Never leave a still unattended

Discuss safety issues here.

Re: Never leave a still unattended

Postby Tin chucker » Mon Oct 29, 2018 12:56 am

Also i didnt mention fumes because if you run a still in a unventilated area .. you should be dead anyways
There is and should be a price to pay for stupidity.
Tin chucker
 
Posts: 29
Images: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:30 pm
equipment: 15 gal beer keg with 2” Triclamp reflux column

Re: Never leave a still unattended

Postby warramungas » Mon Oct 29, 2018 6:41 am

Tin chucker wrote:If someone could please explain how a still can expload. I understand that one could catch fire ,but am not understanding how it can expload .
1: if you were to run a stripping run with chunks of fruit or product and possibly it foams up and plugs the still ,it may possible rupture and eject steam. Not expload

2: your burner catches stuff on fire and your tank ruptures or explodes. Should be a no brainer as we all use a bbq successfully

3:your collection jar over flows and catches fire ,causing your propane tank to rupture or exploads

I had an incident a few years ago where I started to heat up my still and my son asked for a ride to friends a few min away.
I went out back to turn it off and it was started( lost track of time) . I was so surprised that I told my son to walk and I manned the still
This (what I had thought was a close call ) made me look into the dangers of home brewing and my response to the danger was to get rid of the fuel tank and run off natural gas from the house, and have my collection jars more than 3 feet away from flame with a metal heat shield between .also I put a tray under the jar that would divert an over flowing jar away from the flame. Some may think things like this are over board but think of it this way..... your running your still while the wife and kids are visiting the grand parents for the weekend. Your attending your still like a good hill billy and you drop dead from what ever .... your still will run safer longer in hopes that your family may have a home to return to .
Next year we are upgrading our home electrical and I will be switching to electric boilers


You could install a dead mans switch if it plays that heavily on your mind.
warramungas
 
Posts: 1436
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:38 pm
Location: Nor Perth
equipment: 180 litre fermenter x 2
30 liter boiler
PDA-1
2" four plate modular bubbler
2" one meter long LM column
110 liter boiler with 25 liter (max) inline thumper
4" x 4 plate bubble cap still

Re: Never leave a still unattended

Postby warramungas » Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:24 am

Just a little bit further on this.
These are really rough numbers but are hopefully in the ball park.
A 6x6 shed has 36 m3 of air which is roughly 50 kg worth at a very rough density of 1.4 kg m3.
Ethyl alcohol has a LEL of 3% which is about 1.5 kgs of the total weight of air.
Density is a shade under 800 grams per liter so 2 liters needs to evaporate to get to that LEL in that sized room.
That's an hour of evap for a 4" or 2 hours for a 2" (roughly).
Yes I know vapor pressures and all sorts of other sort of crap like saturation pressure come into it as well but I'm on a bus to the airport after nightshift so cant be naffed getting into the nitty gritty.
All I'm saying is it would take a little bit to get to that LEL unless you're running in the dunny or a tiny space with no ventilation.
Even my laundry is a 4 by 2.5 which is about 10 m3 which would be nearly .5 liters or 15 minutes flat out with the door shut and little to no ventilation with my 4".
warramungas
 
Posts: 1436
Joined: Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:38 pm
Location: Nor Perth
equipment: 180 litre fermenter x 2
30 liter boiler
PDA-1
2" four plate modular bubbler
2" one meter long LM column
110 liter boiler with 25 liter (max) inline thumper
4" x 4 plate bubble cap still

Re: Never leave a still unattended

Postby Tin chucker » Mon Oct 29, 2018 9:58 am

Ah. But what if an over flow or spil went under or to close to the burner , I don’t think the size of the room matters in that more likely situation. In a shed situation you would only need a high and low vent and the gas burner would act as a fan and give many air changes per hr. (Let not forget how dumb it is to use a burner in a shed. )
Warramungus ...I am impressed and jealous that you just throw out numbers and calculations like that.


If I had your brain ,I’d be calculating the expansion rate and pressure with electrolysis of water into browns gas in a sealed container. Adding the bbq igniter is the easy part :techie-typing: %-(
Tin chucker
 
Posts: 29
Images: 0
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2018 1:30 pm
equipment: 15 gal beer keg with 2” Triclamp reflux column

Previous

Return to Safety Discussion



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests

x