Just wondering what everyone uses for a reactor pump. currently use a Clearwater pump that was $19.99 off ebay. Works fine, but starts to drip once the temp gets above 170. Would like to get a pump that won't leak at 200 degrees (90c)for better Methanol recovery... Harbor Freight better?

thanks

i think alot depends on how big ur batches are...the smaller batches the blue clear water pump is cool but for bigger batches a higher gph/gpm is needed.

are you doing meth. recovery from your biodiesel or your by product.

if your recovering from glycerin scoll to the bottem of this website http://www.journeytoforever.or...esel_processor5.html and that might help.


hope this helped .. good luck

If you need to go with the little blue pump, its best to use the one from Northern Tool instead of the Harbor Freight version. While both will work, and I've had luck with both, many on this forum have had bad luck with the Harbor Freight version. UtahBiodieselSupply.com sells the Northern Tool version for a bit cheaper I believe.
That all said, those pumps start to become problematic when batch sizes get much larger than 25 to 30 gallons. There are some folks who have increased the capability using specialized mixing devices like eductors and venturies but there are issues there also.

For larger batches, I'd suggest one of my HVI series units. Beware that they are to big to use on a standard water heater because of the 3/4 inch pipe size restriction. They require a 1.25 inch suction at minimum.

You can check out my pumps here:
http://www.murphysmachines.com/pump_motor.html

Meloyelo;

That JtF one uses a drill for a mixer. A drill is a spark type motor. Sparks and methanol fumes are a disaster waiting to happen. Like so many things on that site, this is just another example of what not to do.

If you are only recovering from small amounts of glycerine then mixing isn't even necessary as the heat from a heater will cause the mix to "move" inside and you will get recovery without risking a major health/life concern.

My original methanol recovery unit used a pail with a simple homemade condenser (seen here). I have since swapped out the pail for a 50LT water heater for more capacity but kept the same condenser (seen here).

Larger volumes require mixing; there are many safe ways of doing this, not the least is an air powered blade mixer, although that involves a bushing that may leak fumes, so we're back to pumps and a closed (except for the condenser) system. A mix of Santoprene and Viton works well for distilling methanol ot of the biodiesel, although the viscosity of glyc needs something that will hold up well, and do with hot glycerine. I dunno how the clear water pumps would hold up for tis application.

We started out with one of the blue clearwater pumps but now use one of Murphys pumps since our batch size is 90 gallons (soon to be 250).

For methanol recovery- when we first built our still we used a hot water recirc pump for home heating application. But we didnt drain the glycerin quickly enough one time and it solidified and we then discovered the still worked even better without recirculating the glycerin.

Our next still will have no pump.

quote:

Originally posted by Murphy:
If you need to go with the little blue pump, its best to use the one from Northern Tool instead of the Harbor Freight version. While both will work, and I've had luck with both, many on this forum have had bad luck with the Harbor Freight version. UtahBiodieselSupply.com sells the Northern Tool version for a bit cheaper I believe.
That all said, those pumps start to become problematic when batch sizes get much larger than 25 to 30 gallons. There are some folks who have increased the capability using specialized mixing devices like eductors and venturies but there are issues there also.

For larger batches, I'd suggest one of my HVI series units. Beware that they are to big to use on a standard water heater because of the 3/4 inch pipe size restriction. They require a 1.25 inch suction at minimum.

You can check out my pumps here:
http://www.murphysmachines.com/pump_motor.html

ours is a 50 gallon water heater, plumbed as a GL Eco-Processor with 3/4 in pipe and a venturi. too much restriction for the 1 hp pump?

quote:

Originally posted by Rushmore X:


ours is a 50 gallon water heater, plumbed as a GL Eco-Processor with 3/4 in pipe and a venturi. too much restriction for the 1 hp pump?

The problem is on the suction side of the pump. It needs a 1.25" minimum.