I would like to know where I can get more info on wvo and blending it? I have a 97 dodge cummings would I have to make any modifactions to me engine or fuel lines? I live in Maryland.I will be using peant oil will this be ok? Also what is the canvas bag jeans leg~20 micron bag filter assembly can I buy this or make it? thank you for any help you could give me I am just begginig this adventure. So thanks again

where can I find info to make the canvas bag jean filter

My 'jeans bag filter' is made from the backs of jeans legs sewn together. The bag is sized to fit into a 5 gallon water cooler jug that has a ~7.5"Ø hole cut in the bottom. The circumference of the bag fits around the outside of the jug and is secured with a zip tie. A round piece of 1/4" wire mesh sets inside the jug, supports the bag, and keeps the bag from blocking the throat of the jug/funnel.

The bag filter funnel is designed for 5 gal so it can hold a full cubie volume of oil. Thus the pressurized overflow of ~4 gal of oil off the top of the settling barrel, fills the bag filter without overflowing. This allows the system to run unattended. Pour the clear oil off a cubie of used oil into the top, and the same volume of clear clean dry oil ends up in the filter barrel while you're off doing more important things.

quote:

Originally posted by john galt:...
I admire how you stayed with the script, with a calm reassuring voice, heating oil to smoking temperatures, while fire sirens wailed in the background.

LOL

Thanks John,

They weren't coming for me. My street is up the road from a nursing home and every time one of the "old folks" falls, an engine is dispatched with the ambulance.

I gave up on that oil. I still have a barrel of it (almost 50 gallons) Now that things are thawing here I may just titrate the top and see what I have.

This morning I noticed a gallon jug of oil I have from a fish fry having the top 1/2 still liquid while the bottom 1/2 was solid. Ambient temps were 20's F. overnight. By this afternoon and 50's F. all was liquid again.

THere was another thread about blending you suggested I set some samples outside. I realized that the "leftover" in the 15 gal jug was still liquid in those temps. Not scientific but a casual observation. Sorry, I can't remember that mix... Something like 50V 30D 20 rug I think.

I'm seeing the same temperatures below and above freezing. Some of the samples have PHO settled out and clear oil above. At this temperature I decant the clear oil into the processor and leave the solid PHO and water & sludge in the cubie till later when I'll mix it with sawdust for the stove.

Question for Mr Galt:
When using the upflow settling system, can a constant flow of oil be had or does the oil need to settle for a time before adding another batch (10 gallons in my case)?

You need to know that my system uses 1 1/2 20 gallon drums (20 gal bottom, 10 gal "funnel"), so the total volume of settling oil is less than your specs. I have the ball valve set to dribble the oil at about a gallon per hour.

The canola oil I collect has been used for a week to cook fish and chips then placed into buckets and sealed. I can add 5-10 gal per day into a 55 gal processor and get clear dry oil off the top at 40°F-50°F ambient temperature. That calculates to an average settling time of about a week.

The only way to know for sure with your particular oil is to hot pan test the oil coming off the top of the processor and adjust the rate accordingly.

quote:

Originally posted by john galt:
The canola oil I collect has been used for a week to cook fish and chips then placed into buckets and sealed. I can add 5-10 gal per day into a 55 gal processor and get clear dry oil off the top at 40°F-50°F ambient temperature. That calculates to an average settling time of about a week.

The only way to know for sure with your particular oil is to hot pan test the oil coming off the top of the processor and adjust the rate accordingly.

I assume that means that you only put about 10 gallons per week through your processor?

I thought five 10 gal also. 5 to 10 gal calculates right. I started upflow settling about 5? weeks ago. I started with a 1/2 full 55 gal drum thats been sitting for months. I did the HP test & surprised it was good! The oil looks a little darker than when & washed via upflow thru the water. I'll have to do another batch & take actual samples of both to verify sight difference. Upflow settling is definitely simple, quicker, & easier. Or untill I have to mess with gunk at bottom of settling drum.

quote:

I assume that means that you only put about 10 gallons per week through your processor?

I can add 5-10 gal per day into a 55 gal processor and get clear dry oil off the top at 40°F-50°F ambient temperature. Do the math.

