Dr. Bob's multi purpose curing chamber in planning

[Knucklehead]

DR. Bob- This could be similar to removing moisture from an air compressor. The manufacturers recommend running the air line with a drop similar to plumbing drain. They recommend the first drop to be 25 ft. from the air compressor to allow time and distance for the air to cool and the water to drop out of it. It is recommended that the plumbing at each drop runs up above the main line before turning down to the water separator, keeping the water in the main line which terminates in a drain. Your idea of a radiator should accomplish the same thing, cooling the air and allowing the water to drop out of the system, yet do so without needing the distance normally needed without the radiator. What are you planning for water collection and evacuation? Great idea. One would think you had done a little distilling in your day. lol. Seriously though you could run a worm through some cooling water just like a still.

 

[DrBob]

I like the way you think Knuckelhead. Yes the radiator is for condensation. My freezer has a condensate drain and the radiator will drip into that drain. At this point I am thinking of using a fin tube radiator, commonly used for baseboard hydronic heating and cool it with my well water which comes out of the well at 48 degrees. I am thinking of 4' at this time stacked to make a 2' radiator fed with 1/2 gallon per minute of water which will then be used to water the garden. as for the fan a computer fan will work just fine. 5 - 10 cfm is all I want for this purpose if I duct the computer fan on the discharge side of the radiator the outlet temps should be in the safe range of the computer fan.

 

[DrBob]

This is a great place to kick some ideas around. Thanks to Deluxe Stogie with his wonderful work on his cozy can flue curing method it was proven to me that I indeed could build my own flue curing chamber. I had never considered it being worthwhile until I read his post. He did the pioneering and my hat is off to him. I am close to converting my curing chamber. Thanks to all others with thier ideas

Dr.Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

I'm glad you found the Cozy Can thread helpful. I pursued that "trashy" approach as an exercise in how truly rudimentary a flue-cure chamber could be, and still do the job, more or less. I've been using my Cozy Can as a kiln through the winter, but will have it running flue-cures again come July.

Bob

 

[DrBob]

I like the way you think 30 gph would net out almost 2400 btuh. at a 10 degree rise. A more reasonable number would be 8 gph and that would give more in the range of 1000 btuh. 1 pint/ hour condesation. and yes I have built a still.

Thanks knucklehead.

 

[Knucklehead]

Will you run the condensate drain into the freezer drain pan, which will require you to manually empty the pan, or can you tie it into the coolant water with a backflow preventer / venturi? If that won't work you could use a sump pump with float.

Will the coolant water terminate in a low pressure drip system to the garden or are you planning on storing 192 gallons per day, or can you use a pump and filter to recirculate your water like a backyard pond? You will of course need a way to keep inlet temperature of the water low enough to condense the moisture after a few cycles through radiator. Water is already a commodity.

 

[DrBob]

knucklehead sir
the condensate will just drip out the drain hole of the cabinet, and in my case into the floor drain. The coolant water will go into the garden. For me water is not a problem I live in Northwestern Wisconsin near Lake Superior groundwater is abundant and cold too typically 48 degrees in the summer. Once the coolant water has passed through the condenser it will be too warm to reuse.

You do bring up a good point. Most people do not have the luxury of abundant cold water. There is another way to condense the water vapor.

 

[LeftyRighty]

been re-thinking my whole approach.....my initial idea was a return duct for the required airflow, sans humidity. Removing the moisture from this air with cooling is counterproductive, because now it needs to be reheated.

I still like this recycling some of the air, but only if I'm returning air at a useable temp and RH.
What I need is to supply fresh air, heated, mixed with some moist return air, to get the proper temp/RH. And just dump the excess exhaust from the chamber. What is not needed is dry air, hot or cool, as that can lead to dried green leaf during the yellowing phase.

