Hello Greg >Even though it seemed like the newbie was being chastised,
Yes he was. >I found the reply VERY usefull. Well, he wasn't *only* being chastised... Glad you found it useful. >It answered several questions that have come into my mind since I >began this sojourn a couple of weeks ago. At the risk of also >getting chewed, my question has to do with keeping the mixture up to >temp while the reaction is going on. I am at the stage of setting up >my small reactor to learn the process. I am looking around and >wondering if I could use a hot water bath that is electrically >heated? I want to do the small processes and develop my technique, >but I would really rather not have to babysit the reaction >constantly watching a thermometer. Any help appreciated. The "Make your first test batch" section at the Journey to Forever website refers to a mini-processor, which is here: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_processor7.html Test-batch mini-processor It uses a hot-water bath. It says: "A crock-pot might do instead of a spaghetti cooker and a portable gas ring. Our gas ring died so now we use a hot-plate instead." The hot-plate is electric and has a thermostat. With a bit of practice it's easy to adjust it to the temperature you want to maintain and it's quite reliable. The wonders of automation. This set-up works well, we much prefer it to the gas-ring. Actually with the old gas-ring it says: "The temperature only needs adjustment twice in an hour at normal room temperature." With a bigger processor it needs even less adjustment, even in this weather, and even without insulating the tank. I've never bothered to fit a thermostat to our 90-litre processor's heating element. I've never left it on by mistake either, but that possibility would be the only reason I might get a thermostat. I don't spend much time watching thermometers though, in the meantime. The gas-ring was junk anyway, free from the Tokyo gomi (trash), and I don't think we paid anything for the hotplate, someone gave it to us or it was here when we moved in or something. Maybe you could get one at a second-hand store. HTH Best Keith >Greg Kelly _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
