I just built my upflow set-up this weekend and am still trying to fill it up but that is good information. I was planning on pumping the WVO from my collection tub in my car directly into the upflow tank. I am in Texas and the WVO is outside temperature when I collect it and stays that way in my car (hot) so I guess I will have to pump it into a holding tank for it to cool before I pump it into the upflow tank. Seems like the more we learn the more work it gets to be!
Rusty

Just be sure the 'new' oil is at the same or colder temperature than the oil in the upflow barrel when added.

quote:

Originally posted by B.K. Hosken:
CRITICAL INFORMATION!!!
I put in some fairly cloudy/dark oil and it came right out the top overflow!!
After a while, I realized the problem...I have taken the newly introduced oil right out of my car's trunk...where 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.

How much oil did you put in the drum and how fast did you tip it in there?
I have reservations the temp of the oil alone would cause that to happen. The temp difference isn't that great and the oil would be cooled as it passed through the existing oil in the tank.

My thoughts are along the lines that either you tipped the oil into the drum too fast or too much or maybe both. I would suspect that maybe this has happened before but maybe you haven't noticed it or perhaps the warmed oil was thinner than your used to and therefore flowed faster than normal. The other thing that comes to mind is maybe the level of crud in your tank has got too high and was easily stirred up.

I think height is a desirable element in an upflow system as is capacity. I am in the process of building a settling system for a friend which will consist of 2 barrels with the bottoms removed welded together end to end so there are fittings top and bottom and then have the drums in series with another similar pair.

This will create a lot of distance from the incoming oil to the output and the capacity will allow for around 4 months reserve capacity of what is being drawn off.

With my own upflow system, I pump the oil into the bottom of the tank with a small bilge pump that sits in a 60L feeder drum. I have the inlet of the tank on a riser above the level of the oil so it can never drain out if I have a brain fade and forget to shut off a valve or something. The Bilge pump is connected to the riser with a hose and stays submerged so no air can get into the tank and lift the settled rubbish through the oil.

The pump is quite slow and I guess only pumps 2-3L a minute into the settling tank so any movement inside is minimal. Having the feeder tank enables me to drop a couple of cubees into it and then walk away and let it do its thing. A float on a micro switch on top of the pump shuts in off well and truly before the runs out and I come back whenever and refill the drum and off it goes again.

So far this has worked very well and even though I am using a 1000L IBC which lacks the height I believe is desirable in a settling tank, I think the sheer volume of the oil contained within and the fact I only pull a batch off it every 2-3 weeks allows for some beautifully clean oil that only requires 90 min in my dryer and a final filter and its ready for use.

quote:

Originally posted by john galt:
Dry fuel is the single most important factor for successful long term operation of any diesel fuel engine or turbine.

John,

Please curb your enthusiasm.

Kudos on your upflow. The above statement, however, is disingenuous and cautiously very misleading. While it might make you feel better to espouse such hyperbolic absolutisms, it does little to inspire any confidence in your conclusions.

There is no one single penultimate factor which will guarantee the longevity of your engine - on road or off. (note: I use a diesel Kunota tractor as well as a Wacker G-25 generator with an Isuzu diesel.)

The singular focus on any 'holy grail' will inevitably blind you to all the other equally important tasks of servicing and maintenance.

As an example, it is arguable that yur brakes are the single most important blah blah for long term blahblah. Without brakes, your car wouldn't last very long at all.

What about changing your engine oil? Might be able to get away with not doing it in an Otto cycle, but forget to change your crank fluid in a Diesel and pretty soon you'll get 'ka-boom'

Why is it that folks who exclusively focus on viscosity and solvency are so insulted by the conservative wisdom of following your manufacturers maintenance schedule?

Sincerely,
-Patrick Kennedy

I only added about 4 gal at once when I noticed the same oil coming out the top as I was putting in the bottom. However, when I tested it with brand new oil, I only used a gallon! It goes in pretty slowly, about 1/2 gal per min gravity feed. The temperature makes a HUGE difference...at least that's what I'm seeing.

Mr. Kennedy:

Chill out, dude.

mixelsh%% or what ever you want to call your self.
Please keep to the subject in the post and for your ingnorant information. john is probably the most helpful person on this site i would ask if you are not happy here just leave. you have worn out your welcome

quote:

Originally posted by Ga Diesel Guy: you have worn out your welcome

Well and Truly!!

quote:

Originally posted by DCS:

quote:

Originally posted by Ga Diesel Guy: you have worn out your welcome

Well and Truly!!