It appears that some people may be under the understandable mis-impression that you can pour "As collected" oil into such a system and get clean dry oil out at rather high flow rates. If one looks at the description of the system being touted, one will see that it is nowhere near as simple or labor free as it appears.

First, the collected oil is settled for at least several months, ( and I have seen settling times of a year quoted previously) and then only the CLEAR oil from this initial settling is poured into the upflow system. It also seems this oil is PRE FILTERED through a jeans leg. That is a huge head start in the oil quality that many seem to be missing. Furthermore, there is not just one barrel being used but at LEAST several in progression to give a cumulative effect. I suspect the overall system capacity is considerable to achieve the results specified with maybe a couple of thousand more liters in reserve settling in Cubees that are not even accounted for. From there, only the very best oil is being added to the upflow system so it is more of a finishing system used in this way than an overall complete WVO filtering and drying solution.

The bottom line is the results being touted are dependent on the oil being clear, fat and particle free and filtered before it is even added to the upflow part of the overall process and before the oil is used as fuel, it is then final filtered.
This isn't all that much different to any decent WVO processing system I have seen. The only difference is the omission of a drying step at the cost of the oil having to have a very long overall settling time and a lot of oil having to be in reserve to start with.
For many that don’t have the luxury of being able to obtain far more oil than they use or don’t have the space to store Months (a year?) worth of oil, the upflow system is not going to produce anything like dry oil.

For most people, once the oil is pre-settled and pre-filtered, all the hard work is done and throwing an air stone in a drum and walking away from it for a few days ( or the drying part of their process) ain't that big of a deal in the overall preparation of their fuel!

In the many threads and discussions I have read on this method plastered on every forum going, much is made of the end result of the process but what it takes to get to that in the pre cleaning of the oil before it gets into the upflow system seems to be being overlooked or downplayed.

I have no doubt that if only clear oil is put into the system and filtered with something as fine as a jeans leg filter and the overall system volume is such that only 10% or less of the overall system volume is drawn off per week, the resident time of several months ( or a year or more) that the oil would take to go through the upflow system ( after up to a year of pre-settling in cubes) would be enough in some cases to produce Dry oil. It would without doubt produce very clean oil and lower the overall water content significantly in any event.


There is no great trick or effort required to dry and final filter oil that is already golden clear nectar, it's getting it to that stage where the work is and in the championing of this system, that has already been done.

Upflow works well but don't overlook the fact that to achieve the results in the time frame stated here that you can’t just pour your as collected oil in and achieve the same thing. To do this, a lot of pre conditioning of the oil has to be done first.

I have had good results with as collected oil being used in the upflow process which eliminates the pre-filtering process…. As does just sitting the oil in a drum for a sufficient time. Before adding the dirty oil I drain off any bottom dwelling crap so the system doesn’t fill with it over time then add the dirty oil. With a couple of IBC tanks, the resident time of the oil is around 10 months with what I draw off and I pump the oil from the top of the IBC straight into my drying tank ( no prefiltering required0 and then through the final filter. While the oil I am getting is dryer than when I put it in, it is not able to pass a hot pan test. The removal of the fats and other rubbish does make the upflow process very worthwhile however and for me having to spend a few minutes in pumping the oil in and out of the dryer is not worth the extra time and capacities needed to wait and see if the oil is capable of drying itself in the conditions where I live.

quote:

Not true. Do read the system description [message #1] so you have some idea of what you're criticizing, before going off half cocked on another one of your personally motivated attacks.

I stand corrected John. Thank you for pointing that out.
In fact the oil is pre filtered through flywire and pantyhose, not jeans legs.
It's just that with your well known propensity to go back and edit your posts so often, it's really hard to keep up with what you are saying and it varies from minute to minute as you have done on your last post already! ( 3 times in about 10 minutes no less!!!

My comments have nothing to do with a personal attack. I believe that the abilities of this system are being misunderstood and I am merely trying to point out some things it appears people are misunderstanding. As a proponent of Ron's system myself, I just want to make sure that people are fully aware of what it is capable of and and understand how it works as well as its limitations.

