What's new
  • Please note members who been with us for more than 10 years have been upgraded to "Veteran" status and will receive exclusive benefits. If you wish to find out more about this or support IcMag and get same benefits, check this thread here.
  • Important notice: ICMag's T.O.U. has been updated. Please review it here. For your convenience, it is also available in the main forum menu, under 'Quick Links"!

build / first run of the MKIIIa closed loop butane

Vegan

Active member
hey ICmaggers just had a nice weekend got to play with tools and equipment

got my hands on this badass Machine and I gonna try and tell ya all how it worked out.. first run was a shower recover shower type run..
 
Last edited:

Vegan

Active member
So basically let's get an idea of crap needed for assembly. Some good spanner aka wrenches for all the different fittings. Some Teflon tape for all the screw in fittings. Gotta be carefully when wrapping this stuff it very easily gets folded over the edges which could translate into contaminants in your system.. More on that later. As far as necessity items , I wouldn't even consider running this system without a apion recovery pump so that's definitely a done deal
 

Vegan

Active member
well ok then,,
here is example of all these little fittings that I was referring to .. sorry for the bad pic



all these blue valves are high quality locking gates
nothing can be accidentally bumped and blow a run


the Appion is a brand new unit hopefully with the filter on there we will get a decent time out of her before she needs a rebuild. anyhoo by then I would think a newer better quieter unit will be better

picture.php
 
Last edited:

icdog

Member
Careful with that copper connection to the filter drier. I had one and because the appion shakes so much it cracked that fitting.
 

Vegan

Active member
Careful with that copper connection to the filter drier. I had one and because the appion shakes so much it cracked that fitting.

you make an excellent point , that copper line set up is quite flimsy the copper tube bends easily , that shaking can also cause the fitting to loosen up, putting that on a check list
 

Gray Wolf

A Posse ad Esse. From Possibility to realization.
Mentor
ICMag Donor
Veteran
What is the copper thang hanging from the filter drier for?
 

Vegan

Active member
What is the copper thang hanging from the filter drier for?

I know its henky but that's all the minds could come up with to adapt the filter drier line to the collection pot,, it was either this or wait 2-3 weeks for the correct adapter( from what I was told) definitely not permanent


the stainless steel tube was a bitch to work with and these compression fittings are no joke ,, but by the end it was all assembled and ready for a nice vacuum and pressure test.




picture.php



picture.php
 

C'Ya

Member
Vegan,
SS line from top of terp should go to valve on dip tub not the tee, looks like its going to recovery port of tee in last pic.
 

Vegan

Active member
Vegan,
SS line from top of terp should go to valve on dip tub not the tee, looks like its going to recovery port of tee in last pic.

you make a good point lets take a look at each of those

dip tube vavle on the left and recovery port on the right

picture.php
 

Vegan

Active member
ok so lets see if we got this all right ,,hmmmmm :biggrin:

the blue line that goes off to the right is attached to a r410a manifold

picture.php
 

Vegan

Active member
all right so lets get down to it ,,first lets check for a vacuum and no leaks
so we turn on the vacuum pump close the recovery valve and open the rest
picture.php


crap all kinds of leaks ..go back and tighten all fitting down some more
a bit more aggressive on the torque on em ..


ok tighter now ,,, well see if that's enough..

vep holding a vacuum now,,
picture.php
 

Vegan

Active member
ok pressure tested the system this time and again we found some leaks.. got the guage up to and over 100psi and got just a bit of a leak at the top compression fitting ,, again tightened the top union some more ,, really got it on there tight now

all is well and its time to take out our NAPA can tapper .







. more on that later,,tap the cans into the liquid port on the TEE off the pot,,

picture.php



we weighed the empty tank on a digital flat scale

picture.php



we dumped a couple of cans without turning on the Appion..from there on we started running the recover pump and open the vavle to allow the tane to go to the recovery tank. as the tane empties into the system the cans will acutally start to indent if you leave them on too long, change them out as soon as they are empty and empty and empty and empty ect ect ect

picture.php


we guesstimated about thirty cans to start with and kept at it ,, pretty time consuming to say the least


ok so all the butane is been recovered through the system and into the tank,,


here is the weight post butane injection we lost a bit of tane during the puncture process,,

picture.php


ok after a bit of a explosion at the test area we are moving the unit to a different local
 
Last edited:
A bit off topic, but if you are going to be blasting around a chlorinated pool you should be sure that you have a proper fire extinguisher present. If you were to have a fire (heaven forbid), your average ABC fire extinguisher would be on hand for put out fires from the initial blast. However, if this type of extinguisher is used around a pool, ammonium compounds (ammonium salts) discharged from the extinguisher can reach the chlorine (oxidizers) and nitrogen trichloride is formed. Nitrogen trichloride, NCI3 is explosive. Just a heads up you should only have a water type extinguisher on hand in a pool area. Besides that, good luck with your first run!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/6107561
 
I was simply pointing out that if flammable solvents are being used, even in a closed loop system, the proper fire extinguisher should be on hand. I noticed a pool in the background (green and probably not chlorinated). A typical ABC extinguisher is not rated and is actually dangerous to discharge in the presence of chlorine. As a former technician in the fire protection industry, I felt that I should inform the OP of the danger as he/she may not be aware. We are working with highly explosive solvents so the last thing we want in the case of an accident is our emergency equipment adding to the problem.
 
Can tapping scares the shit out of me. Especially with the recovery pump running, it's almost more nerve racking than open blasting. Very good info HotT
 

Latest posts

Latest posts

Top