Terry;
If your furnace is like ours, the water jacket is just a
sheet metal formed tube that is slipped over the vacuum body and
welded on externally. I believe that Norcal makes the furnace body
for Ken Heine. There is no sign of a deeply penetrating weld on the
interior of our Heine furnace. I don't see a reason not to try
rewelding the cooling jacket if it is leaking. I belive that the
metal of the cooling jacket is thinner than that of the furnace body,
so I wouldn't expect that a leak through to the interior will develop.
What are you using for cooling fluid? We previously made the
mistake of using distilled water in our recirculating chiller, which
caused dissolution and damage to a number of components, including a
leak into the interior of a turbo pump and damage to the heat
exchanger of the chiller. We are now using reverse osmosis water
with quat as an anti-algal agent, which seems to be working well.
Since your visit (am I right in the timing here?), we had
Norcal build us a new furnace body with oversize flanges containing
integral cooling channels. These were milled into the upper and
lower flanges, then stainless covers were welded on. This design has
eliminated long-term headaches that we have had with copper cooling
collars, and also seems to cool the furnace more effectively. We
also added a mounting flange to the side of the furnace that greatly
simplifies furnace support. We would be happy to send drawings of
this modified furnace can to you or anyone else who is interested.
I'm not sure of the price from Norcal, but I think it was close to
$US1600.
Bill
>We have a Modifications Ltd. furnace, purchased about 3.5 years ago, on our
>40Ar/39Ar extraction line. The weld at the top of the water jacket has
>begun to leak a bit, so that the cooling water occassionally seeps onto the
>outside of the furnace. The concern is that this weld may also compromise
>the vacuum integrity of the furnace outer, allowing atmosphere and/or
>cooling water to enter the furnace outer area. Does anyone know how this
>top weld is constructed - is the cooling jacket simply welded onto the
>furnace body (thus the weld does not go through to the vacuum envelope), or
>does this top weld join water jacket, furnace body, and furnace top all
>together (thus allowing the possibility of a vacuum leak)? It is difficult
>to tell just looking at it externally. Thanks for any advice in advance.
>
>Terry Spell
>UNLV Geoscience
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William C. McIntosh
[log in to unmask]
Volcanologist/Geochronologist
New Mexico Geochronology Research Laboratory
N.M. Bureau of Geology
New Mexico Tech
801 Leroy Place
Socorro, New Mexico, 87801-4796, USA
505-835-5324 office; -5271 lab; -6333 Fax
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