Those <$200 inverters won't last very long running a big continous load like this. An inverter that will last like Xantrex (formerly Trace) will cost about $1000. I have been running my entire house on one for the last 9 years. And I have sold solar PV systems with inverters for 20 years.

AC motors are mostly brushless, which is one of their big advantages. That doesn't affect their ability to run on an inverter.

Nearly all motors work fine on my 2400 watt inverter which can surge to 7000 watts. Some electronic variable speed controlled motors are the only ones that don't work. The main reason some motors won't work on some inverters is their starting surge, which can be 4x their rated amps. This makes them exceed the rating of the inverters. For example, a 1/3hp motor that draws 6 amps, can draw 24 on startup, which is 2880watts, which can ruin a cheap inverter or blow a fuse.

quote:

Originally posted by SunWizard:...I have sold solar PV systems with inverters for 20 years.

ahhhhhhh.. so your not a descendant of an Aztec god or something. Wondered what your username Sunwizard came from.

Remind me to hit you up when its time to put solar onto my Unimog Camper.

Sun, I'm also trying to decide how to power my 5 amp acme CF while mobile. Besides the large inverter, there is also the problem of amp-hour battery capacity. I figured I'd need at least 220 amp-hrs minimum, to run 2 hrs of CF- without draining them below 50 per cent. Thats probably 2 trojan t-105's. I'm considering a Honda EU2000 so I could run two CF's and possibly a bucket heater first.Mike

You got it, the drain on the batteries is the problem with inverters. To run one for 4 hours you need a large bank (too heavy for on the road), or you need the engine running at high rpms with the largest alternator you can get, and large cables from the battery to the inverter.

The Honda eu2000i is a great generator and I think a better way to go. Very quiet, fuel efficient, light weight, and long life. Its what I use to run my mobile rig and everything else in my camper when needed. Its enough to run 1 CF pump and my 1125 watt heater combined, but probably not enough to run 2 CFs + heater.

I have a 150 watt inverter in the camper to run the small stuff.

In my setup I want to use coolant heat to heat my oil using a copper loop so I don’t have to run electric my electric heater. It will be easy to do, considering that my filter is mounted behind my driver’s seat and I would only have to drill a couple holes through the box and cab to bypass my coolant. I don’t want to run a generator or buy one. Running one would make more pollution then my truck, which defeats the whole purpose of why I got into this. So now I am stuck between this http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-VECTOR-MAXX-SST-3000-WATT-DC-AC...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
and this
http://www.amazon.com/1800RPM-DC-Leeson-Electric-Motor/...id=1180986745&sr=1-7

Another question does the inverter throw away power? Will there be more of a draw using my already existing 1/3 AC motor with inverted power, from an inverter like the one listed above, or does the 1/3 DC motor, like the one listed above, use more power? Sorry if this was what you were trying to explain Sun.

Lastly if all else fails I could make a bracket and hook my gear pump directly up to my drive belt a drive belt on my truck, and all I would have to do is run some hose from under my truck, and to my rig and back vo-la, no motor, inverter, generator, no problems, it would only cost me some hose.

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/2001011761/p/61
Pic 3, my gear pump

quote:

Originally posted by Edouble:
Has anyone found the perfect low cost gear pump set up yet? I need a closed coupled pump and motor for under $150.00

Ive searched and read most of this post. Thanks for all the good ideas and info.

quote:

I have three extra Oberdorfer 991 set ups should someone want one. They are perfect (according to Pete at Oberdorfer) for the DC 50 -> 90 PSI and 1.8 GPM. They are brand new and close coupled to .5 hp 110V motors. Here is a link that might help: http://www.pumpagents.com/OberdorferPumps/N991N-F51.html

I am selling them at no profit as a way of saying thanks to all of you who have helped me through this site. I bought the new pumps for $75 delivered, the coupling for $80 delivered, and the motor for $65 delivered, so the total would be $220. (I hope that it was o.k. to make this post as I am not trying to make money. I apologize if I did the wrong thing here.)

Originally posted by SunWizard:

quote:

Originally posted by doawaywithme:
is the centrifuge bracket from dieselcraft useful in a mobile rig?

Yes its threaded so its easy to thread into a 3 way valve, then into the tank. This is the main difference on my mobile rig from the home rig pics you see all through this thread.

Sun,

I want to clarify the three way valve. Is it threaded to the bottom of the bracket and then at shut off you quickly divert the waste in the CF to another bucket so that it does not contaminate the clean oil? Do you have a link to the valve so I can buy one?

