Hello, newbie here. I have plumbed up an apple turnover and wish to try something along the lines of the GL-one day processor.

What is the preferred methof of plumbing a methanol recovery piece like the plumbers delight to a water heater? Is there a standard connection from black pipe to copper?

Does the plumbers delight replace the vent? And if so, should I also use a pressure relief valve?

Last question - Can somebody provide a photo or better description of how to bypass the water heater thermostat to drive the temperature toward 200F?

Thanks!

Hi... we have something similar plumbed up on our appleseed, but we have not flipped the tank over (yet).

We kept the pressure relief valve in the design which I think is a good idea, as your condensor is only in use during recovery. You want the reactor closed during the main reaction and so you need some relief potential in case of an overheat situation.

The PR valve is teed into an "exhuast manifold" of sorts which is a ball valve (main manual vent) which leads to a horizontal pipe to the edge of the reactor. From there we have a tee with two valves. One valve leads to the vent tubing that goes out of the shop. The other downward leading valve goes to the Plumbers Delight condensor. So we have the option of directing vapor through the condensor or out of the shop.

The condensor is tubed into a recovery carboy to catch the methanol. The vent hole on the carboy is tubed back into the shop vent tube, so that any vapors getting through the carboy go out of the shop.

I was about to write how to bypass the thermostat but this is um... kind of jerry rigged and dangerous. Check out Graham Laming's wiring diagrams at http://www.london-electronics.com/bd/ecosystem/ecosystem.htm

He has some sophisticated electrical controls in the diagrams. If that is too much just ask anybody how to bypass a thermostat, but be extra careful if you do... you must monitor the temperature while bypassing or else risk burning your shop down, this is serious!

Hope that helps,
Farmer