I'm trying to get a handle on whats better, where, as to thickness of materials for a: stills and b: boilers
I realise that insulation makes a big difference to what i'm putting forward here
I also realise that construction methods have a bearing on material selection too
Still - I have it in my mind that thinner materials would be better for columns to get up to equib faster and produce a fraction more reflux - the thinner material is easier to heat and there isnt as much mass there to keep the heat, so an uninsulated column would have a greater "cycling" through the walls ie reflux.
Whereas a heavier wall would hold the temp more - this would make the column more "stable" ??
Pipe wall thickness can have a bit of a bearing on making bubble caps too (at least on paper) - I have worked out a smidgen more flow area (vs standard pipe thicknesses) on to a plate by using constructed thin wall caps and risers - 0.5mm region - how thin can a cap get?
Boiler - All i can find on boilers is that if its externally heated, a thick base is good, so for an elec heated boiler it dosent matter how thin you make it? (within engineering/stregnth constraints) provided of course that its insulated? I looked at an US eng standard calculator (zero pressure) for wall thickness for a 2-300l pot - 0.2mm plus corrosion allowance - errr.... ummm.... dosent sound like enough, but then i think of what a 200l drum is made of and well... ok - depends if its going to used as a football i suppose.
Is there any advantage to going thicker than say 0.5mm on a SS boiler? What about on a jacketed one?