Nice idea but I had an issue: both iron gas and water pipes I found were galvanized with a nickel or brass coating, and I've read that mercury tends to form an amalgam with these compounds, especially when it is heated. So as a preventative measure I polished the internal surface of the pieces and then let them sit with muriatic acid to finally rinse them with a solution of baking soda to remove any traces of the acid
Seems to me McCracken's book "Gold Mining in the 21st Century", states that the exhaust tube must NOT be submerged in water. Doing so could cause water to be drawn into the superheated zone during cooling possibly causing a steam explosion. This was back in the day when the retorts I saw had a passive water jacket around the condensation tube., not a circulating system. Just a heads up...
A small amount of water does get drawn partially up the center tube "while cooling". Never gets close to the hot end. Its a safety precaution to put exhaust tube submerged. The water actually helps flush out flower mercury.
i submerge my tube as well but am always very aware of it when i take the heat off that pipe is lifted out and although you say it never gets close to the hot end yeah id put 10 bucks down that it would get close and a certainty once you put a larger vollume union on it. My worry is ill run out of gas when im distracted as it cools water gets sucked into the 500degree retort pot then BOOM. My advice to anyone building one is bigger the pot vollume bigger the tube vollume (diamter and lenth) there probably is an equation for it
@@5272paul I suspect that the reason is "because that's the way it's done" but why fill your receiver with water at all? The vapor pressure of room temperature mercury is trivial (that's why liquid mercury is used in mercury diffusion pumps to generate high vacuums) Also, elemental mercury is relatively harmless - it's the organic mercury compounds that are particularly toxic. If you're really concerned - run the gas through a cold trap. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_trap - use a short inner tube to prevent back flow of the condensed mercury when the retort cools)
Nice idea but I had an issue: both iron gas and water pipes I found were galvanized with a nickel or brass coating, and I've read that mercury tends to form an amalgam with these compounds, especially when it is heated. So as a preventative measure I polished the internal surface of the pieces and then let them sit with muriatic acid to finally rinse them with a solution of baking soda to remove any traces of the acid
Been looking for something like this! I mean acid? Touch the stuff? I knew there had to be a way with something that evaporated so low! Got plans?
Try non hardening permatex,from a auto parts store on the threads to stop the leaks. Take the tube out of the water when cooling the retort.
What kind of material do you want to bring to your home?
Seems to me McCracken's book "Gold Mining in the 21st Century", states that the exhaust tube must NOT be submerged in water. Doing so could cause water to be drawn into the superheated zone during cooling possibly causing a steam explosion. This was back in the day when the retorts I saw had a passive water jacket around the condensation tube., not a circulating system. Just a heads up...
yep he is right...............bang!!!!..................all your gold/mercury, scattered into millions of bbs
🎉
Do you put the rag in the retort as well?
A small amount of water does get drawn partially up the center tube "while cooling". Never gets close to the hot end. Its a safety precaution to put exhaust tube submerged. The water actually helps flush out flower mercury.
i submerge my tube as well but am always very aware of it when i take the heat off that pipe is lifted out and although you say it never gets close to the hot end yeah id put 10 bucks down that it would get close and a certainty once you put a larger vollume union on it. My worry is ill run out of gas when im distracted as it cools water gets sucked into the 500degree retort pot then BOOM.
My advice to anyone building one is bigger the pot vollume bigger the tube vollume (diamter and lenth) there probably is an equation for it
@@5272paul I suspect that the reason is "because that's the way it's done" but why fill your receiver with water at all? The vapor pressure of room temperature mercury is trivial (that's why liquid mercury is used in mercury diffusion pumps to generate high vacuums) Also, elemental mercury is relatively harmless - it's the organic mercury compounds that are particularly toxic. If you're really concerned - run the gas through a cold trap. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_trap - use a short inner tube to prevent back flow of the condensed mercury when the retort cools)
Don't be a retort, mercury is dangerous stuff man!
Maybe a brass fitting would seal better? Can you use brass for this?
Thanks for video
I wonder how many grams of flour I have thrown out over 20 years of prospecting 🙁
The rag does not go in the retort.