I have just began to use old jeans as a prefilter and am wondering what novel ways have you devised to secure the jeans from drooping and being pulled down by the weight of the oil? Thanks in advance.

Never met Dana and don't own stock. The best bang for my buck was the filter plans I got from his site.

go to a metal shop and have them make you some 5 inch rings out cold roll steel ... have them leave a 1 inch gap so you can slip the filter on ...or you could buy dana's plans or you can buy these 1 mic. filters Omar
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewIte...ame=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT


box of 8 shipped anywere in the usa for $49.90

www.omarsales.com

I can also recommend Dana's plans. Saves alot of time and effort. To suspend the jeans for filtering, I used the steel rings cut out of some used McMaster Carr bag filters. I've also heard of people using a wide piece of PVC pipe to suspend the jeans inside.

i use a 2x2 ft piece of 3/4 plywood sits on top of my steel barrel. 4 6" dia. holes in it. can put 2 pr pants in, the crotch holds them up. just fill evenly.

dana's plans are a great place to start. if you have no ideas on how to do it. many people have other ways of doing it, but that can end up confusing you.

http://vegoilconversions.netfirms.com/Prefilter%20units.htm

I use a 5 gallon water jug with the bottom cut to 61/2 inches. I suspend my sock with clamps that I bought from staples. Really hold good. Black with what looks like stainless clips. I also hang my I old t-shirts inside. My wife is a goood sewer.I have 2 jugs on each 55 drum. Using the jugs a get the full use of the drums.

I just use the whole jeans, tucking one leg down inside of the other until the cuffs are even. A nylon zip tie is tightened securely around the bottom and the waist band is draped over the barrel top. A knotted bicycle inner tube is stretched around the top and the waist bands are all tucked under this tube. A couple of those plastic spring clamps help as needed. I can fit 5 sock filters around the top of each of my barrels( I usually have a couple going at a time)and they hold quite a bit of oil. After settling, my pump and filter cartridge either pump into my storage tanks or into my car.

My pressurize jean filter setup.

I did this because I don't like to wait for gravity to do its thing.

This photo shows the piping ends where the legs connect. The coupler keeps them from sliding off. The end of the tubing goes to my pump.









This next photo shows the process of attachment. On the right side the leg is half way done with the first hose clamp attached above the coupling. The end of the leg is folded over that first clamp and the second one is attached, as seen on the left.









Continued...

After the legs are attached they are ready to be used.

do you heat the wvo?

The attached filter rigging is placed into a 35 gallon trash container that has valve at the bottom, piping oil to the mistwash barrel.

quote:

Originally posted by Omar:
do you heat the wvo?

Hi Omar, dang your quick.

Yes, the oil is heated to at least 120 F. before I start the pump, realize I live in very cold country and I'm doing this in an unheated garage, and want the oil to hold a lot of heat as it goes through the filters. Most often I've off loaded the oil from my collection barrels through the filters into my mistwasher. I'm just now off loading into settling tanks before going through the jean filters.

Sam

I simply cut the jeans in half at the seam that runs through the crotch. This produces two filters each a little higher on one side than the other. This is a good thing though. I use the top part of the pants with the belt loops to suspend the filter. I string a bungee cord through the belt loops and pull it over the edge of the top of the barrrel and stretch the bungee cord all the way around the barrel then attach it to itself. This sits in the groove at the top.(I use a 30 gallon poly drum) The best part is that when I am done I can detach the bungee cord from itself and place both ends on a hook over the drum. As the filter empties of oil it slowly raises out of the oil. I come back a few hours later, take it down, and stick it in a bag.

I actually use both sides at once. One as a prefilter inside of a fleece filter, and the other as a support outside the fleece filter.

this is what i do i just tie a knot in the bottom and hang it in a piece of PVC with a hose clamp.

Sam Crowe,

My setup looks excactly like yours!

Cool. Mine seems to work splendidly for me.

Chris and Sam - How are you pumping oil through the filters? Can you get us some pix of the setup?

I agree with pasotx.com near the beginning of the thread. I bought plans from Dana and they were well worth it. My system was inspired by his plans.

I cut 7 holes in the bottom of a plastic 55 gallon barrel. The holes are a little smaller than the size of the cuffs of the pants I used.

I cut the legs off at the crotch, sewed them up at the big end (to get more volume in each filter), and then cut a small slit in the cuff. I inserted a wire into the cuff (I tried two different wires, each worked equally well: 1. some old 6 gauge copper wire, with the ends butted up against each other, and 2. some maybe 12 or 14 guage steel wire with the ends twisted together). The circular wire ring is a little bigger than the hole and it ends up being a very strong way to hold the pantlegs in.

Having the pantlegs upside down, I can get most of a cubee in each leg (I have long legs). On a warm day and using very clean oil, I can continuously pour 6-8 (maybe more) cubees before walking away for awhile.

I ended up leaving one hole open because I only had 6 pantlegs and I found it to be very handy because I had good access to the oil for adding a heating element, sticking a thermometer in there, just taking a peek, sticking a tube in there to siphon or pump out the oil, etc.

One other thing, I also put a pair of knee-high nylon stockings in each pantleg to catch the bigger stuff. I don't attach the stocking to anything; I just wrap the top around the edge of the ring and it is held in by the compression between the ring and the barrel.

I could take some photos and post them if anyone wants to see it.

That's the way I do it up here in the North.

I use half a home heating oil tank (@ 150 gallons); plywood top with 14 holes cut and 14 Dana-style pants legs hanging down in; sun for heat
does a great job both filtering and dewatering
pics here:
http://wvo.4u2bu.org/

Wow-EuDeMan, That's enough oil to drive across America and back... and back. And you could do all that twice if you had a new Volkswagen... and lots of tools... and luck.