I recently heard of a trick for removing water contamination from petro fuels that involved mixing methylated spirits with the contaminated fuel. The idea being that the meths would combine with the water (water soluble?) and assist small water droplets to coalesce and fall out of suspension.

Does anyone know if this would actually work and, if so, could the same principle be applied to drying WVO without boiling?

Just let gravity settle any water out of your WVO. My heated storage drums have a drain tap on the bottom, any water can easily be drained off. The outlet tap is a few centimetres up from the bottom. I figure that if the water won't seperate this way then it is going to stay in the WVO right through the engine and just get burnt up with everything else. Works for me.

Andrew

Agreed that, in theory, water should settle out. It's just that the biodiesel folk seem very keen on thorough drying so I thought it may be beneficial in SVO applications as well. I'm also slightly concerned about the effect of water in suspension causing corrosion in the injection system. I've worked on enough braking systems where hydraulic cylinders have been destroyed by the water absorbed in the brake fluid to be suspicious of any water bearing fluid in contact with steel. It's not a problem that seems to have been widely discussed in this forum so I'm prepared to be convinced it's not a major consideration. I'd just rather not take too many chances with an expensive injector pump. Not that I own an injector pump yet, or a diesel engine to put it on. I'm just preparing for the moment when time and money allow me to start experimenting a bit

I would be concerned with water settling to the bottom of the tank. Especially if the vehicle was parked for a few days. That would definetly be hard on the injection pump.

1.) Water in oil being used for biodiesel transesterification causes problems with the reaction.....formation of soaps. We (SVO users) don't tend to be soooo picky about our oil.

2.) Water in brake fluid is a major problem because most brake fluids are very soluble in water.....the brake fluid readily absorbs water vapor out of the air. Veggie oil is only slightly soluble in water.

3.) If you are very worried about water dropping out in the fuel system, let the oil settle before using it. And add a Racor (or equivalent) water separator. I found two in junk Mercedes sedans in the junk yards in one day.

Brake fluid is a a different kettle of fish.
Brake fluid is not dissolved in water, it absorbes water its Hydroscopic. The reason for this is to prevent water droplets forming in the braking system which can then form steam under the pressures and temps found in the system. as steam acts as a gas it can compress thus leading to brake failure