Hochstrom Filter "Issues"

BigJohnny said:

First time using my hochstrom with dual plate and tall tube today....and it didn't go so well which I'm going to chalk up to me doing something wrong.

it's all connected as they show on their website, but I was having a hell of a time trying to get it to flow freely, fully, and at half vacuum as they advertise.
first I was unable to go below about 400 torr, I think I may have had a small leak that I fixed somehow and it was able to pull down to 290 torr.

problem is that it was just dripping and it took me around 2 hours to just get half of the tall tube filtered.



I was using the stage one and two filter papers, and had winterized the large amount I had by dumping dry ice into the bucket with the alcohol and distillate.

so what could I be doing wrong that's preventing me from achieving the full flow as advertised by summit?

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mobin said:

did you have any sort of filtering aids besides the paper?

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oneshot said:

Probably was a leak. I've noticed the Hochstrom has a hard time screwing on properly. I dunno what it is about the threads/o-ring but it feels like it's a weak part of the filter. When you put it together the inside ring that holds the filter paper down shouldn't move.

Don't use the Stage 1 & 2 together. Just use Stage 1 by itself, then stage 2 and then 3. If you don't want to use silica, get some of the pyrex glass wool and you can use that. It will help pull a lot of the first waxes out and will prevent a lot of clogging.

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