quote:

Originally posted by Ben Howard RD:
What do you guys do when you are gone and a good size 1000+ micron moth flies into your CF oil?

I've never had it happen in 10 months. It would probably float for a long time, and after it got well soaked and sank it would get ground up in the gear pump and then caught in the CF rotor, causing no problems.

I've never had a leak since I went to o-rings on my water heater elements. The stock gasket is weak, which I describe a fix for back on around page 3 of this thread.

I've never had a hose fail, probably because I used top quality 250psi rated hose on the pressure side.

I've probably never had a hose fail because I don't have any. At least not on any pressure side. The only hose I have is a braided hose on the intake to the pump. The rest is black iron pipe.

Last weekend I started the sucker up and went out for the day. When I got back I pumped it into the storage barrel. I have a pressure relief and a thermostat on it, so I have less worrying to do.

Sam, you write you let your CF work for 22 hour...how many gallons did you clean?
The oil I collect here in Sweden, is pretty good, most of it is very liquid oil from Thai rest. Oil full og meat or water, I return to the recycling station. I use only batches of ca. 60-70 l/15-20 Gal. but I only run it for 3 hour.
One batch I had, has been settled for three months, and it was about 100 liter or 26 gal. Cleaned all of it as one batch for 4 hours at 140 F. Not much dirt in the rotor, but very hard packed, needs a knife to get it out.

Same with other batches, very hard dirt in the CF, so it prooves an effective forsce to the particles.

About heating, I discovered early that the CF works best around 140-160F and rotate at it's highest speed. So I try to preheat the oil in a bucket with heaters inside, pour it in the barrel and heat the oil with the element before I start the CF.

Talking about the element, have any of you checked if the oil has polymerized on the element? I have an element I use on free hand
2500 watt, and oil burns to the element and get sticky lumps on it. I guess there also will be a problem on the built in element in the pipe?

The element I use in the pipe is 3 x 1500 w, but I use only one of them so far.

quote:

Originally posted by Ben Howard RD:
Boy I don't know how you guys go for hours without checking on it. I have had so many issues with hoses breaking/melting

So far I have been lucky, no spraying leaks.
I do have a seeping joint or two.
I used all steel and brass fittings.
And I used plumbers compound on all of the connections.
It comes in a tube like tooth paste, and has worked well for me.
I let the new connection sit and dry for a while also.

quote:

What do you guys do when you are gone and a good size 1000+ micron moth flies into your CF oil?

I feed them to my dogs.

Have Fun Everyone
RichC

quote:

Originally posted by steinar:
Talking about the element, have any of you checked if the oil has polymerized on the element? I have an element I use on free hand
2500 watt, and oil burns to the element and get sticky lumps on it. I guess there also will be a problem on the built in element in the pipe?

The element I use in the pipe is 3 x 1500 w, but I use only one of them so far.

I get no polymerization on my element, because it has good flow across it and is a low watt density since its a 4500watt 220v run at 110v which makes it 1125watt, and its about 14" long. You could get a problem on the element in your pipe depending on its length and watts. A 2500watt element is too much watt density so it burns the VO.

Hi Steiner,

I was wondering if you knew anything about the company in Sweden that makes oil seed presses?

quote:

Originally posted by steinar:
Sam, you write you let your CF work for 22 hour...how many gallons did you clean?

Yes, not that I'm recommending do that though. At some point it is a waste of time and energy and one can just let a filter between storage and the vehicle fuel tank to take care of what little goop is left after running a few hours.

It was only 45 gallons. I'm just about done with my new 100 gallon tank, it will be just in the nick of time since I have 150 gallons waiting in settling tanks.

quote:

Talking about the element, have any of you checked if the oil has polymerized on the element?

Like SunWizard, I don't think I get any polymerization because I keep the oil moving, unless it is highly saturated. I have had food particles burn against the element and that had me worried, thus I built my heat exchanger (element inside a pipe full of Crisco). I think I mentioned, but that was a complete bust, the it heats up really well then the controller would shut the element off, but after the batch cooled to where the controller turned the heat back on it would over heat the element and burn it out. After two elements I abandoned the idea. My new tanks have different heating strategies, I'll post with pictures later this weekend.

Sam

If anyone is interested in using a DC motor for there mobile rig here is a motor you can get now that wasn't avaible a month ago. Right now it is on sale for $89 and will take a couple weeks because it is on back order. http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=96142

Hey I'm just starting to put together my centrifuge filter kit and I'm running up to the junker today to pick up the few remaining parts I need. The piece in question for me right now is the power steering pump and motor. any suggestions? I am planning no just getting the best looking one for the money that I can and then mating it with a 1/2 hp to 1hp motor.

Decibal, I put a list of the PS pumps in a post a while back. Have a look for the post about the Honda Acura pumps - I think Sunwiz said they're good becuase they're gear pumps. You don't want to get a vane pump because the vanes stick in cold oil.

Ok, Sun & Sam.
So I will be relaxed about the burning oil to the element. Mine is too, very long, did not measure it but it takes more than half of the pipe.

About oil press, yes there is a company, called Täbypressen, you will find it at: http://home.swipnet.se/~w-26371/type90.htm
I hope......
The page has not been updated for a long time, but I know they had advertisements abroad as well.
The price of the 90 model is eq. to 14000 $

cheers

Here is a better link

www.oilpress.com, or:

http://www.oilpress.com/skeppsta-maskin-ab.htm

steinar.

