B11

[Starfire]

The photo's show the vacuum head and diff pump also the Baratron pressure gauge and Ion gun. The discharge cap's are in the background in the second picture when the system is installed at the well.

[Steven Sesselmann]

John,

Working over a pond in the Irish countryside certainly adds an element of complexity, even if the cooling water for the diff pump is at a handy distance.

Thanks for posting pictures..

Steven

[Starfire]

I intend to pump the pond as coolant and return the waste back to the pond. I have a small pump already.

[David D Speck MD]

John,

Rather than pumping pond water through your diffusion pump, I'd suggest constructing a heat exchanger so you could use distilled or deionized water in actual contact with the pump components.

The pond water will have all sorts of particulates, algae and bacteria that will eventually form a biofilm on the diffusion pump coils and reduce your heat transfer efficiency.

Something as simple as fifty feet of clean plastic garden hose could be filled with DI water for your actual pump cooling loop. Toss the bulk of the coil into the pond, and it will bleed off the heat there without bringing contaminants into your system.

Dave

[Starfire]

Thanks Dave - I will take onboard this suggestion. I have been so busy I did not think about the coolant.

[Starfire]

Dave - a quick make-up coiled 1/4" pipe as a condenser?

[David D Speck MD]

John,

What you have there should work fine. Good that you have the material. Around here, copper tube has become very expensive, probably a lot more than a common garden hose.

Dave

[DaveC]

Depending on the construction of your diff pump's cooling coils, there may be no reason to do a heat exchanger at all. If they're copper for instance, the natural biocide capabilities of copper will prevent algae, mold and most everything except water-borne particulates.

If the cooling tubing is SS, then you could have some issues with flora.

The greater problem might actually be with contaminating the pond water with copper compounds.

Your copper coil exchanger though looks ample.

Dave Cooper