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Sight Glass

That is it , a glass portal to see what is flowing in the pipe .

Shot taken for Saturday Self Challenge 28/05/2022 -- Glass .

This is in fact a sight glass seen through the front panel of a dry cleaning machine ( the hole is about 2 - 2 1/2 inches diameter ) , it allows the operator to monitor the flow of solvent and it's condition as it flows from one of the tanks and into the drum to clean the clothes/household items etc . There are usually 2 tanks , one is the working tank and the other is the pure solvent tank where the freshly distilled solvent from the still is condensed and flows into .

Did you know the solvent is used over and over again for cleaning , it is filtered near constantly and regularly it is also dumped to the still where it boils to vapour, passes through the condenser before going into the clean tank . What is left in the still is all the muck and grunge from the cleaning plus remains of the detergents added and it is a smelly black gooey substance from runny to solid matter and is a right mess to rake out on a regular basis . As a legal requirement each litre of solvent put into the machine is expected to clean at least 80 kilos dry weight of clothes/curtains etc !!

One important reason to keep a watch on the solvent passing the sight glass is to ensure the slovent remains clear and with no colour , if it goes red =PANIC= , that means there has been a colour bleed (red is the most often bleed you see ) . Cheap import garments and high price so called designer wear are most often the culprits !! So do not ignore the sight glass - you can relax once the machine goes into the dry cycle !!

I have also noted the inside of the sight glass has a lot of tiny dots of condensation on the inside - the machine had been turned on but not warmed up at this stage . I was surprised as I did not notice this until I put the shot onto the computer - the shot was a very quick couple of snaps hand held under fluorescent lighting .

You can see in the first comment box the machine frontage and the sight glass sitting top left of the loading door .

 

After that then Iron Maiden did a track just for this occasion with " These Colours Don't Run " -----------

 

youtu.be/G4U1WUuE9pA

 

Just thought , this shot seems to remind me of HAL 9000

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Uploaded on May 26, 2022
Taken on May 24, 2022