New distillery - boiler question

ADKdistiller

Hello Everyone,

I'm a starting a distillery with some partners and we've recently hit a snag with our steam boiler (yet to be installed).

The guy who's installing our boiler (one of my partner's brother in law) also helped us choose the boiler. We went with an 800,000 BTU low pressure (15psi it will kick off) boiler from Weil-McLain. My partners brother in law told us he had to run the boiler pipe along the ground and then up to the jacketed reactor because steam rises, and that he couldn't run it along the ceiling and drop down to it. This would affect our floor plan in a very negative way. I called Weil-McLain to find out if this was correct or not and they told me that this boiler is not designed for this and that it's strictly designed for heating homes. They could not help me at all. We need low pressure steam for our still.

My main three questions are:

1) Will this boiler work? We're using it to heat a 600 gallon jacketed tank filled with water and our 250 gallon still.

2) With low pressure steam, is he correct in that you can't drop the steam line down to the jacket because steam rises? So he would have to run the steam line along the ground and then up to the jacket?

3) Do they make low pressure steam boilers designed specifically for heating jacketed tanks or other uses beside heating homes?

Thanks,

Mike

Pipedope_2

Steam flow

Steam has no brains, it will go wherever you send it. As to the rest of your problems, I know nothing about stills. You'll need to take some pic's so the people here can get an idea of what you are hooking the boiler up to. I've seen pic's on here of steam boilers cooking crabs! In a truck, so anything is possible. If your guy doesn't know that steam goes down, you may have some other issues coming as well.

Jamie Hall

Too reinforce

Pipedopes' comments: steam -- like any gas -- moves from higher pressure to lower pressure.  It is almost completely insensitive to up or down -- so you can run the steam main across the ceiling and then down to the still jacket without any problems.



You should insulate it -- but you probably know that.



I also agree with pipedope in that if your boiler installer doesn't know that about steam, he may also have some difficulty following the directions when installing the boiler.  You  might find that you have to point out to him that Weil-McClain publishes very complete directions for the near boiler piping -- and they aren't kidding.  Those directions are absolute minimum installation directions.



As to running a boiler designed for residential use routinely at 15 psi -- which is, incidentally, where your last line of defense safety mechanism kicks in, the safety valve -- I have no solid answers.  However.  If this is a boiler designed for residential use, it is not intended to operate under more than 2 to 3 psi continuously.  If you actually need 15 psi steam, you need an industrial low pressure process boiler.  No compromises or shortcuts.

nicholas bonham-carter

Steam kettle

I presume this is a closed system, in which the steam will not escape, and excessive makeup water will be avoided. You may not need more than a few ounces of pressure to heat things up thoroughly.

The steam kettle can be fed from the top, but the condensate return (maybe what your installer was referring to), must be at floor level.this could be a 11/4 in copper line. Remember to pipe the boiler according to the boiler instructions.--NBC

jumper

condensate flows downhill

It's the bottom you have to worry about. Ideally the boiler is below the still so that gravity works. Otherwise you need somebody to design a condensate handling system. Speak to some steam trap salesmen. A heating boiler will work happily if it's piped correctly. But I recommend an industrial company like Fulton because their guys will be helpful. They often have used boilers that they can derate and sell economically.



You didn't ask but you should go to Pick Water Heater website and read their articles about jacket heaters.

JStar

Still

You probably need the higher pressure in order to achieve higher temperatures. You MAY be able to increase the size of the relief valve of a cast iron boiler. Most boilers are rated to withstand 30-50 psi. However, I would consult the manufacturer about that. Getting any help from Weil McLain.....good luck.

Larry_52

50 psi tested with water

50lbs of steam is 300 degrees. Not a great idea.