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Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 6:07 pm
by crafty83
Hi peeps, haven't been on for a while but have been busy with my 4" bubbler build.
Question for those using easy flanges,have you had problems making them seal around the bubble plate?
How did you make them seal?
I have 2mm thick bubble plates and using EPDM custom seals, they are not even close to sealing...
Any advice is muchly appreciated

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 6:53 pm
by dans.brew
Hi crafty83

I had this problem not long back and my solution was to taper the edge of the plate so it sits down inside my tees a bit. It still has to sit a smidge higher than the flange (1mm or so) so that when you put the seal on top and clamp it, the seal pushes on the plate and tee.
You will need to take ribs off seal to do it this way too.

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Hope this helps! :greetings-waveyellow:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:04 pm
by crafty83
That was certainly my first line of thought dans.brew :dance:
Good to hear that it works.
I was hoping to not have to do that but I may have to...

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:28 pm
by dans.brew
So far it works well... only run my bubbler with water so far, still waiting for a 4" triclamp and seal to turn up.
But i did leave it with all the plates loaded full of water and they are still sealed and loaded a week later.

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:30 pm
by woodduck
I might be completely wrong here as I've never had a modular still but I thought you needed to cut the inside of the seal out (section towards the middle from the rib inwards) so that the plate sits inside the seal and the pressure from clamping the two flanges together expanded the seal inwards to seal the plate. I think the rib may need to be removed also?

But don't take my word for it, hopefully someone that has done it will chime in soon.

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:51 pm
by crafty83
You may well be right woodduck, it does make sense :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:01 pm
by bluc
Its how I did it woody :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:06 pm
by dans.brew
woodduck wrote:I might be completely wrong here as I've never had a modular still but I thought you needed to cut the inside of the seal out (section towards the middle from the rib inwards) so that the plate sits inside the seal and the pressure from clamping the two flanges together expanded the seal inwards to seal the plate. I think the rib may need to be removed also?

But don't take my word for it, hopefully someone that has done it will chime in soon.


That would work well too woodduck. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

The reason i did mine the way i did was... i did the easy flanges instead of just flattened pipe soldered straight onto my 4" tees. Whether i didnt do them right or not... they were quite curved on the inside of the flared 4" pipe and i didnt end up with a very wide surface area to sit seal and plate all on (some spots anyway). Probably only half of the seal would sit on the flat part of the flange. Hope this makes sense.

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Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:28 pm
by bluc
Its a good idea I reakon dan and prob seals better than mine. But mine holds bath fine while operating..

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:39 pm
by Lowie
woodduck wrote:I might be completely wrong here as I've never had a modular still but I thought you needed to cut the inside of the seal out (section towards the middle from the rib inwards) so that the plate sits inside the seal and the pressure from clamping the two flanges together expanded the seal inwards to seal the plate. I think the rib may need to be removed also?

But don't take my word for it, hopefully someone that has done it will chime in soon.


:text-+1: What he said! You need to cut the ribs off both sides of the seal too.
Cheers,
Lowie

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:43 pm
by crafty83
I have the custom seals so only ribbed on one side :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 8:45 pm
by dans.brew
Thanks bluc.
There's always more than one way to skin a cat... what ever works hey!

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Mon May 28, 2018 9:16 pm
by crafty83
Thanks guys, I will cut the inners of the seals out and pressure test again :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 3:44 pm
by crafty83
I have cut the inners out of the seals but left the rib on to try it and glad I did, it seams that not all of the tri clamps are the same fit with some being looser than others so the rib helped for a snug fit.
I maybe also made my easy flanges a little too flat :doh:
Now to get the elements wired up, new power points put in and voltage controller sorted to do a steam run. If all goes well then it will be time to polish, clean and finally run some spirit after nearly 6 months from when I started the build :angry-banghead:

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 7:44 pm
by db1979
crafty83 wrote:I maybe also made my easy flanges a little too flat :doh:

I don't get it, how can you make the flanges too flat? Do you mean too thin?

Re: Advice on seals for easy flanges

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 8:28 pm
by crafty83
Yes db, maybe a little too carried away with the hammer :)) They look to me to be the same shape as a stainless ferrule but there is also probably some give in them unlike a stainless ferrule.
After trying all of my tri clamps on the same join, there is quite a bit of difference in them too which doesn't help the cause... Live and learn, this is my first go at easy flanges ;-)