What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

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AllenWallace
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What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

Post by AllenWallace »

I got a Huntington CT-103 vacuum device. It was positioned between an oil diffusion pump and the rough pump. Can anyone tell me what this is? I'm assuming it prevents back streaming of oil from the rough pump.
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Carl Willis
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Re: What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

Post by Carl Willis »

Hi Allen,

Looks to me like a standard foreline trap, probably containing a non-replaceable copper wool filter for backstreaming hydrocarbon vapors as you surmised.

-Carl
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John Futter
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Re: What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

Post by John Futter »

Allen
Carl is right
To clean is easy
the best solvent methylene chloride (Di-Chloro-Methane) or its cousin Di- chloro-ethane
both of these are non flammable in the normal sense and are extremely good degreasers.
first weigh your trap then soak wash it in the above until the rinse is clear.
Dry thoroughly in an oven and reweigh, record this weight on the outside of the trap in pencil or a label-- then use
To see when another cleaning is in order reweigh.

This is how I clean the oil out of the regenerators on my liquid nitrogen machines --Philips the makers were quite clever and the original weight is stamped on each one.

If you can not get either of the above solvents then acetone will do but be very careful when drying in regards to fire when drying.
dbrown
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Re: What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

Post by dbrown »

Consider heating the thing outside - the smell of trace oil is not good (did an old one in a hood once and even then, the smell was bad.) Also, never know what is in it (toxic trace metals?), so outside heating would be a safer bet. My $ 0.019314159
Linda Haile
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Re: What is this? A oil trap? baffle?

Post by Linda Haile »

As this one come from a diff. pump system it was almost certainly used to prevent backstreaming of roughing/backing pump oil into the diff. pump and contaminating the diff. pump oil.

They are also used between turbo pumps and roughing pumps on some deposition systems, particularly atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems, but in this case they are primarily to prevent the process chemicals from contaminating the roughing pump oil.
These are much more likely to be contaminated with nasty substances and appropriate precautions should be taken.

If in doubt as to the origin of a second hand trap, assume the worst.
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