Vacuum Trap Or Cold Trap?

SoggyCashew

SoggyCashew

Active Member
I make QWET then filter cold material with my Buchner and vacuum. This it the first time using a larger pump then the crappy little one that came with my setup and I ran into an issue of fluid getting into the pump. While I was running it on my second batch I noticed the oil in the vacuum pump sight glass was a cream color. I then shut the pump off and disconnected the hose from the Buchner and the hose was full of oil from the vacuum, I'm guessing it was that oil it was thick when I blew it out of the hose and a few drops got into my liquids in the flask and if separated and floated at the top. Always, I been reading I need something in-between but what? I read about vacuum traps and Cold traps and to me they are the same thing.... What do I need?
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
bake some salt/sodium carbonate or some kind of desicant, oven dried works best, but it's not important, just as long as you use enough. that should work as a moisture trap.
but oil comming out of the pump aint right, the pump should be sucking, so nothing should escape it.
are you sure its not the goods acumulating in the hose?
 
SoggyCashew

SoggyCashew

Active Member
I dont know this is the first time i did qwet i usually just make a green dragon in my levo 2 and then get back my everclear from my distiller then cook the remaining down to a oil on my magnetic hot plate.

This time when i put it in my distiller it was a very light yellow which looked awesome, after removing most of the everclear i poured it out and it looks like yellow cream? Is this color normal, my green dragon is alway brown not green when it comes out. Anyways i checked the thc with a tcheck and its WAY lower than my normal hot method.

PXL_20230304_200100613.jpg
 
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go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
thats caused by whats called an emulshon, a mixture of water (poler solventt) with oil (thc rich oils)
it sounds like theres water in the mix, im not familier with distilling everclear and oil's, so cant be of much help, sorry
but there are a few oficanardo's who do the whole distilling thing,
be patient and someone should be able to give you an answer. best of luck
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
everclears about 95% alcahol with the rest being water. next time, use a desicant and get the water out of the everclear b4 you use it
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
yes, get the vacuume going nicely so as to avoid damaging the oil, i think the water comes over b4 the oil, im not up on chemistry. extract the water out of it and you should be good to go.
best of luck
 
Fadedawg

Fadedawg

Well-Known Member
Do you valve off your extraction line before shutting off the pump?

The cream-colored liquid is water, concentrate, and aromatic hydrocarbons (terpenes). What percent alcohol did you use?
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
he used 95 % everclear, now thats still 5% water, said hed used it b4 and never had problems, but sounds to me like he didnt close vaccume off b4 distilling as the vasc pump oil did the same thing.
now if memory serves, you can distill everclear to 99.9% and then chuck a load of dried sodium chloride at it to get the rest of the azetropic water out of it, leaving you relatively water free alcahol, all alcahol is max 99.5% azeotroopic mixture, so the desecant should get rid of the water and some alcahol. but better then useing 95% everclear.
but i dont think he knows about shutting vacuume tube off to stop water mixing with pump oil. its a closed circuit, the vaccume will stsy for a time, b4 needing to be re vacuumed again
 
SoggyCashew

SoggyCashew

Active Member
No i didnt know about shutting vacuum tube off to stop water mixing, there isnt even a valve anyway between the two. I usually use a tiny pump that came with the setup but this time decided to grab a hvac vacuum pump that pulled way more vacuum. This bigger pump was causing a cold boil in my filtered mixture when i was filtering it. Anyways, I cooked it down till about 10 ml. There were still some water left and I figure I'll let it set. I woke up this morning. The top layer harden up and the bottom layer is water. I don't know if you can tell in the picture. I poked a hole and dumped out the water... Lol what a crappy experience this was!

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go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
you probably had a diphram pump last cannabis oil run, this one is differant, theres nothing to stop liquid entering the oil chamber of the pump. YES, , as far as i can see, you need a cold/vacuume trap. there the same thing as you mentioned in your first post, and fill it with dried dessicant.
also, look into a shut off valve and work with a closed system, no filtering, use the old pump for filtering and a closed system for distilling the oil over.
that should see you right.
dont forget to change the oil chamber of the hvac pump or you will destroy it, the oil needs to be in perfect condition if i remember corectly.
hope this helps with the next run
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
I COMPLEATLY DESTROYED A second hand VACCUME PUMP BY NOT HAVING AN IN LINE oops, tube or trap filled with desicant, as i had no idea the oil in the pump was filled with water/oil, killed it dead trying to filter wet powders lol
 
SoggyCashew

SoggyCashew

Active Member
@go go kid do you know of any cold vacuum traps that have a stand instead of using that helping hands thing? I don't want to buy all that. I just want to get the cold trap. Kind of like this VACUUM TRAP I found on Amazon, see how the collection tube can sit on the table. I cannot find one like this for cold trap.
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
i believe that is a cold trap, the two names are interchangeable from my google search ,its a long time since i was looking at glassware, vacuume trap/cold trap, both the same thing as far as i know.
thats a dresshel (sp?) bottle type trap, thats your best bet i think, you can fill it with a dessicant to dry the air going through it.
Fadedawg
any help here, im a bit out of my depth with modern glassware and these new oil setups,
 
OldMedUser

OldMedUser

Well-Known Member
SoggyCashew said:
What substances woild that be? Also whats dresshel (sp?)... Im new to this sorry
Click to expand...
I use a colour changing desiccant called Drierite for storing seeds, pollen etc and will probably end up using it once I clear out space to set up my lab still and get to cooking a few lbs of pot is storage.

It does a great job of absorbing moisture but isn't going to prevent solvent fumes from getting into a vac pump so I'll be using a cold trap in front of a filter filled with the Drierite to condense any solvent fumes in the line.

Seems to me a simple shutoff valve in the vac line would prevent any blow back from the pump. Just close the valve as you switch off the pump.

:peace:
 
go go kid

go go kid

Well-Known Member
does your distillation collom have a vacumme take off point?

image is a drechell bottle drying chamber, its shape and design is from a chemist named drechell

its designed for drying gasses.
im thinking you could make your own inline drying chamber from a glass jam jar. have the one tube extending down into a good layer of oven dried drierite, that way, it should absorbe any liquid vapours in the line, you would do better to make 2 of them.
theres no reason they shouldent work.
heres a simple diagram of what i used to make for gas drying, just make sure you get a good airtight seal around the in and out tubes, a glue stick gun should work fine, a flexable glue works best
 

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