Hey Fatman, Have you found out if that filter unit will work for hot vegi oil? I should be getting ahold of a spinner II model 60 this coming monday or tuesday. I will be keeping you posted on its performance...

P.S. There will be a new kid on the block soon. A friend of mine wasted no time in buying a diesel and then reeled in a commercial dish washer with pump and heating element that he plans on using to pre filter his oil with.

If you guys pre-filter down to around 1 micron, what size filter, if any, do you use in the vehicle? Are the main problems you have due to little chunks of food, or FFA build-up? I`m just about to set up and planning to go for the Racor as seen in Josh Tickell`s book, is this still the way to go? For pre-filter that SpinnerII looks like the go! Anyone tested it yet?

Lionel, I would say that for a pre filter all you would need is an old sock or a paper cone grease filter. The spinner is a final filter that will take the oil down to 1/10 of 1 micron. Pretty damn small! I will be getting my spinner I believe tomarrow. It is being shipped in from Texas.

Has anyone got a spinner and is it working? I've contacted lots of filter people but it's all new to them, lot's of choices but fat was not what these filters were designed for. How about three pond filters in series? How about steam like my local reduction plant? I have no problems with the conversion but can't figure how to get the fuel clean enough. Help!!

Peter Anson

I have the feeling the whole spinner story is a company gag since nobody comes up with the real thing.
Did the spinner out of texas got lost on transport?????????????
It sounded to good to be real.

Spinner in hand and can't wait to get it going. Its a neat looking contraption. I have lately been trying to catch up with the wvo that I have been obligated to collect. With that oil I have been making biod; thank god its not winter. On another note the svo tank that I had made Breaths as the tank heats and cools and therefore creates condensation. I have to adopt a filler that doesn't do that. Any ideas? I also believe that the oil is cooling off too much when it enters the filter and finally the injector pump and injectors. Any who, I want to get that spinner into action and will soon. Any way I hope my my message wasn't too confusing I think faster than I can type.

CalJoe, great to hear you've taken the plunge. I've been using the 100 pound carbon steel bag filter housing I made. Works, but filters plug (especially at the rate I'm working at). I was just ready to try the spinner myself, so I'm eager to hear how it works out. FYI, I heard from Alpha Laval (centrifuge makers) that the spinner filter will blind (ie not work) if water passes through.

If you find a solution to the condensation problem, let me know; I've got similar problems.

Got an interest in your spinner, CalJoe. Does it work satisfactorily?

Is anyone water washing their oil. I hear it will remove all impurities- chip-bits etc, as well as the free fatty acids. I'm going to build a water washer this weekend. Any hints?? The biodiesel crowd are right into it arn't they?

I find water washing great. I have an old 300 gallon milk tank (stainless steel). It has copper pipes brazed on the outside of the tank, and then insulation around the whole of the tank, except the lid. Originally, there was a refrigeration compressor connected to it to cool the milk, but instead I use the coils to heat my WVO with my existing radiant floor heating (ie. propane heated hot water tank filled with glycol and circulated with a groundfos brand pump). Overnight the oil gets about 120 degrees (about 50 C ?) and then I sprinkle warm/hot water with a hose, and agitate the mixture with the original milk-cooling electric mixing paddle for a few minutes. After a few hours the water gets drained off the bottom, and I repeat the process until the tank is full or my hot water runs out, and I have relatively clean water coming out the bottom drain (usually the amount of water used is close to the amount of oil in the tank).

Since I often don't have the time always to filter it right away, I let my washed oil sit warming for a day or two, and then let it cool to a little less than room temperature (the tank sits in the garage). The cooling period I don't believe is imperative but it seems to help seperate the water and often gets a layer of stuff (?) on the top-which I don't filter either. If I have to, I then warm it up just before I have time to filter; someday I hope to use solar and/or the woodstove beside the tank instead of propane to heat it. The warm oil then goes through the homemade filter system, basically a 7 by 32 inch bag filter.

