Steinar, I think it is a great idea. Also include driving style, comments etc. I'll post my info to it.

I suggest you start a new thread (we all know this one is plenty long) and post a link to it in this thread.

Two positive reactions already, good! :-)
I can start a new tread about it and from there I can make a report and sort it from the make of car?

But is it possible to build a table display in this program/forum? I guess it has to be easily seen directly on the page, instead of opening an another program?
Name new tread: Experience with WVO?
Other suggestions?

Hope many will share their experiences, which will be an inspiration to newcomers....

quote:

Originally posted by steinar:

But is it possible to build a table display in this program/forum? I guess it has to be easily seen directly on the page, instead of opening an another program?
....

I do not believe that it is possible to create a spreadsheet or chart on this forum. It IS however possible to make a spreadsheet elsewhere and then post an image of it in a discussion on this forum.

But this is getting far off topic ... so possibly we should create a seperate discussion or gather those that are interested for a private dsicussion on how to accomplish this.

I am willing to lend what help I can if you are willing (as it appears you are) to head the project.

Here are some pics of my rig. It works perfect and Ive put probably a 150 gallons thru. Its on a platform with coasters so I can roll it around the garage and outside to my car when refueling. As you can see its an exact copy of sunwizards and after following all the info I havent had to change anything. works great...Thanks

cent1.JPG (402 Kb, 192 downloads)

Another pic!

cent2.JPG (436 Kb, 173 downloads)

Nice looking rig. I like the cart idea.

quote:

Originally posted by jeepin, moggin Jessup (coachgeo):
Yeah post them right in here so it goes into the archives. Those free sites collapse after while and leave the archived threads useless without the pics.

So is this what happened to my photos, they are gone, yet they are still at photobucket?

quote:

Originally posted by steinar:
Hi Sam, no I haven't sold it, I became a dealer of them for Sweden, Norway and Denmark. So now, very slowly, people are looking into this way of life here also, but many of them are skeptical to it as I was :-)
Together with a new WVO friend, we plan to sell stuff needed and maybe help other converting their cars.

Great to hear Steinar, hope your business does very well.

I finally got my CF up and running, seems to work great but I have one question. The output from the CF has air in it. Not frothy or foamy but a significant amount of tiny air bubbles. I assume I have a leak on the suction side somewhere, but I can't seem to find it. Will this affect the effectiveness of the CF?

The air is from being sprayed through the jets. It doesn't affect how it works.

Sun or others,
In constructing my 'system', I put the pipe/heating element assembly on the suction side of the pump to reduce the number of possibly failure locations on the high pressure side of the pump. It works great, and no need to track down washers or deal with leaking elements. Was there a specific reason that you put the heater on the pressure side?

Yes several reasons. All of the pumps we use will wear out much quicker at hotter temps. Many pumps aren't even rated for those temps and could fail quickly. Its 20-30F hotter after my heat elements.

Much of the heat provided is lost to the air and the pump and motor metal if before the pump. I want max. heat right before the CF.

I have no leaking problems and the 2 washers were about 10 cents each.

quote:

Yes several reasons. All of the pumps we use will wear out much quicker at hotter temps. Many pumps aren't even rated for those temps and could fail quickly. Its 20-30F hotter after my heat elements.

Much of the heat provided is lost to the air and the pump and motor metal if before the pump. I want max. heat right before the CF.

My McMaster-Carr pump 4271K1 was rated for 210F, which I stay under. Much of the time my thermostats have the elements off maintaining 160F. I am using a HW heater, and put the foam wrap on much of my plumbing to conserve heat, so the temp doesn't change much through the system. I would figure that power steering pumps are good for 160F as well.

I have two pumps that were used for restaurant fryer filtering these are good for 350 degrees.

I used a waterheater tank (50 gallons) and hooked the drain on the bottom to the pump. My dieselcraft came with the 3/8 inch fittings that go to the bypass ball valve. Problem is my motor overheats and shuts off. I believe it is due to backpressure from the 3/8 inch supply line. A friend suggested lowering the voltage to the pump. I was thinking of changing the size of the supply to the bypass ball valve.

But I am not sure either one will work. Both of my pumps are really heavy duty but niether of them works for this application. I have a picture but I can not make it smaller in size, and it is very hard to look at.

I used Jb weld quick to seal my elements and It worked great!

