Bio doing my head in.

[greasemonkey]

Another 100 litres of gloop.
Got left in charge of two Senile Grandparents. Just as the oil was up to temp, they have have a major crisis.(No crisis at all, I guess that's senile dementure for you) By the time I've sorted it out, oil has cooled off. Now it's getting late in the day.
Get back up to temp, add chems, phone rings again..........
Obviously I don't want to leave the heater on unattended, so you can guess what happened when I came back.
Gave it a good hour and a half circulating, but it's not right. I can see lumps of glyc in it, but it's not dropping.
Now it's below freezing, and I can't get the temp up.
Stuffed now, coz it'll take all day to re heat it with the immersion heater, and I can't risk the burner under it, coz of the methanol.
This is starting to wind me up, I need the fuel. And I'm running out of cans to put the gloop in.......

[Dickjotec]

Is it with NaOH or potassium? If the letter leave it and it will continue to react if slowly and the glyc will settle out. If sodium then drain external pipe work and pump so it does not set. Btw I get 150l up to temp with immersion in a couple of hours. In what way is it gloop? Have you done a 10/90 to see how far the reaction has gone?

[greasemonkey]

I'm using ASM.
I've got low power, my immersion is on a 50 ft extension lead, coming from a socket that is already low on power, so the immersion doesn't heat very quick.
Anyway, problem solved for tonight. Another interruption, and it's gone solid in the pipes. Temp here has dropped like a stone in an hour.
It can stay there till spring..........

[julesandtash]

I know the feeling. Every problem I have when brewing is either down to rushing or being interrupted and trying to do multiple things at once

[nigelb]

I know the feeling. Every problem I have when brewing is either down to rushing or being interrupted and trying to do multiple things at once

I dare say that that's the case for all of us.

Having said that..the last disaster I had was December 2012. Probably well over due for another.

[greasemonkey]

It certainly seems the sort of job that needs full attention once you start. I can't really blame the Grandparents though, it's not their fault.

I wanna go and live in a cave, and eat grass and litchen. Grow my hair long, stop washing, and start talking to myself. I suppose there is not much point in swapping the mobile for a cave though........

I've seriously got to sort this heating problem out. I've just found two abandoned central heating boilers in the shed. No one seems to know who owns them, so I'm going to have them away.
I'll set the boiler up, well away from the processor, run pipes to a drum of water, then run the oil from the processor through a coil to pick up the heat. Lot safer than a gas burner or a electric heater.
I wonder if I could run the hot water through one side of a FPHE, and the oil through the other side, or is that just asking for the FPHE to clog up with bits?

[Jamesrl]

Make yourself a multi tube heat exchanger or a double skinned bottom cone, they work unbelievably well if you have an external heat source.

[greasemonkey]

What sort of length of pipe would you recommend James? I've just been pondering this.
It would suit well in a few ways. Not least because it's easily drainable, so it doesn't freeze.

22mm pipe, two tank connectors, one in, one out, and the, say, three rows of pipe, as long as possible just at the top of the cone. Or maybe even go upright with the pipes?

I could then have a central heating burner blasting onto the side of a gas bottle full of water, at a safe distance away.

[julianf]

I wonder if I could run the hot water through one side of a FPHE, and the oil through the other side, or is that just asking for the FPHE to clog up with bits?

I asked JIM.M about this, on the other forum, as he seems to have more experience than most of us with the FPHE units, and he was not keen on the idea.

I was going to use one of those strainer things, like you get on CH systems, before the FPHE, but he still did not like the idea.

On my next shake up, i will have a pre-heat tank with some radiators dropped in it, and then im going to put a coil in the processor itself.

I would have tried the FPHE idea anyhow, as i have a 'spare' one, but my real problem with is was that you have to have the fluid pumped, which is no good for settling / recovering a palm batch after a power outage / etc. etc.

...so now i have one of those multi bore coils to fit.

[Glycer-rides]

Don't give up, mate.
I'm down to my last half tank of bio. Our new baby has me sleep deprived and more zombie-like than usual.
My experience suggests a valving error will happen, next batch. Tired / rushed.
Almost tempted to go to the Pumps to save the clean up. Almost...

[julianf]

Almost tempted to go to the Pumps to save the clean up. Almost...

Im sure i recall you telling me how, even if you won the lottery....

Makes me feel for the pressure you must be under!

[Dickjotec]

I have a coil of 10mm tube that fits through an immersion boss. It is heated from the lister but still keeps the processor, when full of oil, at 40+c. I would think something similar with a ch boiler would work well. Then just use the immersion,as I do, to get it too 80 for demeth.
Dick

[Chug]

Once the chemicals are in it will still convert at lower temps but it will just take longer, as long as it is liquid I'd keep it going.

[Glycer-rides]

Almost tempted to go to the Pumps to save the clean up. Almost...

Im sure i recall you telling me how, even if you won the lottery....
Makes me feel for the pressure you must be under!

Ha! you have all this to come, Julian! Probably...
On a positive note, this week marks my 'easiest ever meth acquisition'. Thanks to Pras and Basic.
We got free 20L containers as well.

[photoman290]

you could make a heat exchanger out of plastic soil pipe. 110 mm outer 50mm inner and solvent weld . it might not work  once you add the meth, but for heating the oil up it would work. then just use the electric element to maintian the temperature. that pipe works up to about 80 degrees so should be fine at 65. its not cheap but chaeper than copper and easy to fabricate. i have used it for spark gaps on tesla coils. they get up to about 200 degrees.