 Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/4/2013(UTC)
Posts: 28
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Hello all. New to the forum. I have a 7 gallon all copper pot still. I am wanting to run in my house. I have been reading mixed review about the 1500 watt hot plate. I have looked at the internal heating element as well but not sure how that would work with a all copper pot. Any help would be greatley appreciated. I have read that some people mod the not plate to keep it from cycling but on the other hand other people say it works fine and the cycling dont affect the run. Not sure if the ones that are having trouble are running a reflux still and cant get enough to reach the top of the column or what. Please any info on here or pm would be awesome!!! Thanks again for your time
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 Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 8/17/2008(UTC)
Posts: 424
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I ran a 1500w on an 8 gal for some time - worked fine, if somewhat slower. You will want to mod the plate, but that is only moving a jumper from one connector to another. Then by using a router controller you will have full control of the hot plate.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/16/2012(UTC)
Posts: 22
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Considering that the smallest fluctuation in temp will affect your flow I would say you'd have to be pretty on it to find the sweet spot on a hot plate with a thermostat. I would use something to disperse the heat evenly so as to not make direct contact with the pot. Especially if the bottom of your pot is on the thin side.
Would make more of a difference on a spirit run.
I like mine to drip fast and with propane it usually fluctuates between 2-4 drips most likely becase my condenser has a few slight kinks and it's packing up just a bit.
If you go electric...do the mod. It doesn't look that difficult.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/21/2012(UTC)
Posts: 26
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Run it with 6 gallons of water and check your temp, you will need it to get to the 195F to 200F range and then you know you can keep your still at 177F with a spirit run. Just my cents hope it helps.
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Rank: Junior Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 1/20/2013(UTC)
Posts: 13
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I've read somewhere someone put a internal heating element in their copper still and it worked well for them. You just have to install the npt coupling using flux and a lead free solder obviously.
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Rank: Advanced Member Groups: Registered
Joined: 8/17/2008(UTC)
Posts: 424
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1500w hotplate provides enough heat for a nice run, even with the 3" column, that's why Rick will sell that way - it works. Now then what the other types of heat sources do is decrease the warmup time considerably. An 8 gal kettle will take full heat from the hotplate all the way through the run, water control will handle the amount of flow. Now you will need a flat bottomed kettle for the hotplate to really work well, if your kettles bottom isn't really flat then propane would probably be better.
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