By all means, submerge it.

 

Finished building my new condenser today. Basically, I took the coil out of the old one and put it in a 4"x24" PVC pipe. I made sure it wasn't touching the walls and that there was space between the coils. Please refer to my description of how my coils are built. I heated some water in a sealed container and VAPOR came out the bottom of the condenser. Possibly the water wasn't cold enough. I'll try it on the processor tomorrow. It puts out 55 deg water which should make it work better. I tried tilting it 45 deg (Phys suggestion) but still no luck. I will heat the BD up to about 170 deg and see what I get through the condenser.
Tom

 

Something is very wrong..................You should get nothing but water from the outlet. I don't understand why the condenser won't condense the steam................

 

What is the purpose of the two differant sizes of copper tubing?
Dave

 

No purpose. I had a supply of each so I used them both. It shouldn't make any difference.

 

Here is an update Don. I don't think I was getting the volume of steam I needed for the experiment. I hooked up the condenser to my processor, heated the BD to 170 deg and the methanol dripped out. I kept the BD at that temp until it stopped dripping. I then ran it through your chamber but got very little out of it. Also, when I transferred the 140 deg bio/glycerin (from another batch) to the separator tank, I hooked the vent line from the separator to the condenser and also received liquid so I think the condenser is operating properly now. I am not getting the volume of recovered methanol I should be. Somewhere I am loosing methanol. I only recovered about a pint.
Sorry about the double post. I don't know how to quote more than one post at a time.
Tom

 

At 140-170 deg your not going to recover much Methanol, it must be heated higher.

Quoting more than one post is easy. To the right of the quote button is another multi-quote button. Click on this button on the first post you want to post (it will turn red) then go to the next post you want to quote and click on the quote button. Both quotes will appear in the reply box. Sounds like you may have your condensor working OK now. You'll just have to increase the heat till you get consistant results. Please keep me posted............

 

[quote=fabmandelux;7998634]At 140-170 deg your not going to recover much Methanol, it must be heated higher.

How high can I heat the bio or glycerol to capture the methanol without causing danger?

 

With glycerol, as high as you want. Glycerol won't ignite below 800 deg.

With you using your bio as you make it, you could go as high as 195 deg (just stay below the boiling point of water). Bio that has been heated excessively can degrade over time. As long as you don't store for more than 6 months your good to go.

 

Tom, do you use an Appleseed style setup? If you do, what do you run for a pump? Mine starts to leak around 170 degrees.

 

No. I use a open mixer system. Basically I have a 55 gallon drum on it's side with a access hatch cut in it. I have a small motor driving a steel impeller (out of a automobile water pump) via a 1/4 "drive shaft. When I am done, I pump into another drum to separate.

 

O well, worth a shot... get your distillation working better yet?

 

I have a batch in the separator now that I will heat to about 180-190 and see how it works. I guess I just keep it at that temp till no more liquid comes out. I'm concerned that the vapor will push through the condenser too fast with that high a temp. When it was at 170 on the last batch, the pressure was building pretty good. Maybe Don will suggest "pinching down "the line to the condenser to slow the velocity? What do you think Don? Also, can I run that through your chamber at that high a temp safely and under pressure?

 

I would be very careful of throttling down the vapor line without some form of pressure relief Tom. You could run it through my chamber, but I've found that heating it to high is just a waste of energy. We need to get a good recovery from heating first before trying my system again.

 

So you think I should just heat it to approx 190 and let it cook till there is no more liquid out the condenser and not even worry about running it through your chamber? I have the option of running it through your chamber or bypassing it on the way to the separator.