What gear do you find absolutely vital to your extraction operations? What piece(s) of equipment wouldn’t you be able to live without?
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Three words: Acetone. Pump. Sprayer.
I have run units and wrestled with cleaning out pressure vessels that are large in size with only small openings, making it very difficult to properly get in there and clean the vessel out when its time for your regular cleanings. I see this all the time on consultations as well. Everyone has the same funny little jerry-rigged “Q-tip” made out of a pole with a bunch of rags tied on the end. We used that same lame “Q-tip” for ages, too.
We got tired of doing that, it’s a lot of manual labor, it doesn’t do a good job of getting it clean, and it’s still really hard to reach all the different angles properly. Once it picks up a little gunk, you’re just smearing it around, not washing it out.
No, we wanted something fast, easy, and thorough. So we got a pump sprayer designed specifically for acetone. Best $130 I ever spent. Acetone is a strong enough solvent to cut through any extract grime on the sides of the vessel, the narrow wand with an angled nozzle makes it really easy to get all the angles with a good spray, and our vessels have a drain at the bottom (basically like a sink drain) for the liquid outlet, so it all just washes out the bottom super easily.
We currently use Swissmex acetone pump sprayers. Googling those terms should find you results on the first page.
I’ll even add in an extra closely related tip with that: Hook up air compressor access in your extraction room so you can quickly and efficiently blow-dry your unit once you’re done. Saves you hours of mandatory wait times while the fumes dissipate.
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