Water Connection Design

[Patio29Dadio]

I am in the middle of designing my plumbing pipe runs to two stills both with a dephlegmator and condenser.   Eventually I will be adding a closed loop 3-tank system where I save the hot water from a run, use some of it for cleaning let it cool overnight, pump it to the holding tank in the morning where it will be pumped through a chiller at night to the insulated cold water tank for consistent 60 degree F chilling water for the next day operation.    But for now I am just imputing city water (which is pretty close to 60 degrees most of the year) and saving the output to a hot water tank for cleaning, and sending some through a UV/filter/RO/variable-TDS system for mash and/or proofing water... and sending the excess down the drain.

My question is related to the input runs to the pre-condenser and primary condenser.   Option #1 is to plumb input water to both and each with a ball valve (no automated controls yet).   Option #2 is to take the output water from the condenser to the input of the pre-condenser with a 3-way valve to control and divert the input to the pre-condenser flowing from the condenser output.   I hear from some that option #2 is preferable as too cold water into the pre-condenser results in more difficult control.  But my thinking is that with our water temp pretty consistent, a direct and separate water line to the pre-condenser is preferred as the condenser output water temp will be yet another variable to deal with.

Any thoughts and advice will be welcome here.

[crazyhorse67]

Hey! Just saw your post and I am wondering what you ended up doing?. I too am trying to figure this one out.