I just built my first condenser from some piping, copper tubing, and a few ml of glue. Well, I built the water inlet to an outer diameter of 8 mm. I
am now looking for a water pump and I have found one that I like and can get locally for cheap but the outlet has an outer diameter of 12 mm...
Is there any chance I could use tubing with an inner diameter of 12 mm and clamp it tightly enough on the 8 mm water inlet of the condenser? If not,
any advice mating the condenser and the pump would be very welcome.
Sulaiman - 29-7-2019 at 03:23
put a short length of tubing for 8mm i.d. on the condenser then push over it the larger tubing and clamp (or tie with string)markx - 29-7-2019 at 03:28
Clamping a 12mm tube on a 8mm fitting is likely not going to be very reliable. You should be able to find couplings and fittings in hardware store
that you can make use of to get a closer tolerance to the 8mm mark. Either by modifying the outlet of the pump to a smaller size and using 8mm tubes
or by installing a piece of 8mm tube on the condensor inlets as a "gasket". Onto which you can clamp the 12mm one with more reliability. As a last
resort hack you can wind some PVC tape on the condensor pipes to get a closer fit for the tubing.....but I would suggest to find/make suitable
couplings. draculic acid69 - 29-7-2019 at 03:38
I've tried pvc condensers before and getting waterproof seals around the inlet/outlet and where the pvc connects to the glass or copper is quite
difficult.one person I let borrow it didn't listen when I said it leaks and had a flask on a gas stove with it leaking on it.just bcoz it's watertight
when you pour water into it doesn't mean it's waterproof when you're pumping pressurised water from an aquarium pump or from the tap and the weakest
points are those joints above whatever your refluxingmonolithic - 29-7-2019 at 03:56
cheapest and fastest way is to use a short piece of 8mm tubing over your condenser inlet and outlet, and over it put the long 12mm tubing, it should
fit snuggly, if it doesn't, use zip ties or a clamp.
[Edited on 29-7-2019 by Ubya]WGTR - 29-7-2019 at 10:25
There is glass tubing (not shown) that slides through the center of the larger PVC tube. On the left side there is a short piece of clear vinyl
tubing that is pushed onto the PVC barb fitting. To better match the vinyl tubing to the smaller glass tubing diameter, a short piece of smaller
vinyl tubing is telescoped into the end of the larger piece (as others have already mentioned). The glass tube slides through the middle, and a
fuel-injection hose clamp (these give a more reliable clamping force than the cheaper hose clamps) is used to clamp everything down to the glass tube.
The vinyl tubing can be a bit stiff at room temperature, so it helps to heat it with a heat gun to soften it right before tightening the clamp. If
this is done, there is not much chance for leaks. Of course, if a copper tube is being used instead of glass, higher clamping force can be used.draculic acid69 - 29-7-2019 at 22:40
Like 60bucks gets a basic distillation setup these days.ebay.Ubya - 29-7-2019 at 23:31
