flask warmer

[stanfield]

I have a 5 liter distillation apparatus but I have some problem to get a relatively "cheap" flask heater (with thermostat...). In france, the minimum price is 460 €. So, anyone know a good source for flask warmer ? (I also did a search on google but I only found piece of shit).

thanx !

[DBSP]

How did you heat the old flask?
How about an oil bath with the heat source equiped with a powereful dimmer.

[wantsomfet]

Ebay is a nice source for used laborytory equipment.
Or use an oil/sand bath (ordinary heat plate) with a dimmer & thermometer attached, like DBSP suggested.

[BrAiNFeVeR]

How about a regular frying pan ?
It has the thermostat all implemented !! (temperatures up to 190°C)
A cheap model won't cost you more then 100€ I think ...

[stanfield]

I usually use gas stove but I do all my distillation outside (nitric acid, huh !) and it's hard to keep the flame because of the wind... :mad:

[mongo blongo]

I use an inverted iron. I have also calibrated it. It works fine for distilling nitric acid and it's cheap. :)

[stanfield]

muhahahaha ! funny ! I never though this idea ! but it's not really stable no ?

[megalomania]

Woah, a 5-L flask? All the pro heating mantles for something that size will cost you a small fortune, even used. I think your best bet is an oil bath on a hotplate. Maybe you could invest in a frydaddy frier, like a top of the line stainless steel one for $60 that matches my motif and cooks all my fries and wings :) One of those is probably not big enough to fit the flask though. A cheap hotplate does not have much in the way of temperature selectivity, but you can keep a thermometer in the oil. You can buy a galvinized bucket, or get one of those cheap gigantic boiler pots from Wal-Mart for feeding an army of inlaws. You could also buy one of those turkey frier kits that includes a propane connection for its own flame heat. Those can be found anywhere now for $50-100 depending on how big a one you get.

[stanfield]

yes, 5 Liter is good, I can have 1000 mL of nitric acid in one time but heating is a big problem, as big as the boiling flask ! :)

see ya !

[mongo blongo]

Stanfield- Yes it is stable. I forgot to mention that I made a kind of stand out of wood which makes it VERY secure in the inverted position. It works very well. :)