StillSmart

thanks again ellie

pretty blue lol

Just for info, when I got my roll of copper mesh, it came from ebay (sorry don\'t recall the seller), but a quick google gave me a couple of suppliers in the US - it looks like it\'s about 15$ or so for a 30 foot roll - of course, it\'ll work out a bit dearer as that doesn\'t include shipping.
It\'s a little easier to locate if you try key words like copper mesh, copper structured packing or just structured packing - I added distillation UK etc to see what else showed up in the searches.
If I do manage to find the UK based link, I\'ll post it for you all.
regards
P!

well i citric acid cleaned the head 5 times and it dose not look too bad.
Ran a tomatoe wash through it, got 3.5l at 90% gotta say i am impressed.
However i am concerned by the amount of cooling water needed (i am on a meter). So i have bought a caravan 10l/min 0.6bar 6meter head 12v pump i am going to use with a old water cooler from a failed pc water cooler setup, a speed controler, and a power supply

I found the simplest solution was to control the power to the heating element. 1400 Watts is OK to get up to operating temperature but double what you need to keep a good reflux going.
Opus 27

I found the simplest solution was to control the power to the heating element. 1400 Watts is OK to get up to operating temperature but double what you need to keep a good reflux going.
Opus 27

The information on which, you kindly sent to me, which I printed off before deleting from the computer and promptly managed to lose it somewhere, so I\'m thinking about hunting round the forums again........

phantom/opus would this be the one from home distiller forums?
ok i have had a idea on controling the temp, i am going to try and get a temp controler from work and a relay (basically the temp controler switches the relay which turns the element on/off), gunna try and get a solid state relay though if i can find one.
i am still gunna try the water pump/heat exchanger to save on water bills

foRUM warrior & Phantom try this link, obviously uk company.

http://www.quasarelectronics.com/cr0008 ... -1500w.htm
Opus 27

i was thinking more along the lines of this from RS ......... as i think we have a few going \"spare\" ;-)

Not to sure how that will workout when it comes to ballancing the reflux rate as I imagine it will still be switching in and out at 1400 watts so you may still need heavy coolant flow. I collect at 79-82c for the good stuff either side of that is more or less heads and tails. I use the full 1400 watts to get up to about 69c and then wind back the power to 750 Watts and gradualy tweak the power to achieve a good reflux. I usually end up at 800 watts for most of the time.
Opus 27

I\'m looking to buy a new column for mine, but so far I have not seen any.

I\'m looking to buy a new column for mine, but so far I have not seen any.

Columns aren\'t the sort of thing you\'re likely to find either.......
I\'m looking to build one. I previously experimented with making an extension pipe but it didn\'t work. So I might have another go but make it a complete unit, not just an extension pipe for the main reflux head that came with the still.
It seems that the issue is mainly needle valves and some of the soldering, because if you take a design with an offset condenser head you can make the basic pipework with low temp plumbers solder (lead free of course), but the refluxing pipes/controls mean that you\'d blow any joints already made etc, so it\'s probably gonna be a case of getting the main pipework silver soldered, then making the refluxing controls with low temp solder - which should (in theory) work.....
Oh and the hole in the top of the boiler lid, is the same size as a 15mm pipe compression fitting, which means you can use a standard tank fitting to connect it (has to be brass obviously - but that doesn\'t seem to be a problem....)