Jackson Crossflow Condenser

[Bursal]

After much reading I think I will build one of Harry's design still heads. It looks excellent. One issue for me is cooling water supply is rain water and LIMITED, so an efficient recycling system is necessary. Space is a problem so it cannot be too big, large garbage bin is ideal. I can either use a washing machine pump or a pond pump, have both from previous systems.

It is going on a 25lt stainless steel boiler with two elements and one of Pint's controllers.

My questions are to users of this design are there any issues I should be aware of either in building or operating.

I live in North Queensland and the climate has been known to get hot so efficient cooling is essential, I would like to get the size of the water cooler smaller than a car radiator, any thoughts on a car conditioner condenser or a small room air conditioner condenser with an appropriate fan. Would either of these create a pressure problem for a small pump?

[Dnderhead]

sense nether pump is positive displacement i do not think you would have
problems and you could put a T with pressure relief so as to run back in tank thinking about it adjustable relief would give flow control

[pintoshine]

I am in the same situation as you. I have no running water and rely on rain water in the winter. Usually there is none available in the summer and I have to haul it from many miles away from a pay outlet. I hav learned to use air as a coolant. Most of my condensers are oversized and forced air with electric fans and such. I have a system where I circulate water through my column, through a copper heat exchager which is air cooled and then back to the column. I built the heat exchanger out of an automatic transmission fluid cooler. It was not that cheap but it removes sufficient heat to recirculate the water to the reflux using a hot water recirculation pump. This is a cast item which is used in hydronic heating systems. I get mine through a hvac supply called John Stone supply.
Not having utility supplied water is hard on a person. Next year I am thinking of a geothermal system for my column.

[Dnderhead]

Pint I could show you some pitchers that you would drool bout ,,but
it so cold hear i have to use heat in summer all but big ferments
some day i will try if i git brave i would have to be selective if you know
what i mean i have some i jest cant show

[wal998]

Bursal, i live in se qld and as i didn't like using a lot of water to cool my still when my split system air conditioner leaked gas and the pump blow up i strip all the guts out of the outside unit it bar the fan and the condenser which is used with a 1000ltr hour pond pump 10-15ltr bucket to cool the still, even on 30+ days and the 2400watt heating element the cooling water doesn't get above ambient. Hope this helps
Wal

[tracker0945]

Bursal, Welcome to another aussie.
A reflux still uses more cooling capacity than a pot still but if you are stuck for room, make your holding tank no smaller than your boiler and keep the water cool by adding ice bottles as required.
I probably have hotter weather than you and use 6 x 1.25 litre ice bottles for a 10 litre run.
Don't worry too much about water because if all else fails and your cooling containers are clean, just run your overflow back into your tank.
Cheers.


p.s. How far north are you as I am heading up that way at the end of this month.

[byacey]

It was -40C here the other day. Probably just a copper coil outside would condense real nice. I noticed my 94% stuff thickens up a little in the cold, but it isn't even close to freezing yet!

[manu de hanoi]

continuous setup allows you to use wash as coolant. I get 70 % purity with my first expriment with wash used both for reflux & cooling

[Bursal]

Thanks to everyone who replied.

One thing that comes through is we all have different situations that effects the way we have to setup and work. From freezing cold to hot and humid. Many with water problems.

From comments I assume that a small air conditioner condenser and pond pump will do the job.

I am going to town today and know where there are a couple of old A/cs so I will grab the condensers and test with the pump to see what flow I get.

I am also starting my scrounge for copper bits and pieces. There is no rush as I have lots of other things happening at this time.

Tracker0945 I live in the Mackay area. Send me a email from the members list and I will reply.

I will keep you informed of progress and will welcome further comments and suggestions.

[tracker0945]

You may have a little trouble cooling your water sufficiently with a fan and condenser, particularly if you are having ambient temperatures in the 30's.
I think it is mostly those who live in colder climates than us that use them with any success.
But then, you never never know.

[Harry]

Tracker0945 said

You may have a little trouble cooling your water sufficiently with a fan and condenser, particularly if you are having ambient temperatures in the 30's.
I think it is mostly those who live in colder climates than us that use them with any success.
But then, you never never know.

Well I'm the one who designed & built the system in question, and I live in the tropics a few hours north of where Bursal is. Same climate. My setup runs a 50 litre reservoir, auto radiator and a household electric fan and pond pump.
I've never had any problems with it. Because of the unrestricted coolant flow (compared to coils), it will run all day and the coolant hardly goes up in temp at all! Throughput of coolant is ~6 litres per minute, way more than coils, therefore far more effective at stripping away heat. It's all about thermal transfer capability. As designed according to the specs in my pdf, this tiny 140mm x 55mm condenser will handle 2kW standing on its ear. There's quite a few in use now. Several people have built larger versions. One local fellow has a crossflow condenser double the length (at 300mm x 55mm) and he does 3.5kW fuel runs at azeotrope in one pass. The crossflow concept is specifically designed to handle large volumes of vapour in a phase-change situation. It was adapted from huge industrial steam recovery units.

[Blind Eye]

Pond pumps should be good,I'm a bricklayer and on side jobs where there is only pond water I've always used an old submersible pump with the outlet necked down for a hose fitting.



I have let this pump run for days on days and have pushed a 100' of hose to the top of my scaffold 26' in the air and still had enough pressure and volume to wash the brick, just my half arsed approach to the cooling problem!!

[Dnderhead]

Out somewair in my shop is a dehumidifier it is a small refrigerator unit it has a spiral
coil to cool ,i think it would be very adaptable to cool a pail of water

[Tater]

Out somewair in my shop is a dehumidifier it is a small refrigerator unit it has a spiral
coil to cool ,i think it would be very adaptable to cool a pail of water

Naw dnder those little units dont move enough b-t-u-s to do any good.

[Dnderhead]

Well I'll cool my beer with it then