just bought an OC20 from a guy at work.

he used it a couple of times, decided WVO wasn't for him.

unfortunately, he never cleaned it, it is all stuck together, looks like like i pulled it out of a restaurant barrel. even the outside is gooey.

i have read posts here about cleaning, but for this mess, can i just soak the whole thing in a bucket of waterless hand cleaner, like GOOP? or DAWN dish soap?

Pretty much any soap will do with hot water.

quote:

Originally posted by 95ram:
he used it a couple of times, decided WVO wasn't for him.

I always wonder what the drop out rate is for people that try WVO, especially when faced with collecting oil in very cold conditions.

quote:

can i just soak the whole thing in a bucket of waterless hand cleaner, like GOOP? or DAWN dish soap?

I'd use dawn of something similar, in very hot water. If it is sticky, like oil was starting to polymerize, you might what to follow up with a soak in turpentine.

Sam

quote:

Originally posted by Sam Crowe:

quote:

Originally posted by 95ram:
he used it a couple of times, decided WVO wasn't for him.

I always wonder what the drop out rate is for people that try WVO, especially when faced with collecting oil in very cold conditions.
Sam

I picked up one place last week and one this week because the other guys just walked away.

I swear by "Awsome" available at Dollar General and The Dollar Store for yes you guessed it one Dollar.

If you have access to glycerine or bio. Put the disassembled CF pieces (not the gaskets) in a big stainless pot and fill it with glyc or bio, heat it up to 200 F and let it soak overnight, then use a tooth brush and hot soapy water for final cleanup.

quote:

Originally posted by 95ram:
just bought an OC20 from a guy at work.

he used it a couple of times, decided WVO wasn't for him.

unfortunately, he never cleaned it, it is all stuck together, looks like like i pulled it out of a restaurant barrel. even the outside is gooey.

i have read posts here about cleaning, but for this mess, can i just soak the whole thing in a bucket of waterless hand cleaner, like GOOP? or DAWN dish soap?

i would not say it was starting to polymerize, it just looks like what i would expect it to look like, if i dropped it in a drum at the restaurant and didnt clean it.
sticky.
i had to use a fair amount of force to unscrew the nut holding the cover on, even more force on the nut holding the rotor on, then almost needed to pry the rotor off.
like trying to dissemble something you just glued together.
when i was done, my hands were dirtier then when i collect WVO.
i think the WVO had just about dried.

i dont have access to glycerin or bio

i will try soaking it in hot water and dawn, or the GOOP.

quote:

Originally posted by 95ram:
even more force on the nut holding the rotor on, then almost needed to pry the rotor off.

I use a rubber hammer to tap it out from the center, I'd be careful prying it you certainly don't want to bend anything or damage the o-ring.

quote:

i think the WVO had just about dried.

Dried WVO would equal polymerize, I'd guess the particle and other contents (water) would have dried. Mine doesn't just fall apart, sometimes I can pop it with the heel of my hand, most often it is with the rubber hammer.

After you soak it, you should hit both sides of the jets with a strong stream of WD-40 to be sure there are not any particles left in.

Also, before you put the rotor back on the base stem you should put the cover on and pump some oil through to be sure it would get to the rotor. As bad as your unit sounds you might have a plug in the base or the little pressure regulator be plugged. That regulator is accessed through the bolt in the base.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Sam

dont worry, i didnt pry it. im not that mechanically challenged. i just meant , if it wasnt an expensive, precision made, device that spins really fast and therefore a pry bar touching it would have been a very bad idea, i would have pried it open.
it was that stuck.

i wont know if it works for awhile, no pump, yet.
i was hoping to get a great deal on an Oberdorfer 991N gear pump close coupled to a 1/3hp 1725rpm motor on ebay for $23.00, like sun wizard.
looks like im going to have to buy new, for a few hundred.

when i do get it running, can i assume i should clean it after every use? everyone seems to think i might have a problem, so is letting WVO dry in it/on it a very bad thing?

quote:

Originally posted by 95ram:
when i do get it running, can i assume i should clean it after every use? everyone seems to think i might have a problem, so is letting WVO dry in it/on it a very bad thing?

I clean at least twice. But there are variables, like how clean your oil is to begin with, how much oil in a batch, how to know how clean it is unless you've at least cleaned it once and restarted on a clean rotor to be able to look at what has accumulated over a period of time.

Before I go further, let me state up front...I'm anal, I like clean oil and it has paid off for me. Some 90%+ of all vehicles problems are a result of using dirty oil according to one vehicle conversion kit maker who was considering dropping their warranty for problems attributed to dirty oil.