While the minor detail of what I said may have been incorrect, the overall implication is exactly the same in that the oil is prefiltered before it is added to the system.

Sorry this small error has upset you so much.

I pick mine up from chinese place & pour into 6 gal pal with a bug screen on top & 2 bags (1 in 1)from the dollar tree store( poly laundry bags) I skipped the jeans. I was surprised the top oil coming out of 55 gal drum, did pass the HP test. Then I blend in seperate tank & let settle min 12 hrs. pump into vehicle with 1 micron filter a nozzle. Seems to work so far & simple.

Hi John,
I like the idea of upflow settling. I've built mine basically the same as the diagram, only a little different. Instead of the bucket funnel I use a 30g open top with a ball valve about 1/3 high on the 30g barrel. I also have a sight tube on the barrel to see how it is settling. I start out filling the 30g barrel and let settle about a week. Then crack open the ball valve. (this sends the oil though a hose and into the 55 about 1/3 high in barrel) It flows very slowly into 55. I come back the next day close the ball valve and refill the 30g and leave settle.

So far I'm just getting the 55 full. Next week I'll get my first clean oil.
Thanks for sharing upflow settling.

Hi Guys, I've been lurking here for a few days, and you got me so inspired that I went and built the 55 gallon drum thing with a couple of filters and proceeded to dilute it with 80% WVO K-1(15%) Reg Gas(5%) and an ounce of acetone and DieselClean. The one micron filter at the end doesn't clog at all. I live in Texas and the 55 gal. drum is just under a tarp outside and I noticed that the sun was shinning on the uninsulated drum in the mornings so I wrapped some fiberglass insulation around it. What I can't understand is why the car sounds and drives so much better, thought it would be the opposite. Anyway, thanks a lot!!!!!

That's good to hear you've got a successful VO blend for your vehicle. What engine are you using that mix in? What is the temperature when you start-up in the morning? Any exhaust smoke on cold start-up?

Hi John, It's a mercedes 240d. There's no smoke. Here in Texas right now in the AM it's probably around 70 degrees. I don't really know what it's doing to the engine (I'm a total newbie on this whole thing so please bear with me). For a few months before I started running VO The car wouldn't start instantaneously on the first click of the starter (it did for a long time). Of course it's still doing that so I don't have a baseline. I've done the spoon and blowtorch water test and maybe I saw maybe one or two little bubbles of course I don't know if one or two little bubbles are OK. Still can't understand why the car sounds better. Thanks again for this wonderful forum George

CRITICAL INFORMATION!!!
I built the upflow settling/dewatering system using a 55 gal drum. It's been working very well until just a few days ago, I put in some fairly cloudy/dark oil and it came right out the top overflow!! It was obviously the same oil I JUST put in (I have clear hose in and out), so I sat and thought about how the heck the oil got from the bottom of the 55 gal barrel to the top to overflow???
After a while, I realized the problem...I have taken the newly introduced oil right out of my car's trunk...wherre it had been all day...and here in FL, that means it was HOT. Had to be 100+ degrees, compared to the settling drum's contents being around 80F. That caused the new, hot oil to literally JUMP to the top, and overflow, bypassing the upflow system. I tested it with a clean bottle of new oil I left in the trunk, it did the same thing.

THEREFORE, to make a long story short, let your oil sit for 12-24 hours next to the upflow system to equalize temperature BEFORE you dump it in...or you are defeating the system!

Thanks for the tip, i have a large 250 gallon setteling tank. i use a 2" pvc pipe that runs within 2" of the bottom of the tank to introduce the wvo into. i let the oil settle before i pump the clear dry oil from the top for fuel. i always draw about 55 - 110 gallons into seperate drum's to make fuel with before i put the new wvo in. it took about three weeks to get this system in place but i have a steady supply of clear dry oil whenever i need it.

Hey, Thanks for the reply. I have my barrel insulated(texas) with fiberglass insulation. Any oil that I introduce to the barrel is done in the cool early morning hours. I do this because I figured that putting warm oil into cool oil would make the warmer oil just go to the top.