I found the perfect pump for this rig, its running a batch right now. Its a Oberdorfer 991N gear pump close coupled to a 1/3 hp motor, scored here on ebay for $23. It puts out slightly more pressure than 90psi, so a little is bypassing through my pressure relief valve. And its very quiet, just the sound of the motor, unlike what people are reporting for the Teel gear pumps.

I think a gear pump will last longer than the PS pump, and its more compact to use for my mobile holy grail version of this rig. With the cold <10 F weather we have had here, the vanes on my PS pump would stick so I couldn't use it. I considered heating the stuck PS pump with a propane torch, but never tried that. This gear pump starts up fine even with very thick, very cold VO.

This batch of VO was so dirty that it completely filled the rotor solid with brown & black particles after only 1 pass (about 3/4 cup of solids.)

You can find a very similar pump on ebay for $70 for a new one, add your own motor.

Sunwizard, I was bidding on that thing...and I forgot to go back close to the auction end. You got lucky!

quote:

Originally posted by B.K. Hosken:
Sunwizard, I was bidding on that thing...and I forgot to go back close to the auction end. You got lucky!

Thanks for forgetting!

Sun, good score on the pump and motor for $23! Wow!

The pump is bronze right? Isn't that a problem with WVO?

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SunWizard:
I found the perfect pump for this rig, its running a batch right now. Its a Oberdorfer 991N gear pump close coupled to a 1/3 hp motor, scored here on ebay for $23.

Nice catch. I too had watched this rig for several days but decided at the last minute not to bid on it as I was afraid of the high copper content in the bronze pump. According to Beatty's study wouldn't the copper, uncoated steel in the tank/plumbing, and high oil temp create a perfect catalyzing situation?
I already have an Oberdorfer 1000 pump (1/4"IO) coupled to a 1/3HP motor that I can use if it doesn't create a polymer incubator. Here http://www.oberdorferpumps.com/Spec_sheets/N991%20updated.pdf are the specs on your pump that you may find useful. Keep up the most excellent work. Lots of us are watching and chomping at the bit to get involved.

broken_mold
'86 Ford Tempo on B100- 15k mi and counting
'89 Jetta being converted to WVO/SVO
'81 Rabbit awaitning a new life

So long as you keep a bronze pump filled with oil, it shouldn't be a problem. You may want to spray some WD40 in it every once in a while or run some biodiesl through it to keep it from gumming up. I don't find a corrosion issue with copper/brass/bronze if the surfaces stay wetted with good oil.

A bit of leakage is common on these pumps so the outside of the pump may soon get a bit of a green tint but... who cares?

A while back I posted about using a 1/3hp drill press to drive a 1/4" rotary gear pump. The cheap "Harbor Freight style" drill press was so wimpy it wouldn't even turn over the pump at the higher rpms (5 speed). And at the slower speeds it wouldn't get anywhere near even 60psi. So... you might think twice on my 'great' idea about a cheap drill press to drive the pump. You get what you pay for.

Just a heads up for y'all.

Todd

My pump is only in contact with the VO for a few seconds as its pumped through it 4 times. I don't leave a tank full of VO in contact with it so I am not worried about it. I use bronze valves and fittings in various places, those are more contact areas, but not for long periods. I have never had any polymerization problems.

I bet most people are using at least some bronze valves in their filtering, and most pumps have some bronze in them. Look at some B100 processors, they often have at least 6 bronze ball valves, and B100 polymerizes the same yet we don't hear of much problems with it.

My storage tanks are all plastic, and thats where it matters.

The DieselCraft centrifuge DOES work great. I reconfigured my Teel pump with 1/2 tubing from the 1/4 inch ports on the pump, 1/2 tubing return and 1/4 inch to the DieselCraft. I have great control over the pressure and ran a lot of oil all day yesterday and into early this morning at constant 85 psi.

I did try a larger Teel pump (two sizes larger than the one discussed here), it was a mistake. I was thinking I'd have an all purpose pump but it is to powerful to narrow down to a 1/4 pipe. It might work well with two smaller DieselCrafts or one of the larger ones. I'm make a transfer pump out of it.

When I redue my design I'm going to fix it so I have one drain point that I can drain all the pipe and avoid having it jell in all the pipe and tubing in this cold weather.

But, the DieselCraft works as Sun first suggested.

Sam

Sam

Hi All,

I've been folowing this amazing thread for some time now and my hats off to Sunwizard for blazing a trail with this.
I got my rig plummed and running today. I plumbed this straight across the barrell, that is pipe in one side and centrifuge attached on the other.
I made my own muounting plate so as to have centrifuge a little further away from drum side. Easier access for cleaning etc. I let it run for about 40 minutes and was happy to report a good buildup of brown cake like pictured earlier here.
On startup there was a lot of noise but my oil temps were in the 60,s. As oil heated to around 120 the I could hear faster spinning and a whirring noise.
Every so often it would make a louder noise and then settle back to whirring. Is this normal? I put it down to crud building up inside cap, maybe not?
My pressure was 85-90 with some deviation as oil heated.
Alas after first cleaning my power steering pump wouldn't work. I got one off 86 neon and it worked great attached to 1/2 hp and 1' pulley.
I know someone had a problem with PS pump earlier so I guess this is not an option anymore.
Sunwizard, do you know if this will work for this application Pump
Hopefully I won't get sniped by fellow board members.

