PolyScience DuraChill are good right? Is the size and cooling capacity of this chiller good for a 20L rotovap for ethanol evaporation?
We had to get a 30L chiller because our 13L could not keep up with the 20L roto at all.
IMHO -10C is not cold enough either.
Also that thing looks wicked expensive. You can do better than that.
Ours is 30L and goes down to -30C.
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Thanks. This is another option, but I’ve heard not so great things about AI chillers:
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Look what you can get for the same money:
Now THIS puppy will run your 20L roto.
Make sure you have good vac pump too - its crucial.
Why so hung up on AI?
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They were recommended and wanted a turnkey setup. Also liked the dual condenser option they have.
Thoughts on this package?
Is -10C really not cold enough? What issues were you having with your first chiller? Was it just running really slowly?
I thinks that is gorgeous equipment.
Now, here is most of it at about half the price.
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Our first roto chiller would start to warm up as soon as we got the roto gushing.
It would start the run at -20C and end it at +20C.
Runs took hours too long.
-10C is ok but -20C or better will get it gushing like a prom date at room temperature.
Sometimes I don’t even turn on the water bath heater.
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Get a serious vac pump too. Those blue & white R2-D2 units are not up to this task.
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This one is no good?
I don’t know. We don’t have any of that brand.
There’s two major considerations I make when selecting chillers,
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Cooling Capacity
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Warranty and longevity
Now in terms of cooling capacity, you’re considering the energy available to change temperature/remove heat. More powerful chillers will almost always have greater capacity to exchange heat. That doesn’t mean that you have to buy a chiller that’s over powered, but you definitely don’t want one that’s underpowered.
Correct me if I’m wrong @SIMSAM, but I believe the thinking about a -30 over a -10 is that the -30 chiller probably has greater cooling capacity.
Now when it comes to warranty… I’ve owned American, German, and Chinese chillers and the Chinese ones were hands down the cheapest. But what I’ve found is that even if the company is good at communicating with you, their tech support can be seriously lacking, and the longevity of their product can be lacking. Speaking of longevity, I’m not talking a couple years, I’m talking decades. Take a look on ebay and talk to materials chemists who have been using chillers for decades, you’re going to find more German chillers running strong years after purchase than Chinese.
Chinese chillers are fine for getting your lab off the ground, but IMO get something German or American when you’re revenue kicks in. Many will argue that you can just buy another chiller when that one breaks but that’s not how I roll.
That polyscience you linked @tetramethylsilane is definitely up to the task, but also probably overkill. I used that same chiller for cooling CO2 during supercritical extraction years ago when I was working with SFE.
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Garbage.
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Also consider taking a gander at this thread The ULTIMATE chiller calculator thread
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A 1.5hp polyscience chiller will never be overloaded by a 20liter rotovap. China chillers barely compete and anyone who said they killed a 1.5hp chiller is misusing it. A 20l rotovap should do 20-30 liters per hour recovery with a 1.5 hp chiller. And you won’t burn it out. Most of these 300 dollar china chillers people post are absolute garbage and the sellers know it. It’s markup and shit warranty behind it. At least poky will take it back and fix it fast.
Remeberberry never get open bath chillers for this. It’s the least efficient thing you can do. You want plate to plate chilling.
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What drugs are you on, this is a 300 dollar pile of shit china chiller.
You can tell it’s weak by just doing the math on the ampers it takes and it’s ratings.
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China chillers should avoided.
They doing gas leaks and turn into blow torches becusee of unsafe hardware and risk burning down labs
Worst part is. China chiller will burn your lab down and you can’t hold them liable, the following week they send you a dm asking you if need more chillers.
@tetramethylsilane Avoid this pump, get yourself a vacuubrand. You’ll love it and it won’t break. Welch makes bad pumps now adays.
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I’ve personally never heard of a Chinese chiller burning down a lab, but that doesn’t mean it’s never happened, and I would certainly agree that they should be avoided if at all possible.
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Of course everything I offered is cheap.
I propose the business case that people starting out should buy the cheapest equipment they can to get the job done and if they are any good at this business/science then the good stuff will pay for itself when the money comes flooding in because they’re so good at this.
It happens all the time. Alot of lab fires are kept secret bc people are embaressed to admit they are cheap morons doing cheap as shit without safety in mind.
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