How well do you all clean your centrifuges each time. Do you take them completly apart and clean every nook and cranny each time or do you simply wipe out the rotor and save the intensive cleaning for when it won't be used for a while?

Maddasher,

Sun, you might have some info on this as well.

I have to wonder if you have had the same type of problem I have experienced a couple times to the point I am tearing my complete CF system apart and adding a bunch of safety aspects to it. Forget Simple. I'm over doing it on Safety now.

When you loose your pump (oil flow), how do your heating elements shut off?

I have melted the plastic ends of two elements a little due to restricted oil flow until last week and was sure I had fixed it. I was working in the yard while the CF was running but I'm guessing I lost oil flow over the heaters and they must have gotten extremely hot. When I checked on it, I found the circuit breaker tripped, GFCI outlet tripped and smoke everywhere. Now I have no idea how the GFCI and circuit breaker tripped at the same time but it happened. I had thought it was convenient to mount the 1" pipe with the two heating elements to a board using clamps and bolting the clamp through the board. Extremely charred wood next to the clamps has me believing there was a lot of heat with excessive visual effects coming from the board. I'm actually glad the circuit breaker tripped because hard telling how I would have reacted.

My changes include an oil pressure switch running in series to a snap disc thermostat that controls a "contactor" low voltage to high voltage relay which will control the 120V to the heaters so just in case I either exceed the set temp or loose oil pressure, the heaters shut off. For under $80.00 in parts, small price to pay for safety. I had thought I was being safe but am re-evaluating EVERYTHING I am doing. Once I have my CF Heaters working how I want them to, I'll post a list of parts and wiring in anyone is interested.

Just interested to know how others are monitoring their heating element temperatures to shut them down incase of an oil flow problem.

Thanks.
Steve

quote:

Originally posted by Muleears:
How well do you all clean your centrifuges each time. Do you take them completly apart and clean every nook and cranny each time or do you simply wipe out the rotor and save the intensive cleaning for when it won't be used for a while?

On the large industrial centrifuges many of my clients use we us a thin disposable liner. I am sure that this could be adapted to these smaller centrifugal filters. It makes cleaning amuch simpler/faster procedure. Open the cenrifuge. Slip a thin blade behind the liner and just pull it out along with all the accumulated gunk. Throw it all away. Slip in a new liner and close up the centrifuge. Done.

quote:

Originally posted by SteveESP52:
When you loose your pump (oil flow), how do your heating elements shut off?

I have never lost flow. On mine if there is any restriction like a CF jet gets clogged, then the pressure relief valve starts to flow. How are you losing flow?

I think a snap disk thermostat is the best safety.

Phew this thread's has got to be the longest on this forum!!! 106 pages so far!!!

After buying the Dieselcraft CF20 more than a year ago, I am finally putting my system together. Got a quick question: The output port on the bottom has 4 mounting holes that look like it has threads in it. What size thread is it? I assume it's metric. I tried 10 x 1 (or was it 1.25?) and 10 x 1.5 bolts and neither would fit. A closer inspection of the holes reveal the threads are not well formed. It looks like the holes were too large for the tap or the wrong tap was used so there is not much thread there. I had another problem which I noticed right after I bought this CF where the input adapter fitting had no threads in it (1/4 NPT). That was resolved after I sent a pic of the fitting to John and he sent me another fitting. But this problem with the output port threads I just noticed yesterday. Not a deal breaker because I may not even mount an adapter for a 3 way ball valve to capture the output at shutdown and may just put a bucket under the CF to capture before shut down. I just hope there are no other issues with this CF.

Anyway, my system is a little different than what most here have done and I hope it will work well. I am using an open top 55 gal metal drum and two 4800 W 240V elements in 1" pipe that are INSIDE the drum submerged in the oil. The idea is to conserve energy and get all the heat into the oil. All plumbing is black iron except for the stainless braided hose from pump to pipe. Having everything in the drum makes it easier to store and move. The heating elements will be controlled by a PID controller and a SSR. There will be a 150 psi gauge and pressure relief valve at the input to the CF. I will also have an adjustable pressure switch to shut down the motor and turn off the heaters if an over pressure condition exists. A 200 F snap disc will also be incorported to provide safety shutoff to the heaters. The pump and motor will sit on top of the drum. I will build a metal stand on wheels so that I can heat the drum with a veg oil fired stove. I'll post some pics as the project progresses.