Hey all, I have a 55 gal. steel drum that I welded a cone funnel to the bottom and 4 legs on to it. I also cut 1/2 of the top open
( wish I didn't)and installed a home made mixer that I intended to use to mix my wvo and meth. Turns out my mixer ides is no good as it flexs the bracket too much and causes way too much vibration. I now am setting my sights on using a pump to do my mixing but not sure best way to use a pump. Should I route my intake and discharge through the top of my drum or should intake be closer to bottom of drum? Does it matter? I'd rather not do any more welding on drum. I'm planning on closing the top back up to prevent fumes. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks, Eric

Eric, you don't need to close it back up by welding, just put a cover on it with some foam to seal. How do you plan to wash it out if you can't get into it?

Raften, true, didn't think of that. Thanks for your reply. I have a tight fitting drum cover that I can "snap" on. I see that most use a hotwater heater for their processor, many benefits, but how do you clean one of those out?

Eric, I don't know that they do clean out water heaters but I do know that my barrel does get pretty cruddy after a few uses so I flush it with a hose and hot water now and then. The heating element gets crud on it and with a open top I can reach in with a wire brush and gently clean it. The element loses heating capacity when crud forms.

Run the drain from the cone bottom to the inlet of your pump, run the outlet of the pump to dump into the top. If you want really proper vigorous mixing, use two harbor freight pumps, or even better and SAFER, one bigger more powerful pump with thermal overload protection.

HTH,

troy

Eric

I would be carefull with a snap on cover I blew the lid off of mine, it was locked down with a drum lock ring and after I mixed in the methox to fast it went airborne sooooo be carefull.
Now as to your question on a heater I took a pipe nipple cut it in half and turned down the cut end on my lathe and welded that end onto the bottom third of the drum then put welded a 2x4 electrical box at the top of the second section and use that to hold the thermostat in place, also I took and welded a round open ended extension box over the area for the thermostat and then place a blank cover over that and no worries about exposed elect wires.
Now bout the pump, mine has a tee at the bottom with a ball valve between the pump and tee so I can throttle down the pump so it draws in the methox better and a long nipple on the other side of the tee with a ball valve on it so I can drain off the slop. One of the nice things about this config is that I can shut down the inlet side of the pump and then drain off any slop in the pump as I have another tee with another ball valve at the pump and let the processer sit overnight and not have to worry about the slop plugging up the pump in cold weather! I have both my tanks on a one piece metal stand and a tee in between them with ball valves at each tank and I can direct the oil into the processer tank during processing and then when ready to transfer over to the wash tank close off the processer valve and open the wash tank valve and then transfer over the processed fuel for washing.

Hope this helps and may the LORD bless

alotizzip, do you have a better suggestion for a top cover for my processor? The snap cover I have is a plastic, maybe 10mil thick used to keep h2o off the top of oil drums. do you think it will keep meth in enough? Great suggestions on the therostat and element worked out very well. I welded a thermostat holder off a old hot water heater to hold on the thermostat, its nice because a can replace the thermostat easily if necessary. Tee and valves also worked out well. Thanks, Eric

alotizzip, I also wanted to ask you how to add my meth and lye mixture to my oil in the processor. I have a carboy with a cap that I can attach a hose to. You mentioned throttling back the pump using the valve to get the meth mix into processor. How do you introduce the meth/lye mix into the pump. I'm assuming you can't just dump it in the top, on top of the oil. Thanks, Eric

One way is to introduce a tee just before your pump, then add a reduction, a nipple, a valve, another nipple and then a clear hose. Stick the end of the hose into the carboy, throttle back the valve to the pump and open the valve on the tee till you get the flow you want.

Thanks for the info szscott, I bought the needed parts this past Sunday. Eric

Eric

Sorry for the late comeback been very busy with work, I put a tee on the suction side of the pump and on the other end of the tee I installed a ball valve that serves as a throttling valve and also I can close the valve when I wash out my processer tank . On the tee I installed a 1" X 1/4" reducer bushing and a 1/4" ball valve, so when finshed injecting the meth/ox in I open 1" ball valve up fully close off the 1/4" injector valve and allow the batch to circulate for a couple of hours.
I have found out that this way I can control just how fast the meth/ox gets mixed by throttling down the suction on the main line another thing I used to use 2ea 5 gal carboy but switched over to a 15 gallon carboy as it take 9.9 gals of meth/ox for a batch and I had a 5 gal carboy over pressurize when I made a mistake by mixing in too much lye. Keep in mind the chemical reaction when mixing the two together causes lots of pressure and heat and most carboys are very thin material compared to the 15 gal carboy I got from our local carwash that is way more heavy duty. I installed 2ea 1/2" ball valves on the carboy and on one ball valve a quick disconnect cam lock female fitting that attaches to a male camlock disconnect fitting and a hose that goes to the 1/4" valve for meth/ox inlet. This way I can hook up to the processor without spilling any meth/ox and by opening the second ball valve so as to vent the carboy as the meth/ox is drawn in. When I am mixing the meth/ox I open both valves and using a funnel I pour in the lye a third at at time and mix them together by rolling the carboy back and forth on the ground then tipping it up again and venting any pressure off and mixing another third in and doing the same until I have it all mixed together and disolved, yes it sounds like a little work but it works for me and it only takes me 10 minutes to get it all completely mixed and ready to go. I put the carboy on a horizontal stand that is off level so to make sure that all of the mixture is drawn out of the carboy.
Is your drum a one piece drum ? is so why not have a sheetmetal shop fab you up a top that is a trap door style with a sealable cover that can be welded on or hunt around for a 15 gal or 5 gallon drum with a lockable lid and cut it down to fit and weld it to your drum. Check military surplus stores for ammo cans or sealable containers just an after thought.
I highly recommend US Plastics for the best prices on cam locks, and other items we use
Let me encourge you to keep on trying and to build what works for you as everyone has lots of great ideas my processor is a culmnation of ideas of others as well as my own.
May the LORD bless