My thanks again to all.

quote:

Originally posted by SteveBondy:
Another question does the inverter throw away power? Will there be more of a draw using my already existing 1/3 AC motor with inverted power, from an inverter like the one listed above, or does the 1/3 DC motor, like the one listed above, use more power?

Yes the inverter wastes power, between 10-50% is wasted depending on the inverter, cheaper ones are less efficient.

Direct drive on the engine is the most efficient and cheapest option (except in my case where I already had the generator so my mobile version cost about $30 extra), but is harder to hook up.

A FPHE in line before the CF would heat the VO much quicker than a copper loop which could take a long time to get a large tank of VO to 160F. Also exposure to large amounts of copper, combined with air and hot circulating VO can accelerate polymerization.

quote:

Originally posted by veggieguy:
I want to clarify the three way valve. Is it threaded to the bottom of the bracket and then at shut off you quickly divert the waste in the CF to another bucket so that it does not contaminate the clean oil? Do you have a link to the valve so I can buy one?

Yes. Here is the valve I am using from mcmaster look at 4373K54 for $24.

One possible problem with using a FPHE to heat the oil prior to CF is it might be subject to clogging.

Perhaps the topic of mobile CF power needs its own space, but Steve, I'd like to not use a generator either, but you have to supply the CF power somehow. The 500-600 watts/ hr would require one 125 amp battery (65 lbs) per hour of run time and probably one 125 watt solar panel(28 lbs)to recharge it. The weight really adds up. The small Honda EU2000i only uses about 2 cups of gas/hr, weighs 46.3 lbs and is quiet @53db. The alternative is running your vehicle engine at 1500+ rpm. I think a lot of the bad press on small engines comes from 2 stroke, oil burners. I don't know what the emission comparison is but I can't believe 2 cups of gas/ hr would be more polluting than 1 hr of running my 87 f250.
Mike

2

quote:

Originally posted by bio-me:
One possible problem with using a FPHE to heat the oil prior to CF is it might be subject to clogging.

You should always run it through at least a 150micron screen before putting in the CF rig. Bigger than that can plug your CF jets. I don't think <150 micron particles will plug a FPHE.

quote:

Originally posted by bio-me:
Perhaps the topic of mobile CF power needs its own space, but Steve, I'd like to not use a generator either, but you have to supply the CF power somehow. The 500-600 watts/ hr would require one 125 amp battery (65 lbs) per hour of run time and probably one 125 watt solar panel(28 lbs)to recharge it. The weight really adds up. The small Honda EU2000i only uses about 2 cups of gas/hr, weighs 46.3 lbs and is quiet @53db. The alternative is running your vehicle engine at 1500+ rpm. I think a lot of the bad press on small engines comes from 2 stroke, oil burners. I don't know what the emission comparison is but I can't believe 2 cups of gas/ hr would be more polluting than 1 hr of running my 87 f250.
Mike

If you ran the CF rig only while driving on the freeway you wouldn't need added batteries if you already have 2 large ones like most diesel trucks. The added HP drain on the engine will cause more pollution, so compared to a generator the difference is tiny. Running your truck engine while stationary at high RPMs, just to filter your VO would be very wasteful and polluting.

With the generator, I have the option to run it while moving, or stationary. And if I am camped where there is power (often), I can hook to that as well. And I can run the generator to power anything else in the camper. I like having more options. I also prefer to do it stationary since then its easier to check and clean and not interrupting my freeway progress.

And I can use almost the exact same CF rig at home, which is how I use it the most. For me that is a huge valuable option. If you live on the road, it may not be of value.

veggieguy, please check your private messages...

Wow,

Several nights of staying up past midnight to read this monster.

Great job to all that have participated. Great work Sun Wizard!

Questions:

quote:

I use the evaporative dewatering on my home rig, since it makes the dewatering very fast combined with its centrifugal dewatering. But I prefer the centrifugal dewatering and mostly use that since it doesn't concentrate any acid/sugar/salt that may be contained in any suspended water.

Sunwizard, This is a quote from page 43. Is this something that occurs as a result of mist washing and is there some steps that can be taken to avoid it?

I read a post where someone had tried to put together a kit with CPVC and ran into difficulties with cracking. Has anyone successfully done this in something other than brass or steel?

I have inquired with two seperate manufactures of plastic barrels and they both stated that the safe temperature limit of the barrels was 170-180 F. Has anyone found some that can handle higher temps?

