Setup for t500 using recirculated water

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Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby B-Man » Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:00 am

So we ran our first test run using the t500 and copper alembic pot. And have picked up a few questions and issues.

I run on rain water no mains so looking at recirculating my water. I have one of those 205L blue plastic drums to hold the water and a portable camping shower pump.

My issue is the water isnt cold enough or i dont get enough flow. And also found my pump only wants to run for an hr or 2 before it shuts off.

1. Im looking for a decent submersible pump as i dont want my house pump running for 5 hours with low flow or constantly on/off.

2. I have read that you need to keep the water as cold as you can and by recirculating it keeps getting warmer. I was thinking that if I pumped from the bottom and drained back into the top without disturbing it. It would act similar to a hot water system stratification and keep the hot water at the top. But im thinking that even though the t500 instructions says it uses up to 200L im thinking it would be more. And obviously the cooler the water the less flow you need...?
My idea was to create a chill box basically like a keg tap for chilling the beer where you cool the water coming out of the pump before it hits the condenser.
Has anyone done something similar or have any other options?
I dont have easy access to water where I plan to do it.
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby RC Al » Fri Dec 27, 2019 9:47 am

Run some long hoses and recirc your rain water
The submersible dirty water pumps seem popular, although the ap750 or 1050 pond pumps from big green shed is all that is required. A smaller pump can work, it just depends on how high you need to pump the water

If you want to keep using the drum forget the icebox, many here have used a car radiator or a/c condenser with a fan on the output with good results

Build in a valve or two to relieve built up air pockets
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby B-Man » Sat Dec 28, 2019 3:51 pm

think ill have to grab a dirty water sub and see how that goes. Only pumping ~2m head to top of still.
rain water tanks are too far away as well and hoses would be in the sun. don think its a viable solution for me.

I didn't think of using either of them. i think i actually have an AC Condenser and a thermo fan laying around.
if only i had the fittings that bolt to the ac i could just hose clamp a hose the the pipe. Would be interesting to see how well a radiator works.

anyone done any other options? i have seen pump from 1 drum into another but im unsure if my water is cold enough to start with.
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby stillsucker » Tue Jan 28, 2020 5:51 am

B-MAN I have a similar problem here but yesterday I added a second blue drum (205L) and pumped from the full drum to the empty drum via the still. The drum that you pump into does not get that hot because you are not recirculating warm water back into your cold supply. I use an 12v aquarium pump powered by a "wall wart" it took 4 hrs to pump the water from one drum to the other and with a slight of hand you swap the pump from the empty drum to the full drum.
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby Tesla101 » Tue Jan 28, 2020 6:18 am

I'm using 2 x 240L wheelie bins that connect to each other via a 1m garden hose at the bottom. (you can buy them as purple grey water bins).

One bin has a 400W submersible pump which feeds the still condenser/s, the outflow goes to the second bin.

I did a stripping run with a T500 and alembic pot still which uses about 4L/min. Ran for just over 2 hours. Water start temp was about 20C and finished at around 30C.

Then did a spirit run the next day with T500 and reflux column still which on full flow uses about 2L/min. Ran for about 4.5 hours. Water start temp was around 25C and finished at around 35C.

Interesting observation on the spirit run was that after I adjusted the flow rate for the "drip...drip...dribble" the recirc system kind of regulated itself - as the coolant water temp raised it pretty much maintained the product flow rate at a "drip...drip...dribble". I didn't have to make too many coolant flow rate adjustments during the run.
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby farmbrewing » Sat Feb 29, 2020 12:12 pm

I'm on rain water only as well - you can also get the 1000L cube containers(was my original plan but have since had some changes to house to allow me to do differently)

I have posted a pic of my setup (WIP) to which i'm just using an ozito $70 sunp pump in the tank, and it(well flows to where it needs to go and enough pressure to go back in to the tank, which does sit higher then the still.

I was going to use the 1000L cube and same concept as I have it setup now. I know the cubes you can get online second hand (most of them are and also extremely good condition, as well as alot of places that will also deliver, and with 1000L cube you shouldnt run the issue of the water warming up :)

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=13177
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby Tesla101 » Sun Mar 01, 2020 10:00 am

I took RC's advice an upgraded to a car radiator with a couple of fans. Tank is just a 120L wheelie bin with 400W Ozito subby pump. Cooling water temp only gets to a couple of degrees above ambient now. :-B
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Re: Setup for t500 using recirculated water

Postby B-Man » Sun Mar 29, 2020 9:01 pm

I made a water stand with some blue drums and a decent pump it works a treat.
I could add a radiator and fan but it knocks down the vapours and works fine even if it does get a bit hotter so no need to run a rad and fan yet with my current still.
i have the pump on another bit of wood that sits about halfway up on the middle barrel so the water level is above and self primes the pump and also being higher allows it to pump more water through due to 0.5m head rather than 2.5 m head if it was at the bottom.
Snapchat-183282982.jpg



File attached if anyone wants a decent run down on what and how I did it.
Water Recirculator Stand1.pdf
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
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