I got my 2" EE PSII about a year ago. I have been running it in the pot still mode with good success. Yesterday I set it up in the reflux mode, both columns with a mixture of copper mesh and Ceramic Raschig Rings (didn't have enough copper), band heater with router speed controller. I had a time getting it to stabilize. When I did it was with the column water very slow and a power level about what I ran in the pot still mode. About half way through the run I noticed that there was no water running through the column at all. It was sucking air from a very small leak around the valve and that was the only thing running through the column. It still seemed to act like what I expected it to in the reflux mode. Is this normal? I think not. If it is not what is the answer? More power and more water?

Thanks for the reply dstar.

It did start as a refulx run. I held it at full refulx for 45min. Then I started turning the water down until I got the flow I was looking for. Too much it seems. My pot still stripping runs normally start around 84% but this one started at 92%. Across the whole run it was 5 to 15 percentage points higher than my pot still sprit runs. When I set it up as a refulx I removed the insulation around the water ports at the top of the column so it was insulated all the way to the water ports at the top and open from there. The next day I set it back up as a pot still but I didn't replace the insulation at the top of the column. My usual stripping runs start around 64% this one started at 75%. I'm thinking at this point that maybe I had some refulx going?