I have designed a 55 gallon drum to heat my WVO. I have installed a 120v 2000w inline heater element and one band heater. After heating for over 2 hours the most the WVO gets is 170F, I want to heat to 230F to remove the water in 1 hour.

What do I need a 240v 4000w element?

What is the most watt element I can install without problems?

Unless you agitate or spray the WVO you run the chance of a steam explosion at 230f.

I installed a 4500 watt element in my drum(s) their wired to 120 and seem to work OK. I was warned about heating my WVO to higher temps(212F ) in your case 230F for risk of fire.The gang tells me that heating to 140F will cause a separation between the oil and the water, and then the water can be drained off. I'm going to try this . S0 far I've been able to make bio without an actual dewater process( I did make I batch of waxy jello). I question the fire risk problem, because we're talking about fryer oil which is heated close to 400F in the food joints? Does anybody have any comments? THANK YOU

we heat to 150 f +/- and then let it settle out, applying that much heat can be dangerous (230f)If your thinking about boiling it out I would reconsider if I where you.
Heatbeater
you are correct about the food joints but we as home brewers are in a different situation. If you have a barrel full of oil the water tends to settle out at the bottom as you apply this high heat the water is under the weight and pressur of the oil by the time it has built up enough energy to overcome that force it finds it's way to the surface with explosive results.

It is expanding all the way up at the suface it flashes and covers you and or everthing around it in hot oil. the resteraunts have much shallower containers than we have it's still a concern for them but the difference is the shallow container

You won't be able to get water to boil away in 1 hour for the most part. It depends on the amount of water, of course, but it's probably going to take longer than that.

the second problem is that it can take up to a day to cool down the 230F oil back to a safe temperature to make biodiesel (ie below the boilindg point of methanol, which for safety margin's sake should mean bringing your oil back down to 130F). How longit'll take to cool depends on the amount of insulation on the reactor.

heating to 130 or 140 and letting it stay hot for a day takes the same amount of time but doens't use as much energy, lets you cool the oil and process much more quickly once you've decided the oil is water-free, doesn't risk steam explosions, and doesn't create as many risks of leaks in your pump or any tubing/plumbing.

BINGO
thanks GIRLMARK

I just filter my oil at 600M and heat (140 degrees) it up in my processor. I have a poly procesor so I test for water and if I need to, open the top and put a fan blowing across it for awhile. 1 hour the water is gone.