Preparing for Christmas

[Acidrain]

22 liter is the biggest you can lift and pour by hand, the next sizes up, 50L, 72L and 100L are the ones too big to pick up and require special equipment to drain.

I bet it's nerve wrecking to pour a 22L by hand!
I always get a bit nervous when I pick up my 5L to pour it. All kinds of bad things can happen at that moment!

 

[4metals]

I bet it's nerve wrecking to pour a 22L by hand!

A spherical reactor's effective operating capacity is about 60% of full for safety reasons (chemical reaction rising issues). That puts a 22 liter full enough to process it's maximum capacity at 13ish liters. So full of liquid it is about similar to about 3.5 gallons in weight except there is 100 ounces of metal dissolved in there as well. Not too heavy to lift and pour.

In my younger days, when my muscles were stronger and gold was $300 an ounce I wouldn't think twice about hand pouring a 22 liter flask full. Truth is my brain was smaller then too! Today I would use a vacuum transfer flask to suck out the majority of the liquid into an easier to handle flask and only lift the drained vessel to rinse it out. This is one of my setups doing just that.

 

[orvi]

More than 10 L is too risky in my opinion, as solutions typical for refining are heavier than water. For beakers, 5 L is my limit for sure for ones that are used normally and poured from by hand. For filtering flasks, 10 L is the last one practical to be handheld with confidence.

Over 10 L, glass is only stationary in my use. And moved around only empty or on tilting/transporting devices. And charged/discharged by siphoning or pumps/peristaltic pumps.

 

[Acidrain]

A spherical reactor's effective operating capacity is about 60% of full for safety reasons (chemical reaction rising issues). That puts a 22 liter full enough to process it's maximum capacity at 13ish liters. So full of liquid it is about similar to about 3.5 gallons in weight except there is 100 ounces of metal dissolved in there as well. Not too heavy to lift and pour.

In my younger days, when my muscles were stronger and gold was $300 an ounce I wouldn't think twice about hand pouring a 22 liter flask full. Truth is my brain was smaller then too! Today I would use a vacuum transfer flask to suck out the majority of the liquid into an easier to handle flask and only lift the drained vessel to rinse it out. This is one of my setups doing just that.

View attachment 66371

That's a nice setup! Very clean

 

[Acidrain]

More than 10 L is too risky in my opinion, as solutions typical for refining are heavier than water. For beakers, 5 L is my limit for sure for ones that are used normally and poured from by hand. For filtering flasks, 10 L is the last one practical to be handheld with confidence.

Over 10 L, glass is only stationary in my use. And moved around only empty or on tilting/transporting devices. And charged/discharged by siphoning or pumps/peristaltic pumps.

I love my 5L but hate being limited to 3.5L for my reactions as that's my limit for safety. I've went bigger a few times and it gets VERY sketchy and I've foamed over, loosing 1/3 of it a few times.

 

[4metals]

And moved around only empty or on tilting/transporting devices.

This is a catalog photo of the tipper used to hold spherical flasks. The heating mantle ($$$$$!!!!!) is part of the unit.

And these are reactors in both tippers and tabletop mantles. The 2 units are actually 22 liter flasks and the one on the left in the rear is a 5 liter and the 3 next to it are 12 liters. The smaller ones are obviously lifted and poured by hand. (More in line with @orvi 's suggestion)

 

[4metals]

That's a nice setup! Very clean

They all look like that........when they're new.

 

[4metals]

For filtering flasks, 10 L is the last one practical to be handheld with confidence.

Back in the day the go to filtering flask was 20 liters and believe me it was heavy when full and pouring it into a filter. I switched to the 10 liter flasks when they became popular but for larger lots I always put in a mounted overhead vacuum flask with drains, rinse sprays and overfill protection built in. Lifting heavy loads, especially at todays prices, is potentially costly not to mention what it can do to your back.

 

[Acidrain]

They all look like that........when they're new.

"When they're new" that's for sure. I try very hard to keep all my beakers and flasks clean. Lots of dish washing! Actually, I usually get as far as rinsing everything, then it sits in the sink and when I get home from work, everything has been washed. My wife is good to me

 

[Acidrain]

View attachment 66372
This is a catalog photo of the tipper used to hold spherical flasks. The heating mantle ($$$$$!!!!!) is part of the unit.
View attachment 66373
And these are reactors in both tippers and tabletop mantles. The 2 units are actually 22 liter flasks and the one on the left in the rear is a 5 liter and the 3 next to it are 12 liters. The smaller ones are obviously lifted and poured by hand. (More in line with @orvi 's suggestion)

Oh my goodness I'm drooling! That's a nice lab! I can't find enough material for a lab that big and if I could, I'd certainly quit my day job and it's a very good one!

 

[Yggdrasil]

"When they're new" that's for sure. I try very hard to keep all my beakers and flasks clean. Lots of dish washing! Actually, I usually get as far as rinsing everything, then it sits in the sink and when I get home from work, everything has been washed. My wife is good to me

You are not washing your labware in your kitchen do you?

 

[Acidrain]

You are not washing your labware in your kitchen do you?

No, utility room sink

 

[Yggdrasil]

No, utility room sink

Good.
But still it is best to have a dedicated sink i the lab.

 

[Acidrain]

Good.
But still it is best to have a dedicated sink i the lab.

I agree, some day I might get that far

 

[4metals]

No, utility room sink

Wow a wife that does the kitchen sink and the utility room sink, now that is truly precious. Reward her with lots of gold!

 

[4metals]

Good.
But still it is best to have a dedicated sink i the lab

I have found, at least in the USA, that a sink in a refinery sets off red flags while a sink just outside the lab is easily explained away as a multi use utility sink. I always rinse out vessels into the next step in the process be it into a filter or into the waste holding and soak the vessels in a soapy water tank in the lab. Then out to the utility sink when convenient for a conventional wash. If you keep up with your dishes and never let stuff dry in a beaker or flask it is easy to keep clean.

When your hobby grows to a business little things like having the sink separate from the lab makes explanations to a less than well informed inspector easier!

 

[orvi]

View attachment 66372
This is a catalog photo of the tipper used to hold spherical flasks. The heating mantle ($$$$$!!!!!) is part of the unit.
View attachment 66373
And these are reactors in both tippers and tabletop mantles. The 2 units are actually 22 liter flasks and the one on the left in the rear is a 5 liter and the 3 next to it are 12 liters. The smaller ones are obviously lifted and poured by hand. (More in line with @orvi 's suggestion)

That is the stuff

 

[goldshark]

I thought I would mention Vevor as a great electric water distiller. A lab can never have too much of it. Just fill it and walk away, in a couple hours you have a gallon of distilled. I use a couple tablespoons of HCl to clean the left Calcium, Fluoride, whatever deposits. I am not affiliated with them, just trying to turn some people on to what I feel is a good thing. It is amazing to see what is in your drinking water, even municipal water systems. My cost was around $80 US.

 

[4metals]

I thought I would mention Vevor as a great electric water distiller.

Possibly a link?

 

[Yggdrasil]

Possibly a link?

It may not be the same but here is a link from Amazon.
More expensive though.

https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Water-Distiller-New/dp/B0D45VNQRM