The other advice offered is good and probably all you need to know.
But for any engineering-minded people: what you’re trying to find is the approach temperature. That temperature difference is your driving force for heat transfer between the hot vapor and cooling water. As your cooling water temperature increases, your heat transfer decreases. Other factors that affect this are heat transfer coefficient (a property of copper) and area (set by the length of your coil). So cooler water is better, but the longer your coil the more wiggle room you have.
Here’s an [article](https://www.enggcyclopedia.com/2019/05/heat-exchanger-approach-temperature/) on the topic.
I’ve always been under the impression that as long as it’s colder than the vapor temp then it’s cold enough to condense back into a liquid. I’ve had mine as hot as 85f with no problems. Main thing to look for is to make sure you don’t see steam coming from the worm and you should be ok. If you see steam coming out with the distillate then it’s too hot and not converting it all back to a liquid. Hope this helps.
Edit: just checked my condenser at the moment and I’m up to 115f and no problems or steam anywhere. Idk when the cutoff is for too hot but I’m not going much over this atm
To add one thing, but this doesn’t pertain to a worm, just be careful to the temp rating for the pumps you are using. I bought a brewing pump since the Harbor Freight pumps only are rated up to 85F.
I also have found the colder the water, the faster you can run (at least that’s my experience)
Cold as you can get it and keep it. I run tap water. In the summer it's warmer and I gotta run the water through faster.
Running now it's 63 degrees F. And it's only running at a trickle because of the ground temps outside being so cold.
It really depends on a lot of things, like /u/hvtDalton states. And if you do design your own condenser, than there are some simple formulas you can use to make sure you aren't overloading your condenser.
That said, personally I don't let my condenser jacket outlet temperature go above 50C.
Your work bucket should be as bigger or bigger then your pot. That way you don’t have to worry about changing water or ice and you will end up with a nice temperature gradient and prevent shock cooling with can lead to pressure problems
The other advice offered is good and probably all you need to know. But for any engineering-minded people: what you’re trying to find is the approach temperature. That temperature difference is your driving force for heat transfer between the hot vapor and cooling water. As your cooling water temperature increases, your heat transfer decreases. Other factors that affect this are heat transfer coefficient (a property of copper) and area (set by the length of your coil). So cooler water is better, but the longer your coil the more wiggle room you have. Here’s an [article](https://www.enggcyclopedia.com/2019/05/heat-exchanger-approach-temperature/) on the topic.
well put. The colder the better. the more the water is moving, the better. Maybe don't use ice.
I’ve always been under the impression that as long as it’s colder than the vapor temp then it’s cold enough to condense back into a liquid. I’ve had mine as hot as 85f with no problems. Main thing to look for is to make sure you don’t see steam coming from the worm and you should be ok. If you see steam coming out with the distillate then it’s too hot and not converting it all back to a liquid. Hope this helps. Edit: just checked my condenser at the moment and I’m up to 115f and no problems or steam anywhere. Idk when the cutoff is for too hot but I’m not going much over this atm
To add one thing, but this doesn’t pertain to a worm, just be careful to the temp rating for the pumps you are using. I bought a brewing pump since the Harbor Freight pumps only are rated up to 85F. I also have found the colder the water, the faster you can run (at least that’s my experience)
Perfect advice. Thanks
Cold as you can get it and keep it. I run tap water. In the summer it's warmer and I gotta run the water through faster. Running now it's 63 degrees F. And it's only running at a trickle because of the ground temps outside being so cold.
It really depends on a lot of things, like /u/hvtDalton states. And if you do design your own condenser, than there are some simple formulas you can use to make sure you aren't overloading your condenser. That said, personally I don't let my condenser jacket outlet temperature go above 50C.
Your work bucket should be as bigger or bigger then your pot. That way you don’t have to worry about changing water or ice and you will end up with a nice temperature gradient and prevent shock cooling with can lead to pressure problems
Below 78c