Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Does anyone add anything to the water in their recirculating cooling setups to guard against nasties growing in there?
I guess there could be a few things that could cause some harm? Depending on the climate of where u are.
Currently running a 220l drum with an ozito submersible pump, just changed my water after a couple of months, not coz of any specific concerns just coz I thought it was time. Also coming into summer I'm anticipating mozzies maybe breeding in there too.

Any thoughts???

Yes i use bleach on occasion cupful in a 200l drum. I find the water stinks after couple months if I dont..

bluc wrote:Yes i use bleach on occasion cupful in a 200l drum. I find the water stinks after couple months if I dont..

Ok, I was thinking of either bleach or citric acid. So the bleach doesn't damage anything in your pump or the insides of your condenser? Maybe vinegar?

No idea :think: I heard it mentioned here and have been using it ever since..

Anything you add to the retic water just be mindful that if you get a leak in your pc, and it can develop, then you could end up with the retic water in your product... I'd reackon chlorine tabs or salt before bleach as it won't kill you if you drink it accidentally.

A cap full of bleach in 200 L is not going to be harmful if diluted further into spirits from a leaking pc. My students have performed experiments on model swimming pools and used something close to 5ml of bleach in a 50 L tub to get the right concentration of free chlorine. Even if the leak was 1 L/hr and you collected spirit at 2 L/hr (half of which would then be cooling water) then you'd still have half the concentration of chlorine in a swimming pool at most. While swallowing pool water isn't pleasant it's not altogether dangerous. Kids do it all the time when learning to swim.

However if adding bleach, it probably would be prudent to add some acid to lower the pH a bit. I'm guessing here, but I think a cap full of bleach should make 200 L of water pH of about 8 or 9. If the same water is continuously kept and more and more bleach is added (the chlorine goes but the caustic soda remains) the pH will get higher and higher. A pH just above 7 would be best.

I use fresh water each run, but my recirculating system only needs about 20 L. The twin fan radiator does the rest :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Would we be better off with a pool test kit and some chlorine :-B i know jack about this.. i really need to look into better fans..

For my radiator setup that is :shifty:

Fishleg wrote:Does anyone add anything to the water in their recirculating cooling setups to guard against nasties growing in there?

Any thoughts???

Yep , Fish .

I have a 1000 litre ibc, been using it for 5 years never changed the water. I drilled holes in the lid for my cooling lines and cut a grove in the thread for the lid for the pump lead. When I screw the lid on everything is nice and tight and I get no evaporation.

If your not sure about water quality, change it more often.

Your only talking 220l. It's 1 cent worth of mains water :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thank you all. Might just go a little chlorine for now. Might look at a radiator setup for the future. Cheers

Why do you keep the water has very little value unless in remote dry area .