I changed my vegoil filter in October, not because I needed to change it as much as I didn't want to have to do it when winter got serious. It had 18,000 miles on it and it was still clean.

Having said all that, here is what I'd do if I was using an OC-20 on 40 gallons of oil. I'd run it for 4-6 hours, before the first cleaning, which will get the bulk of the goop. Then I'd run it another 16-20, clean again, and then another 24 on top of that. I currently use two OC-50's on 80 gallons so I've cut the time I run the CF in half, in theory. In practice I run them for 24 hours or so, then cut the heat and let the CF's continue as the oil cools off.

I have a small amount of polymerized oil on the outside bell cover from splatters over time. I've never seen oil drying on anything on the inside of the cover. On average I run the CF's every two weeks, most of the time they sit clean, but I have left them dirty a couple times and never noticed any polymerization, however they are harder to clean, especially the goop dried on the rotor's o-ring.

Sam

it is soaking in the bucket of hot water and hand cleaner now.

just wondering if i should have dissembled it further.

according to dieselcraft's exploded view,

http://www.dieselcraft.com/images/OC20%20assembly.jpg

i removed the cover, left cover nut attached.
rotor nut,
rotor cover,i dont have the optional paper liner,
the flying saucer looking thing that does not have a name,
rubber ring,
rotor body,
rubber ring,
housing,
plug from housing,
pressure gauge,
and the universal mount.

everything, except the gauge and rubber rings, went into the bucket to soak.

tomorrow i will hand clean it.
think i am all set with cleaning? or should i take more of it apart?

also, although they call it a plug, i can tell it is not. i assume that is the check valve? isnt that the part others have had a problem with getting it back together?
nothing else came out with it. are there parts inside that are stuck and will fall out into the bucket while soaking that i should look for?

Yep. as soon as you can get it apart strip it down as far as it will go and detail clean everything, if the oil is badly polymerised you may need to clean it in laquer thinner or MEK.

soaking overnight in hot water and hand cleaner, then scrubbing it with hand cleaner, worked. it is no longer sticky and i can put it together and take it apart without it getting stuck.

now if i can just find a pump to hook it to, i can see if it works.

thanks everyone.

I have a OC-50 for WVO and it is great, I am still looking for a good prefilter, getting tired of using barrel toppers, anyone have experience or thoughts on either of these 100 micron filters:
http://www.titanmotorsports.com/fuelfilters.html

quote:

Originally posted by Ferraz:
I have a OC-50 for WVO and it is great, I am still looking for a good prefilter, getting tired of using barrel toppers, anyone have experience or thoughts on either of these 100 micron filters:
http://www.titanmotorsports.com/fuelfilters.html

I use 100 micron bag filters from McMaster Carr.

anyone know if the Oberdorfer 991R gear pump can be used? it is the same as the 991N, except it has a built in relief valve.
just wondering if i am better off with the 991N, and a separate relief valve.
here is what Oberdorfer has to say about the relief valve.

"... The relief valve is
also available as part of the pump itself (R-model pumps). However, built-in relief
valves are only good for intermittent service. If used continuously, the pump will overheat.
A built-in relief valve is strictly a safety device against overpressure. It will not
work successfully as a pressure or flow control device. For this purpose a separate
relief valve in the pressure line must be used."

The 991R will work BUT DO NOT rely on the pump bypass to be your only means of adjusting pressure.

We highly recomment the supplied manual bypass as well.

Thanks

John

quote:

Originally posted by Mr Dieselcraft:
The 991R will work BUT DO NOT rely on the pump bypass to be your only means of adjusting pressure.

We highly recomment the supplied manual bypass as well.

That is how my setup is, (built in pump relief valve and a manual bypass before the centrifuge) it would be hard adjust the pressure by tighening the relief valve bolt on the pump, but I guess it could be done.

Hope you are doing well John, good to see you post. My twin OC-50s are working great.

Sam
Wyoming

thanks guys.

mr. dieselcraft, i bought my OC20 used, no relief valve.

i meant i was going to add a relief valve, as is discussed in this thread. i was just wondering if the relief valve on the pump would be a problem, i was not looking to use it in place of the recommended relief valve.

but, thanks for your warning. you can never have enough safety warnings.

as a prefilter you could use and airfilter from a semi, nice and big, set it inside a 5 gallon pail without a lid, pump into the middle, and a drain somewhere in the pail to go into the drum or whereever, works good. filter last a long time too, if you go to a fleetshop you could pick up some used ones that are like half done for air, but will still prefilter a lot of oil for a cntrifuge, and when done, let them drain till dry and return to where they would have gone before you "reused" them.