Filtering after water washing is much easier (less pluging of filters) especially since the oil is warm. When I filter, I take oil a few inches off the bottom to be sure that there is no water or dirt going through my filter.

Apparently the water soluble contaminants are washed out with the water (ie salts and sugars).
Hope this helps, even though it's "off the topic".

CalJoe, does the spinner work?

[This message was edited by Trev from Canada on 23 July 2001 at 12:58 AM.]

CalJoe,
Did you get sucked up in this vortex or what?
I'm waiting to hear what's up with the cent.filter. I have a lead on some used ones,
and a dealer within 50 miles. Please fill us in.

Thanx Trev, sorry for being 'off topic'

I noticed that CalJoe's last post was on 4th July, perhaps he partied too hard! He may still be recovering!

Hi Trev,
you started with a great idea.
But's a pity that nobody comes up with a practical result.

I myself bought an old French fryer with two compartments, both containing 60 liters.
I fill one compartment, set the temperature switch to 180 Celsius for 5 minutes.
Water disappears and particles are burned.
Then I let it cool down to +/- 90 degrees.
Above the second compartment I use a 5-micron bag filter. With a little pump I transfer the oil and keep it in the second compartment for a day.
Depending on the color and quality I may heat it again to 80 degrees and pump it via a 1-micron bag filter into a plastic barrel.
If it is cool I lock the barrel and prevent it from contamination.
This works well for small amounts.

But as the others I would like to know about the SPINNER test.

Probably too big for homebrew but worth a look.

Lacos spinner filters

Hey all, sorry to keep you hanging. The spinner unfortunately has not been started up yet. The summer has been hot out here in California. And being in the air conditioning business it is all I can do to keep my head above water. I hope to get the spinner going soon, I really do believe that it is the way to go.

Hey Caljoe,

I was at the SpinnerII site and noticed that it is powered by compressed air. Do you know how much air volume and PSI is required? CFM?

I am planning on putting my WVO under a vacumm with heat to boil water off. I wonder if this would be a good time to run it through the spinner also. Should work in a closed system even if the WVO is under a vacumm as long as there is a pump on one side of the spinner.

I have one of those rainbow vacumms that uses centrifical force and water instead of a bag. They work great! Much like the SpinnerII they are a large initial investment but since I don't have to pay for filters (vacumm bags in this case) it will pay for itself in the long run.

CalJoe, I'm booked too. I don't have time to get a spinner going either (except for the honey extractor).

OilBurner, the SpinnerII reps (1800number) will tell you the specs on CFM etc. I don't believe CalJoe's spinner is air driven, but uses oil pressure.

Thanks Dave UK for your continuing tips.

Lionel, your welcome.

The spinner does actually use 35 - 125 psi but a low amount at .02 scfm. oil pressure should be about 20 -90 psi. Man if I were only retired.

I think you are on the right tack guys .
I have been using an old laundryspinn here in Germany and I put a filterinsert made out of a cloth that fillters down to 5 microns . Still I need some Filters but can go with one around 2500 miles . Works great so far . You can take an old Waschmashine and put an Insert inside , will work great and is a cheper solution . the Cloth you get in Germany for arooud 40 Dollars per 25 meters . I get a lot of fat filtered out .
I use two drillmashinepumps and pump the oil thru the spin an from the bugget in the Tank again .
Greetings from Peter .
If you know German it is all described on my friends site . www.norbertfritz.de
He schows it how to do it and where to get the cloth .
Also you can bult a Filter , the one from lumberjack with the Glas and wrap the cloth around the insert and change that frequently . Than you might not need any filtering at all .
Just need as much cloth as I us now .
Greetings fRom Germany to the land where They all eat frenchfies to keep us going for freeeeeee and where ther are a lot of chines places to eat .
Keep the People going out and you will drive the car for free for ever .
We alse us oil in our heating system . An easy ofen can be built.

ke6yl@gmx.de

Where are any dealeships in America ?
Greetings , Peter