Bio Pellet Reactor Build

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Hmm only the small ones?? lol

mojo

I ran out of time. I am sorry to say it took me a little over 4 hours just to cut the flange out of the top of them and shape the black bottoms!
I also ran out of 1/2'' black. It was left over from your calcium reactor upgrade.
I hope to get the 6'' flanges cut out this week.
Eric is stopping by to have some work done on his hood. The feeding door needs a major overhaul!! Wood and water dont play well together.

BTW Mike thanks for the 1/2'' black. LOL
 
I always get confused with the Weld On numbers....

Is 16 the thin watery stuff or is #4 the thin watery stuff?

Nick
 
I always get confused with the Weld On numbers....

Is 16 the thin watery stuff or is #4 the thin watery stuff?

Nick

The Weld on 16 is the one in the tube and is gel like or like thick CA (think IC Gel). The Weld on in the can is #4 and #3 which is the watery stuff.

Cheers,
Alex
 
Yea yea Peppie, lol

Ok I picked up the rest of the funnels, gasket material and what nylon bolts I could, had to empty 3 McClenndons to do it, lol

Max the 16 is just thickened up 4, so some for with acrylic mixed in. I like it better for stuff like this.


Mojo
 
GREAT JOB GUYS! Wish your Doghouse (Shop) wasn't so far away Dave or I'd be hangin with the Boys and providing yet another set of hands to help/get in the way. Now thinking that I may build one of these Bio-pellet reactors as well to combine with my Ozone and scrub the GFO.

Cheers, Todd
 
Mojo, I am glad you got your shopping list taken care of. I on the other hand have been busy,busy,busy and not yet made it to the plumbing store. I will run out Sat. morning before we get started and pick up all the PVC we discussed.


Todd, You are more than welcome to join in the fun. The shop is small but could handle an other set of hands. We have just been doing the basic stuff to the cylinders to hold water and get the top off. The fun part is on the way. To get the water to move the pellets like we want. The real R&D starts in a week or so.
 
So Mike made it over today with all kinds of plumbing supplies. That set us up for a full day in the shop.
Thanks Mike!!
We got started by drilling a 3/4'' hole in the water outlet block on the side of the tube.


reactor002-3.jpg


Then we taped the hole to accept a 1/2'' fitting
reactor001-3.jpg

reactor006-3.jpg


Screw in a hose fitting and we have water out.
reactor007-3.jpg


Mike kept busy tapping the holes for the lid to secure to the flange. We drilled a 1/4'' hole and tapped it for a 5/16 nylon nut.
reactor005-3.jpg

All of the funnels had to be cut and shaped to fit the tube.
reactor009-3.jpg

We needed to mod some couplers to slide on the 1/2'' pvc. I sanded the inside of the coupler smooth.
reactor010-3.jpg

We slipped the moded coupler over a section of 1/2'' PVC and cut slots in them at the bandsaw.
reactor011-3.jpg
 
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I see you guys used a drill with the bit to tap the acrylic. Do you have to go really slow doing it like that? When we tap anything at our shop I always do it by hand because I'm afraid that using a drill will strip the thread it's trying to create or that never happens?
 
Crappy pic, but you get the idea of the slotted PVC in the bottom of the funnel.
reactor013-2.jpg

A shot of the production run
reactor014-2.jpg

To get the water in we are using Uniseals to hold the 1/2'' PVC in place water tight. We had to use a 1/2'' coupling on a couple of the lid cuase we were short on the 1/2'' uniseals, but had some 3/4'' uniseals. The 1/2'' couplings OD was a good fit for the 3/4'' uniseal. We installed the 1/2'' coupling in the 3/4'' uniseal with the help of the drill press
reactor016-2.jpg

This is a pic of one of them installed. The little fan setting just above the lid will hold a screen or foam to keep the media in the chamber.
reactor017-1.jpg

To hold the fan/media stop in place we cut 1/2'' couplers in half. 1/2 on top 1/2 on the bottom
reactor015-2.jpg

This is the unit sliding into place
reactor018-1.jpg

Set down in place
reactor019-1.jpg

Here is the finished product. Water out of a Mag 7, up to a gate valve, past the union. into the reactor.
reactor021-1.jpg

Mike took his home to put them on line.
We will have to wait to see the results.
Wish us luck!!!!
 
I see you guys used a drill with the bit to tap the acrylic. Do you have to go really slow doing it like that? When we tap anything at our shop I always do it by hand because I'm afraid that using a drill will strip the thread it's trying to create or that never happens?

For the small holes, 5/16'' Mike ran the tap with the drill. If you go slow and keep a tight grip on the drill, it worked just fine. All but the last hole on the last small reactor. Something went wrong and snapped a 2 1/2 section off the lid. Crap. Since I will be placing this carbon reactor in a sump I just glued the broke rim back on to the lid. Should be fine.
On the large hole, 1/2'' tap which is 3/4'', We did it by hand with soapy water as a lube.
 
For the small holes, 5/16'' Mike ran the tap with the drill. If you go slow and keep a tight grip on the drill, it worked just fine. All but the last hole on the last small reactor. Something went wrong and snapped a 2 1/2 section off the lid. Crap. Since I will be placing this carbon reactor in a sump I just glued the broke rim back on to the lid. Should be fine.
On the large hole, 1/2'' tap which is 3/4'', We did it by hand with soapy water as a lube.

Cool man...Thanks! :)
 
Ok got the carbon reactor installed, as usual the pictures didnt really come out to good but hopefully it gives the idea?

So here are a couple close ups to show that it is fluidizing.

carbon_reactor1.jpg


carbon_reactor2.jpg


and then one showing them both in the sump.

carbon_reactor3.jpg




Mojo
 
:clap2:
Very cool and awesome work guys. I would say (imo) for the tapping I'd do it by hand. Or at the very least, either way you go with, you probably sould use some type of fluid for heat control while tapping the holes. Fluid will help disipate any heat build up the might be.

Cheers,
Alex
 
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