StillSmart

With water metering close at hand I'm looking into building a cooling system to run with my stills instead of running water.

Any ideas or plans will be gratefully received and will stand to benefit all here.

The ideal would be a system that doesn't require modification of the distilling equipment and is capable of being built as a relatively small self contained unit that can be simply connected to existing, conventional condensers and probably using a small, low power circulation pump to circulate the liquid coolant.

So, thinking caps on and inventors enthusiasm in gear let's get this show on the road.

AM

Hi Aidan
Have a look at this short video. You see the car radiator to the left of the still and a 50 litre bucket to the rear. I recirculate my cooling water through the still then the car radiator and back to the bucket which has a garden pond pump in it. Usually does me during my runs. Hope this helps
www.dropbox.com/s/gno64exj0cl8i77/DSCI0028.AVI?dl=0Hi
Regards
Runningman

Hi aidanmac,

Have a look at vino-tinto's idea here.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2736&p=16580&hilit=header+tank#p16580

Thanks Guys, appreciate your input but I'm actually looking to explore the possibility of creating a cooling system that doesn't necessarily depend on a big volume of water. Aid Con coolant may be a possibility, it's the cooling part I need to get my head around to make a system that is relatively compact.

AM

@AM: I have given this idea some thought but not done it for whatever reason. But if any part helps, then cheers.

The amount of heat generated is considerable as you know. My stripping runs take 4-4.5 hours and my spirit runs 6-7 hours. In the summer, my tap water is warm.

I have thought of taking the cooling system out of a refrigerator and immersing the coils in the water tank, bath, tub or whatever.

Another consideration was to run the water lines to a fabricated coil sitting inside a converted frig. I say converted as holes would need to be drilled in the frig.

And the main reason I have not done it is because I still don't think it would be adequate due to the amount of heat generated over such a long period.

N.B. I was up in Hong Kong recently at a mate's place out in the New Territories. We went for a walk into the village up behind his house where there was a spring with copious amount of cold, clear water just taking off down the hill. I was very envious

I am liking this idea that from one depth in the ground you can obtain cooling,whilst from another one you can obtain warming.
Not a simple thing to wrap your head around.
With location and season playing a part
I have only seen one domestic geo-thermal (think that is the term) unit in use,it's owner praised it.And it's contribution to energy saving.
Anything that makes my final product cost less is fine by me.

Robert.

I've got a pond in my garden, holds about 1000 gallon of water, I don't quite need it yet but when the water meter comes it really will come in handy, and I'm sure the fish won't mind if I warm them up a little in the middle of winter :-)

One word of caution with any non mains cooling, you need some kind of system to detect if your pump fails or blocks, if your cooling fails for any reason, you could be filling your, gaurage / shed what ever, with highly flamible vapour!!!

That applies to mains water supplies too. One of the reasons we recommend that a running still should never be left unattended. A mains leak can result in the water being turned off without notice and if you're not there.....you can guess the rest

You end up as part of the Angels Share

AM