vaccum pump choice

Hello all,

I was wondering what the best choice of vaccum pump would be for someone with a 100-150 budget. I am not familiar with the term "stage" and how its relation to the purging process. I am planning on using a mason jar for my chamber until I have enough money to purcahse an official oven.

Go to your local Harbor Freight.

They carry two models that are both useful in our capacity.

So, buy the cheaper one if you want.

” Stage”
Is just fancy talk for an extra motor that kicks in when the first motor is under a heavy load.

Basically a 2 stage will be much quieter, good option if you are in an apartment or where neighbors can hear it.

*yes they get pretty loud*

I use their Pittsburgh Single stage,3 CFM, 75 micron model.

Runs like a champ.

They have a nation wide Parking lot sale coming soon.

Plus, you can always always use their online coupon for 20% off ANYTHING.
Link to coupon
http://www.dealmoon.com/Online-Stores/harborfreight_com

Please do be very cautious in using a Mason Jar as your chamber, many many have done it successfully over and over...

But, wear safety glasses just to be safe, an implosion would be nasty if there are people in the nearby vicinity.
Good luck on your mission.

MWgrower said:

Hello all,

I was wondering what the best choice of vaccum pump would be for someone with a 100-150 budget. I am not familiar with the term "stage" and how its relation to the purging process. I am planning on using a mason jar for my chamber until I have enough money to purcahse an official oven.

Click to expand...

A single stage pump will pull below 100 microns and a two stage pump to about 25 microns. It is possible to boil away the cannabinoids at ambient temperatures below about 29.8" Hg. There are 760,000 microns to one 29.92 Hg atmosphere, so that is around 3048 microns.

Either will work, but we mostly use single stage pumps, because they vacuum low enough at 65 microns and at least the CPS VP6S pumps that we use, are quieter and put out less oil vapor than our Robinair 2 stage.

Zero experience with a Harbor Freight pump, but as SDA notes, in that price range Harbor Freight will be hard to beat and apparently stand behind their products.

Indeed...

Especially if you pay just 20$ extra bucks for their free 2 year free replacement warranty...

If Anything goes wrong with it, even due to consumer negligence....

You bring your broken pump in, you get A brand new pump in the box, no questions asked.

(but don't disclose what you are using it for obviously)

Just say..
” This is broken”

At the 2 year mark, I'm going to get a new one..lol

Pump maintenance is essential, particularly if you run the pump continually.

As I've learned from brother FD...

The crankcase will be jeopardized by contaminated pump oil.

Lightweight terpenes and solvent will turn the oil ” milky” and effect performance.

I recommend Black Gold brand pump oil, cheap online.

Again, good luck...

Oh, just a forewarning...

Making oil..
Just about as addictive as consuming in my humble opinion.

Don't get a crap pump.

I have just gone through 3, for experiments. None would pull below 25 inches.

I took my big 2.5 hp compressor and rigged the intake. Piston will not do it. I had one those $17 air venturi kind, it pulled better than the compressor.

Then I thought OK. I will get a real refrigerant pump, for $75. Nope.

There are 3 features and it cost $200.

- 1/2 hp
- 6 CFM
- rotary vane, positive displacement pump works.

and for that you get 3 more main features.
- 50 micron purge rating for fast evacuation
- 2 stages. One is isolated from the other
- gas ballast, where a small amount of ambient air is allow into the second stage to warm it. The gas molecules that get there have very little energy left to move out of the system. Gas ballast helps that along.

For $150, you can get single stage 6 cfm @ 1/3 hp, but for me I just went with this bigger one and skipped a potential return of merchandise.


CPS VP6D 6 CFM 2 Stage Vacuum Pump
Automotive
Sold by eToolDirect
Condition: New $199.99

Deep Vacuum

That is the search term. Vacuum and Deep Vacuum are two different things.

Micron gauge

That is a gauge that can measure microns of mercury pressure. They are solid state devices and not cheap. I managed to find a used JB Industries SuperNova on ebay for $120. My "vacuum" gauge is so leaky it can't hold under 25 inches either.

System leaks

It turns out that there are only two materials that can hold deep (or hard) vacuum.
Soft copper brazed line or flex metal hose (expensive)

In deep vacuum, all synthetic hoses will permeate, meaning they out gas and supply pressure from that outgassing. You can never get down to hard vacuum.

Control Temp and Pressure

That is the heart of extraction. So you can consult charts to make sure.

I don't always need deep vacuum. But, I do when I set up the extractor. It has to be drawn down tight for several reasons. No oxygen (fire) or water (butane contaminate) are the main ones.

Testing for gains (leaks) is another.

And when I do recovery of the transport solvent, I don't want to be struggling with pressure control. So I want a powerful pump with some overhead power, to maintain a moderate vacuum thru the column.

You can see there is a sweet spot there at about 1 pound of pressure. The ethanol can boil at room temp but it is still too cool to boil water.

Oh, and good to say, but I have a sneaky suspicion Fadedawg already knows......

Much goodness here. (chortle, snort, he, he he)

http://skunkpharmresearch.com