I have a 4 plate FSD 4" bubbler and I am at that point of wanting to invest in a packed section and am looking for any advise as well as answers to a couple of questions.
As the price difference between the 250mm and 500mm pack section kits are not worlds apart I gather from an economic point of view it is more about the packing than the actual upgrade.
I also would not want to put in a 250mm and then think it could be better product if I just went the whole hog with 500mm. I know people on the forum are getting good results using the 250mm - is 500 overkill or is 250 a compromise?
From what I have read a 1Kg $85 roll of FSD copper is sufficient to fill only 100mm of the secton (in a jam you can put 75g in the bottom and the rest up top) it would therefore cost up to $425 in copper to fill the entire section which has been stated many times that it would be over kill. My intent would be to use a minnimum of 1KG of copper, unsure of the rest.
For the rest my options as I understand it are
1.) SS scrubbers (if some one could give me a link to the preferred ones that would be appriciated) - roughly how many would be required to fill to remaining 400mm of section.
2.) Scoria - cleaned and boiled
3.) Marbles??
I have also been looking at
4.) Graded fire glass
5.) Pumice (if I could find it in 8-10mm grading - atleast it is a bit lighter than the scoria but I donot know how well it would hold up to the process)
Other suggestions to research welcome.
**Comments and corrections welcome
Specific questions
1.) What is the life expectancy of the roll of copper?
2.) Roughly how long is a a 1Kg (100mm) roll of copper?
3.) Does the entire area in the section have to filled (obviously it wont work as well)
4.) It seems to be common that people use either copper + SS or copper + scoria but then I see other comments (for example -
)The Stig wrote:Search the forum for scoria.
Lots have used it with differing results.
Don’t break it up too small , probably around 5mm - 7mm in size.
Wash thoroughly.
Do not mix reflux material, different media reflux’s at different rates and will cause havoc with the system
about it being bad to mix different packing - can I get some clarification on this?
I am looking forward to ordering my packed section (once I can make up my mind) and comparing it to the product I was originally getting with just the 4 plates.
If I can get some good/in depth responses on this thread it could help a lot of people down the track.