Learned a valuable lesson today. God is on my side.

Jmk88 · May 6, 2020

The heat velocity was probably too high.

This happened to me a few times when I started distilling; I went through 3 Erlenmeyer flasks at 20£ a pop.....

I was then shown that it’s all about heat control... gradual increases and the correct pressure changes will stop that happening.

I never stand anywhere near now as a precaution. I have my power source from a 25 meter lead which is in a separate building.

I then monitor my distillation through a window. But the key to stopping this is heat control. The channeled heat should also be cooled rapidly via an ice bath to reduce pressure build up. The pressure gets concentrated with erlenmeyers so in my experience, a boiling flask is best for beginners. I prefer erlenmeyers as they’re quicker once you’ve got the heat figured out.

Jmk88 · May 6, 2020

Cody’s lab is a good place to see distillation done properly with a pump and condenser.

Although he clearly knows what he’s doing.... some of his other practise is a bit questionable from a h and s point of view and also the nature of some other stuff he does.

However, his gold related activity (pm for that matter) is spot on technically and he isn’t “unsafe”.

jarlowski1 · May 6, 2020

If by pump you mean vacuum distillation I would strong advise against a novice doing a vacuum distillation. You should not be "monitoring" the distillation from too far. If you allow a distillation to run until the flask is dry then it can cause it to explode since it can reflux (condensing on the walls of the boiling flask) the vapor back down onto the bottom where the glass may be 300-400 c and the liquid that falls on that surface will cause thermal shock. You should be able to lower your heat source away from your glassware immediately if needed. To do this you should use a lab jack and support your flask so that the heat source is able to be lowered free of the glass without the setup tipping. The joints can be held together with keck clips/clamps. Don't trade speed for safety

Jmk88 · May 6, 2020

Err... no I mean a pump for condensing iced water through a condenser....

I think you’re missing my point... I trade speed for safety.

If I need to lower heat I remove the heat entirely and wait. I monitor through a window about 3 meters away.

I’ve not had the issue with running dry however I have had issue with heat velocity.

Jmk88 · May 6, 2020

Also to me the initial pic is extremely unsafe. An explosion in my place will be contained and so will any toxic spills.

It’s isolated from any life form and external atmospheres. If the above pic exploded and children or animals were close by, you have a big problem in terms of hot solutions, glass and fumes.

If you have stoppers they are another issue in the form of missiles. Believe me, I’ve seen this through my observatory window and I was distilling less than 500mm of nitrates and sulphuric. The stoppers are like bullets when it goes.

Doing this the way it’s done above isn’t safe; at the very least build a brick enclosure to contain glass and line the bottoms so spillage doesn’t contaminate soils. That’s what I do anyway so the worst I have after an explosion is lost materials. It would probably only need to be a few courses of masonry set on a steel plate lined with upvc. Build up a border and you will collect any spillage that can be easily neutralised which, if you’re just distilling, won’t have any metal oxides to contaminate so it can be poured away once the right ph is achieved.