I am definitely interested in purchasing a pump from either Judge or Veggieguy, my email address, is moparman13045@yahoo.com

So what kind of total cost am I looking at here if I decided to setup a CF rig from scratch?

I already dumped money into filters and I just don't think its working that great, CF seems better.

Is there a definitive list of PS pumps that are gear pumps (not vane)?

I think this is my first post, but I've been lurking for a year and a half.

I have a vane pump off of a dodge colt (mitsubishi). The pump was manufactured by KYB. It is a vane pump, and I've processed about a hundred gallons with it. It's run by a Harbor Freight motor. I had some early problems with my "construction debris" clogging the vanes and the bypass, but lately, all of that has subsided.

Recently, I decided to put a gallon of used Rotella T synthetic in my processing drum that had about 5 gallons of pretty clean WVO that had been run through the CF already. The motor oil came from my F350, and it turned everything BLACK! I've run it for 9 hours or so, and I'm still getting a good bit of carbon black soot off of the inside of the rotor. I don't know if the oil will ever go clear again. If it does, I'm going to have some impressive pictures to show you guys. Either my motor oil was extremely dirty, or the detergents in the motor oil are picking up additional debris out of the WVO that the centrifuge didn't get. My other thought is that there is some sort of reaction between the WVO and UMO. I don't know if I'll run this through my truck or my VW. It might make its way into a waste oil heater instead.

My system is semi-mobile. It can ride in the back of my truck, and the CF action is done at night while I'm not driving. The only reason this is the case is because my motor is 110v. I'm looking at putting a 12v motor on my PS pump and a FPHE and I'll be fully mobile. Normally, I stop at night, so 110V isn't that big of a deal. If I my drum is full, that gives me 50 gallons of WVO, and normally, there is time @ night to process more.

Lately, I've been driving the VW, and the CF can easily keep up with the usage habits of that vehicle.

One thing I wanted to add- I have a sideways T under my centrifuge (-I) On the bottom, I have a ball valve, and the side outlet goes to another sideways T and that's screwed into my barrel. When I shut off the centrifuge, I open the ball valve, and gravity pulls the oil straight down into a cubie that's right below the valve. No 3 way valve needed. Sure, there is a possibility that a little oil make it across the T, but it looks like the flow across the T stops quite abruptly when the power to the pump is switched off. I open the valve, then switch the pump. When I'm filling my "greasel" cans to fill the truck or the car, I open that valve and the output of the running CF goes into them. That way, all of the oil has to go through the CF at least once. It's a looped system, though, and I run it for quite some time, so I'm sure it all goes through a few times.

My poly drum has a hole cut in top for a 5 gallon bucket (friction fit and sealed) and the 5 gallon bucket has a hole in it for #2 filter bags. The bags are something like 34" X 7" I think. I set the bucket height so the bottom of the bags sit on the bottom of the barrel. I did that to minimize stretch. I have a 50 micron inside of a 10 micron. They can hold a cubie and a half and have plenty of surface area to "pre-screen" my oil. If it goes outside, I just put the lid on the 5 gallon bucket and it's rain safe. My pickup is s male pipe thread run into a hole I drilled in my poly barrel. I put some brown thread sealant on it, and I haven't had any leaks... yet.

This post got much longer than I anticipated.

I am thinking about putting one of these awesome units on my truck as an engine lube filter. Imagine that.

Another funny story. Fifteen years ago when I was 16 my dad was telling me about running my first VW rabbit on grease. What a silly idea. Diesel is $0.72/gallon. Times sure have changed. That was also before global warming and peak oil. Maybe it wasn't. I was just 16 and too busy chasing girls.

Photo_061507_006.jpg (202 KB, 121 downloads) OC-20

Glad you hear you got yours working good. I don't think you will ever get all the black out of used motor oil since some of the particles are very tiny <0.1 micron. Some say it won't hurt your truck, but I don't think its worth the risk, with the detergents and other additives that are in motor oil.

Hey so I picked up a pretty heavy-duty pump from a mitzubishi(?) from the junker. So I have a few more questions about setting this thing up. First issue: The 55 gal drum that I'll be installing the filter on has some residue in it from the previous owner. I think it's actually pickle juice. So what would be the best way to clean and prep the drum for filtering (it's made of plastic). Second issue: the centrifuge filter is also dirty inside the chamber so what is the right way to clean it out so start filtering. Third issue: will the two water heater elements combined with the centrifuge have enough dehydration to take out the water or should I let the WVO sit and separate before running it through the filter?

Also I went up to lowes tonight to pick up the remaining connectors and the pressure relief valve. All that they had for relieving pressure was a pressure retention valve that was just able to take water at any pressure and lower it to a range between 25-75psi. The only other thing that they had was a P&T valve (pressure and temperature). It is intended for use on hot water heaters. The drawback to the PT valve was that it doesn't allow you to select a psi and it is set at 150psi. So which pressure relief valve is the suggested one and where would be the best place to get it? thanks again

Wash the drum with warm soapy water. Wipe the CF rotor with a rag. The CF is removing water for many, with no settling needed, but you should test to be sure.

The pressure relief I recommend is on the summary on page 1. Any pressure relief with an adjustable setpoint would work. Make sure you have a good pressure guage hooked up to tell where its set and whether its working.

Here is the relief valve I got from Lowes.

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&pro...&lpage=none&pad=true

I have 2 spinner II's one is a model 36SE and the other is a 60SE. They seem considerably larger than the OC-20. Should I be running them at more than 90psi?