Hello
I am new here. I come from an aerospace engineering background I joined because I am currently involved in designing a project with a friend. We have run into a little road block with a slight chemistry issue.
We are trying to design our own lighted bubbler tube. The idea is to make something like you see on the front of a juke box or in those bubble lights you see around Christmas time. They are closed, sealed, glass vessels with a light on the bottom that heats the liquid inside enough to make it boil. We want to use this idea as well. We thought of using a small air pump, but that means constantly refilling the tubes, and more noise then we want to put up with. Also a pump uses too much power for our end application.
After doing some research we found out that most juke boxes and bubble lights use methylene chloride (Dichloromethane) which boils at 40 °C. This is our first choice as well but here comes the road block. Doing some more research we found out that methylene chloride will probably melt the acrylic tubing we were going to use to hold it.
We have thought about using glass, but that greatly complicates the manufacturing of our design. Neither of us own the tools or have any experience working glass. At the moment we are currently looking into other clear plastics.
So my question is could someone recommend another liquid? We are looking for something clear, relatively safe, and with a boiling point between room temperature and 50 °C.
Or, could some one recommend a clear plastic that will stand up to methylene chloride?
Your help is greatly appreciated.
-Peter B