 

[DrBob]

Thanks lefty
It has been a puzzle and I think you may be right. A condensate radiator would be a lot of extra work and the reheat would be costly to boot. The numbers are 1000 btu per # of water evaporated or condensed. I am leaning more on a bleed air vent at this time. Same # of watts less parts. I ordered a squirrel cage blower to handle the recirculation it has a max capacity of 120 cfm. The neat thing about squirrel cage blowers is that you can vary the airflow by restricting the intake so I can throttle it back to whatever I need from 15 cfm to 120 cfm and not damage the motor. The less air it gets the less amps it pulls.

 

[leverhead]

been re-thinking my whole approach

When I was running mine for yellowing, The vents really weren't open that much (relative term). In my fridge, I used 4" flue pipe to move the air around, my vents are 4" Dia. also. If I had stayed on top of everything, I could probably live with 1/4 of that. When I would loose the heater, condensation would make such a mess of the leaf, I wanted to be able to vent very quickly if I needed to. I will say that most of the air is recycled and Watts go up with the temperature, even as the vents close through the cure. By the end the vents are closed and most of the losses are related to the insulation of the box. I took some pictures of the fridge yesterday and need to resize them and write it up tonight for posting.

 

[LeftyRighty]

yeah, DrBob/leverhead.....I'm thinking of omitting the crockpot, as leaf moisture may be sufficient if RH can be maintained through recycling exhaust. Going to a 'hot-box' outside the chamber, and ducting mixed air into the chamber. This hot-box will be a seperate chamber, drawing air and heating with bulbs and/or crockpot, then mixed with exhaust and ducted to the flue-curing freezer box. Keeping the source of air/moisture/heat outside the flue-curing chamber should make it easier to control temp/RH.
Also going to use squirrel-cage type fan for duct flow, as I'm learning the in-line duct-fans can't take temps above 140°F.

 

[DrBob]

do that. As soon as i get the parts I will post photos of my progress

 

[LeftyRighty]

I'm looking at using 4" & 6" PVC and PVC DW or DWS for ducting, but spec say it's only rated for less than 140°F. I think that's just for pressure rating, and not general use. I threw a piece in boiling water for a while and noticed no detrimental effect. Anybody know if there's a problem with near 200°F dry/wet use for a duct.
Incidently, CPVC is rated for 180°F, but more expensive.

 

[DrBob]

lefty
I do not see the advantage of the hotbox. I can see the added work and expense to build one. It would be hard to keep it airtight too. At the airflow rates of the recirculating loop it should not make any difference where the heat is. Humidity should be controlled by ventilation, or more specifically air exchange. moist air out/ dry air in. more fresh air= faster drying, less fresh air = slower drying.

cpvc should get the nod but it is hard to come by in the larger sizes.

 

[DrBob]

pvc may be just fine Insulated flex duct is another option, it is readily available in many sizes

 

[BigBonner]

If PVC is acceptable to use and you wanted to make a large KILN then why not use the PVC board . If im not mistaken they are 4' X 8' sheets .It would take 12 sheets to make a 8' X 8' kiln .

Stud the walls and insulate like a house .

 

[johnlee1933]

If PVC is acceptable to use and you wanted to make a large KILN then why not use the PVC board . If im not mistaken they are 4' X 8' sheets .It would take 12 sheets to make a 8' X 8' kiln . Stud the walls and insulate like a house .

That's a hell of an idea! I am now looking at my smoke house with a gleam in my eye. I just haven't decided if I really want to flue cure. -- John

 

[DrBob]

Way way bigger than my needs Mr Big! My little freezer is almost just right but I am on the lookout for something twice as big. 5' wide and 7' high

 

[BigBonner]

The PVC board will cut easy to make any size you needed .

DrBob
Look at it this way fire it up one time a year and let the tobacco sit and age more .
Then next year make plans to plant more and fire it up twice .

 

[DrBob]

The PVC board will cut easy to make any size you needed .

DrBob
Look at it this way fire it up one time a year and let the tobacco sit and age more .
Then next year make plans to plant more and fire it up twice .

I only have room to grow 200 plants!!!!