Hey guys and gals , I have a question . What are the pros and cons of using cotton balls to help speed up filtration . I ask only because fiberglass wool is very expensive and I’m always filtering crude from CO2 so lots of waxes .
Read this tread
Gets You on your path
Should be good using them Crude to distillate - #23 by Photon_noir
Thx for the replie man!! Jus wanted to make sure!
Sorry forgot to copy paste the tread i refurt to 
Read iT for iT has Some Cotton ball tricks
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Cotten can have tons of pesticides, same goes for cheap activted carbon.
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Not quite the same effect, but correct on the pesticides. A better substitute imo is Glass Wool
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Ever tried this clean sand
Beaker
Jun 14
If the problem you encounter is the trouble you cite with thin media tearing when you scrape it then a thin layer of alumina or sand and such on top of the filter will solve that. I scrape the top layer off my fine grit alumina bed all the time as it clogs. Just reach in with a spoon and scoop off the top layer as the bed of wax builds up. Easy peasy.
The build up of wax as a filtering matrix on its own is fundamental to why sand filtration is so effective. Sand filters have been used a very long time. Septic systems use them, pool filters use them, and myriad other apps. A sand filter of proper grit and packing will outperform a paper filter of any kind every single time but as just a layer on top of a paper filter it is effective just because of ease of clean up.
7
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Well, I use cotton balls for numerous filtration purposes and never once had any issue with residues at all, let alone pesticides! Maybe I’m just lucky? Or just not buying super cheapo cotton balls outside the pharmacy? It works splendidly, imo, as long as you keep it compressed only at about the density or twice the density of the original cotton balls.
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You get full panel testing and no pesticides at all?
I’ve never had an issue with them either but I’m about to be getting very strict tests with the state so the above posts concerned me .
Where do you get your cotton balls @Photon_noir
Seems odd that you would have zero issues with cotton being one of the most pesticide laden crops on Earth?
Something like 16% of the world’s pesticides are used on cotton
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That’s correct. They clean the living shit out of cotton with all kinds of things prior to selling it, is my guess. Mainly because they can, with cotton being so robust… but also because they have to! It’s not like people un the US would be okay with cotton balls laced with poison that leaches out when it is used with all the solvents consumers use with them (acetone, rubbing alcohol, and water to name a few). Also, the plants are likely saturated with pesticides, but that doesn’t mean it migrates into the seed filaments and stays there. Cotton filaments are fine strands of polymerised sugar, so any compounds that would compromise the structural integrity or length of the fibers would be omitted post haste with one destroyed crop!
Iow, it might get on the fibers, but not in them!
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