Anyways happy to have this plumbed and working, but now to sort the pump issue.
Again many thanks to all who didn't give up on this, pioneers of the green belt

Chris McL

I reported problems with a dodge neon power steering pump a few pages back. I still don't have the issue totally resolved. If I take the pump completely apart and clean every blade with kerosene, the pump works great but only until I turn it off. If I turn it off, even if only for a minute, it will not pump when I turn it back on. My oil is fairly clean so I don't think the pump is getting clogged with particles. Anybody using any other kinds of ps pumps with success? I hate to give up on the ps pump idea; they're plentiful and cheap!

Hi biomyride and welcome to the board. Good to hear of another who has the rig working.

That oberdorfer would probably work. Its a 1000R, very similar to the one I linked a few posts up.

The dodge neon pump must have vanes that get stuck easily. Do the vanes fit real tight in their slots? Does it have a screen or anything that could be getting clogged? My mitsubishi PS pump still works and I have run it for 6 - 40 gallon batches, but not when <30F, or the VO is too thick.

I have seen posts that some acura and honda PS pumps are gear pumps that would probably work.

Frymeister,
my exact same symtoms, well my pumps, although I don't feel like working either sometimes, but work much better when my vanes veins are cleaned of beer that is

Yeah I would love to keep the PS pump as it pumped nicely and had very little if any noise.
From some earlier posts here the gear pumps were somewhat noisy.

Sunwizard what is the noise level on that "Oberofer" pump you picked up. It may be somewhat quieter than the cast iron models since its Bronz I believe?
I may look into the Acura or Mitsubshi since Sunwizard had good luck with his.

On final polish filtering has anyone used this filter Stainless steel filter This could be adapted to head butmay not filter enough for my car.


Also I was considering the "Frantz" filters to 0.01 micron. Filter cartridges are 500 ply toilet roll.
Frantz Toilet roll filter.

I hope i don't get screamed at for posting here, I think its relevant since the centrifuge gets us down to 10 micron we need final polishing resusable. (Toilet paper and washable stainless mesh)

Chris

quote:

Originally posted by biomyride:
Also I was considering the "Frantz" filters to 0.01 micron. Filter cartridges are 500 ply toilet roll.
Frantz Toilet roll filter.
(Toilet paper and washable stainless mesh)

Chris

I've heard about these toilet paper filters, but have never seen one. Since not all toilet paper is equal, how can you know the best roll for the filter?

Sam

As far as the gear noise goes, has anyone put padding around the non-drive side of the pump? Insulate the noise a little?

I got all my parts, motor, pump, CF, and etc. and I went to Lowe's to get all the fittings. Are others using flexibel rubber hoses, or hard brass plumbing? I bought all brass hard lines, nipples, elbows, tees, not sure if it will fit all together but I will give it a try. I am thinking of mounting it to a 3/4" plywood piece, to dampen vibrations a little.

quote:

Originally posted by biomyride:
Sunwizard what is the noise level on that "Oberofer" pump you picked up.

Its very quiet, about as quiet as the motor.

quote:

On final polish filtering has anyone used this filter Stainless steel filter

That would be of no use since it filters to 10 microns.

quote:

Also I was considering the "Frantz" filters to 0.01 micron. Filter cartridges are 500 ply toilet roll.
Frantz Toilet roll filter.

The reports I have seen on the TP filters say they don't work very well on VO, and they are not 0.01 micron. More like 10 micron 1 pass, and maybe 2 micron multiple pass. The problem is they develop channels in them which let through almost everything. And they have a very low flow rate, like 1/2 gpm. Do a search here on TP filter or frantz and you get lots of hits.

Are y'all driving the 1/4" rotary gear pumps (Teel or Oberdorfer) with a 1/3hp electric motor direct coupled at 1725rpm or slowing it down a bit?

Todd

I found a 1/2HP GE motor at a garage sale for $5 and it will be driving a Sherwood gear pump with a direct drive Lovejoy coupler at 1725RPM.

From above:

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:
Its a Oberdorfer 991N gear pump close coupled to a 1/3 hp motor...1725 rpm

quote:

Originally posted by Todd T:
Are y'all driving the 1/4" rotary gear pumps (Teel or Oberdorfer) with a 1/3hp electric motor direct coupled at 1725rpm or slowing it down a bit?

Todd

I have the Teel 1P825 gear pump with a 1/2 hp motor direct coupled at 1725 rpm. The output from the pump hits a tee with a pressure gauge, then a tee that splits the flow between 1/4 inch ID tubing to the CF and 1/2 ID tubing bypass return to the barrel. I use the bypass valve to regulate the pressure and a pressure relief valve prior to the CF as a safety measure. I've yet to have any oil released by the pressure relief valve.

So, I start the motor with both the valve to the DieselCraft CF and the bypass wide open then I very slowly close the bypass valve to bring the pressure up to 85 psi. That's all there is too it and it run with little change in the pressure for hours.

The Teel pump must be much louder than others, but it isn't a problem for me, with the door between the garage and the house shut, I can barely hear it at all from inside my house, and can't hear it at all from outside.

I've bought 3 teel pumps from Mynex on Ebay and have had very good service, also the pumps are nicely packed for shipping, (which is more than I can say about the first motor I got off Ebay).

Sam

I have been looking for the 1/2" pressure relief valve at lowes but i couldn't find one. i really appreciate if you could share the item number/model number.

I couldn't order the pressure relief valve at grainger because i don't have business a/c!