefit me, and others that have and will be reading this…

…So I hope…

(P.s. also Where to pick up a quality, worth while bracelet if the one I have won’t cut it.)

Thankyou,
Much love,
Sincerely,

Curiousfurious

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Interesting. Here for replies

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Static is scary. It is one of the harder sources of ignition to truely control.

Controlling the humidity helps.

Remember how the new age hippies tell you ground and center?

Turns out it’s not a bad idea…

All equipment should be bonded to ground. Ask an electrician if you need to.

Those teflon lines with stainless overbraid? Ideally with carbon fill to dissipate static.

Anti-static work mats in front of your equipment.

Do what sensei say…ground yourself twelve times a day (religiously when entering the extraction bay)

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When you say “all equipment should be bonded to ground” you mean an physical grounding wire from system to ground?..

Mats are a good idea. I will look into that.

What about ESD labcoats? Just ran into some on www.elimstat.com

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Just having a variety of PPE in place and in use at all times to ensure maximum efficacy.

Better to be safe than sorry…

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I have been training as a synthetic organic chemistry for the past four years. We have always had a static gun in the lab near the scales to prevent the loss of precious starting materials. They are cheap and get the job done.

https://www.needledoctor.com/Milty-Zerostat-Gun

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He means all metal enclosed equipment (extractor, pumps, fans, chillers) should be bonded to your ground ring. Much like a clean room in semiconductor manufacturing, you should wear anti static shoes as well.

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Deffinatly No wool or polyester garment
I have a ground wire to almost al equipment being cls or not

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It is very important to fully understand what is meant by grounding a piece of gear. If you start adding grounded component chassis wires going to ground then with shielded components the shielding itself can become a ground loop that will drive sensitive electronics crazy.

Generally speaking the system must be bonded from component to component or you have a floating ground which in some cases is necessary but not for this discussion. All good designs deal with this internally with the third wire in a grounded cord which is green. This wire is often tied to the same point as the white nuetral wire (typically system ground on single phase gear) on a standard three wire plug. This makes it possible also to detect ground fault errors by the systems watch dog circuits.

What happens if you add a third wire between components is that you now have a path for current flow in a loop. It connects both chassis on two components and each of those metal chassis is also connected to ground through the third wire. Somif you trace the wires you can see that a loop is formed by the conductors. This might work fine for years however when that ground loop is hit with electrostatic emmisions that cross part of the ground loop then that wire acts like a conductor inside a generator and an unwanted voltage can easily down very spendy equipment acting goofy. Mucho billions over the years since we uncorked electricity have been soent chasing down ground faults.

My point is that prior to adding a bonding wire it really takes fairly intimate electronis info to understand how a ground loop works and how to avoid them. My experience from many years as a control systems engineer taught me how finnicky this stuff is to wire around. Some internal circuits are meant to be a floating ground inside the cabinet somadding a simple bonding wire can defeat this scheme and you mat or may not ve able to tell. If you have a good meter you can test for youself and only then if a problem with floating ground exists would anyone normally want to add anything to mitigate electrstatic discharge.

Standard practice upon appriaching a bench is to touch the metal bench to discharge the static. Or touch your dogs nose to see if you have static build up… mans best friend. :call_me_hand:t3:

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I was speaking mainly to racking and extractors thet could develop a potential difference. At the local flavor extractors Kelsec, all large vessels and stainless equipment are bonded, same at pfeizer.

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that would explain the lack of static electrickery that I have experienced in OR, at least moist of the time :wink:

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very punny…lolz

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Edit: mats outside room walking in.

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Yeah, I asked my buddy real quick. Discharge outside of room). We have flex seal rubber for walls inside the room we’re building. Just got the 12” 863cfm c1d1 fan, and wiring that up tomorrow. Then plexi for lights to be sealed off… all in the far back of the container

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Grounding is something I’d have expected to be a feature on any big extractor.

When hydrocarbons pass through tubing they can create static which can then explode.

@MagisterChemist I’m curious if your membrane skids that recover heptane are grounded?

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I agree. On mine, I put grounding on all columns and racks, number 14 wire, then number 6 green wire from the whole set up to a panel outside the room.

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I got a shock from the critter I’m currently bringing online…just a couple of days ago.

200psi air rushing out of the pour spout not only cooled the pour spout below freezing, it ripped a respectable number of electrons from their former homes.

Ive received larger shocks, but this was the first solid nip I’ve gotten from an extractor (excluding the 600V AC the fuge I’m sitting in delivered…) in seven years of playing this game.

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Yes, they are. It’s not exactly a hard thing to include though — you should be able to do it yourself on any extractor that doesn’t already haveit.

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