Is there an advantage to using steel vs plastic other than the temperature issue?

Has anyone had any problems with the coated steel drums peeling or flaking?

Are the heating elements that you are using made from stainless steel?

I am trying to design a cleaning and polishing kit while trying to avoid some of the items that can accelerate the oxidation/polyermization process.

Hi and welcome to the forums.

quote:

Originally posted by Judge:
Is this something that occurs as a result of mist washing and is there some steps that can be taken to avoid it?

Concentrating occurs with evaporative dewatering, not with centrifugal. Its not a problem since most of the dewatering is centrifugal as long as you capture the output at shutdown. Mistwashing is the safest method to avoid acid/base/salt/sugar no matter what type of filtering you do.

quote:

Is there an advantage to using steel vs plastic other than the temperature issue?

Temp is the big issue.

quote:

Has anyone had any problems with the coated steel drums peeling or flaking?

Mine is painted and has been fine, not a single flake in many batches over 9 months.

quote:

Are the heating elements that you are using made from stainless steel?

No they are a special alloy, not spelled out on different elements.

quote:

I am trying to design a cleaning and polishing kit while trying to avoid some of the items that can accelerate the oxidation/polyermization process.

The VO is not in the CF rig long enough for steel or brass to accelerate polymerization, although I would avoid copper since thats easy to do. Don't store the VO in steel tanks or barrels is the main concern.

quote:

Originally posted by Judge:
I have inquired with two seperate manufactures of plastic barrels and they both stated that the safe temperature limit of the barrels was 170-180 F. Has anyone found some that can handle higher temps?

Is there an advantage to using steel vs plastic other than the temperature issue?

This is painfully timely.

I'm converting everything to run on 80-90 gallon batches. So I've been testing these large containers (trash) from Home Depot.

These are 96 gallon Totem containers and have worked great, until my high temp test yesterday.

I had 90 gallons of hydrogenated oil I was going to let settle while I was out of town. Since I was going to be gone for a few days I thought I'd bring the temp up to 180 degrees F and then cut the heat off. So Yesterday I'm all packed up and ready to drive off and I cut the heat off at 185. Then I was moving stuff around the garage so my wife could park in it while I was gone, and I heard this tinkling sound, I looked at the container and oil was running out the bottom (or down the insulation and out the bottom). I quickly rigged two pumps and pumped the oil into two other barrels, I think I lost at least 20 gallons on the floor). Needless to say, another lesson learned. When I get back I'll take a good look at the container to see just where the leak was from, I didn't have time to unwrap the insulation, and I couldn't see anything from the inside wall.

I've ordered two 100 gallon high temp (200 degree) polypropylene tanks from US Plastics.

Sam

Thank you for the quick response.

A couple of ideas I have been considering;

Catch the output from the CF in a funnel and attatech the funnel to a electrically controled valve. Hook up the power to the same cirduit as the CF.

When the CF is running the valve would allow the oil to flow into the barrel. When it shuts off the valve would switch over to a drain hose that would collect all the liquid that was being contained in the CF.

This would allow one to attatch timers to the system and allow shutdowns of the CF and still catch the concentrated junk that comes out of the CF on shutdown.

If only the CF could clean itself!

See someone has already thought of this. Never refreshed the computer from last night and didn't see any of the posts from this am. Sorry.

I ask many questions and I do not provide enough information, so I want to provide some more information on how I will be using my setup.
Come August I will be moving to Edmonton, Alberta from Windsor, Ontario, that is about a 3-5 day trip one way depending on which way you take and how long you drive each day. I will be hulling a trailer using overdrive, and would rarely shut down my truck. I will be using engine heat to heat my oil in my mobile rig, so I would need to keep running to keep it hot. Money is running short now because I spent so much on this project already, so I don’t want to spend money on a generator, but I know I could use it for other purposes too. The ¾ hp DC motor will not drain my trucks 2 batteries enough, because I have a large alternator to charge them, and also a small solar panel on the roof. Check out the pics I provided. This is why I think a DC motor would be appropriate for this application.

TRUCK_001.jpg (131 Kb, 98 downloads)

My crane that can pick up anything from barrels of vegetable oil, to engine blocks, to mobile rigs etc. This was the best investment I made so far on this project (besides the centrifuge)

TRUCK_002.jpg (140 Kb, 104 downloads)

heavy duty alternator

TRUCK_003.jpg (133 Kb, 96 downloads)