Hello.

I am building two "dry wash" towers and loading oak shavings as media. They are both 40 gal capacity and there are tow for a lead/lag position for continued production.

Can anyone tell me about what sort of pump is the best for this application?
I wish to pump through the towers at a 2GPM flow rate.

ALSO, is there any reason why our beloved little 1/2 hp blue Harbor Freight pumps wouldn't be suitable for this process if I was to have a pressure gauge and recirculation valve.

thanks, goldenisles

Hello, I just posted in the other section my new towers that I used wood chips in one and Thermax in the other.
Here is a pic. I found a Pulsatron metering pump on ebay for $75 and it works like a dream. I can set from 1 GPH to 10 GPH. I have mine setup at 5 GPH and comes out crystal clear after the first wood chip column..

read this thread and below are the pics.







Good luck.. They are wonderful!

PS the little blue pumps are two powerful and hard to slow down to only 2 GPH. It is possible but you have to have a bypass and it get hard when it gets to the bottom. I personally wouldnt do it.

Hi
40 gallon towers would be pretty impressive. Keep us informed.

I have some HF pumps and I think they are rated at 5.5 gpm.
They are great for circulating and transferring thin fluids- like water.
A bypass would surely get you 2 gpm. flow rate. But then you're talking about forcing the fuel through solids.

The bypass will be getting all the work. And I would bet the fuel wont come out at 2 gpm in the end.

I dont know how fast fuel flows through the wood filter. Some sort of gravity flow test might help you decide.
Most of my research on this shows Gallons Per Hour. And is usually under 10 gph. But I never came across anyone using such large filter towers at home.

We want to dry-wash the fuel and not just pass it through the media.
It would be nice to just process, settle, and come home to a full tote of finished fuel.
I think you sights will change to GPH. Try the blue pump, it's cheap, but you may end up using it elsewhere in the future.

I'm following the drywash trend and looking forward to seeing your results.

Good luck, Brian

Thanks to both for your responses and input.

Obviously I did go for the HF pump because its inexpensive. AND don't know much about pumps. I want to look into he metering pumps.

Traditionally I have water washed my fuel and am approaching the oak soak dry wash because of the eco-frinedliness of dealing with the byproduct vs water waste. I have a continual flow of oak shavings from a wood shop.

40 gallon towers probably sound tall but my "columns" are actually welded water heaters with a top flat plate and a gasket. My data has come from an associate that has experimented with this oak soak procedure in a commercial lab with great results passing the regiment of ASTM tests. I've based my design on his recommendations. It's just really helpful to know more about the pumps. I think I am going to try the little blue since I have him and I'll be sure to share the results.

(How do you post pics? I'd like to share them here...)

I use my free picture hosting site;
http://photobucket.com/

You upload from your hard drive to albums on line. Perfectly safe.
When you want to post the picture, you copy the "img code" (you'll see it under each of your pictures)
and paste it in your post here.

Like this;


Have fun.
Brian

A local commercial producer is getting 2LT/min from a 200Lt drum of chips. Soaps go from, 3,000ppm to 20ppm in a single pass. He is hooking 10 drums in a daisy chain to get 20Lt/min for his operation. He is using a metering pump. I use a ShurFlo pump with by-pass flow back and ball valves to control the towers' flow rate.

quote:

Originally posted by GoldenIsles:
(How do you post pics? I'd like to share them here...)

Here's some tips I wrote a while back on posting pictures.
http://biodieselpictures.com/viewtopic.php?t=654

We'd love to see your pictures!
-Graydon

Biogirlz,
What model pump did you get? I'm going to need something in the 5-10 gph range.