I concurr.

John I am going to build one of these but was wodering how do you start with the oil because I guess I don't know if you need a full drum of settled oil to start or just settle as you go five gallons a day?

Fill the upflow barrel, let it sit for a week, add a cubie of oil, and moisture test the output from the upflow barrel.

We use an IBC tote for settling the oil, the other day my partner had the idea that vibration would help settle the junk out so he attached the bubbler we use for washing our fuel to the outside of the tote. Within a day it had noticeable settled.

I used to use my expensive messager but did not take any research. It would be nice to set up a timer to vibrate every 1/2 hour for approx 15 seconds.

I am gonna have my upflow system up and running this weekend does the oil that I have in the barrel to start with matter all that much? I have about 15 gallons of sub par oil but I want to know if it matters as all the bad stuff will stay in the bottom so theoretically wouldn't this be better because it would aid in filtering/ trapping ho and water? thanks

quote:

Originally posted by miller0613:
I want to know if it matters as all the bad stuff will stay in the bottom so theoretically wouldn't this be better because it would aid in filtering/ trapping ho and water?

Theoretically it may be better from that POV but for my main upflow tank I only put in pre-settled oil so the amount of crap in it is reduced to a minimum. All the initial settling is done in 200L drums which are easy to pump out the bulk of the crap. I believe keeping the crap seperated from the cleanest oil gives me a better chance or producing the best end product.
No way of knowing, just a theory that I work to

I figure the better the stuff that goes in, the better it should be coming out!

By using barrels to pre settle, I can put the iffy stuff away from everything else so if it does turn out to have something very undesirable in it, I only have 200L to get rid of and haven't risked contaminating 1000.

Well I've got a system like John describes and I can tell you it works fantastic! Since I have access to drums and drum equipment I made mine slightly more sophisitcated. My funnel is the top third of a plastic drum over which I have a fine mess drum screen, this holds 15 gallons which is enough for one 20 gallon batch. I pour all 15 gallons in and crack the ball valve and do the hot pan test. If it passes as it has everytime so far then the oil is directed into a second plactic drum in which I used a hole saw to enlarge the bung opening to 4 inches. In ths hole I have a 5 micron filter bag. Once I get my 15 gallons I mix right in this drum then pump into either a storage drum or directly into my truck through a whole house filter element. I do not let my oil settle for weeks, it is poured into the system as needed usually the same day that I collected the last bit of oil I need for a blend. I've put some pretty crappy oil in there and I always get clean dry oil out of it.

I was toying around my garage today and found an old Holley jet kit which gave me a great idea. I'm gonna machine a jet block so that I can select a jet that flows about 2-3 gallons per hour so that I don't have to monkey with the ballvalve, just open it. I recently got a translucent drum and plan to swap it in for the filter drum sometime this week, I figure this way I can keep a good eye on the oil vs. water vs. sendiment level in the drum. Just gotta finish cleaning the waterbased adhesive out of it first.

My system is working so well I'm putting together a second one for WMO in the event my source pans out. I'm planning to water wash the WMO and want to use the upflow process to finish dewatering and filtering. All told I have spent less on this setup and my pumps than I save in a typical month of fuel costs. I have also not had any onboard filter issues since getting this system up and running.

I have built an upflow filtering system based on the info I've seen in the various WVO forums. Need some input from y'all. What kind of pump are you using to lift the oil out of your final barrel and pass through your final filter (before introducing it to your tank)?

My setup has my oil passing through a whole house water filter unit immediately before I add it to my VO tank (or storage barrel).

I bought a hand crank pump from a Harbor Freight store and it looks like it would work fine; however, the output port is not a standard thread and I don't want to use the included outlet spout.

I was considering purchasing an electric pump (much like the one I use to collect oil) but then I got to wondering if the pressure from the electric pump would either damage the filter unit or the pump itself.

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Some folks report success with using a file and JB Weld to adapt standard NPT fittings to Chinese pumps.

The Monarch barrel pump I use has NPT threads.

John, where did you get your Monarch barrel pump?

Thanks for the reply.

Ben

This is the pump
http://www.monarchindustries.com/v4/pump_pages/v110.htm

I got it from a local industrial supply outlet that sells to the mining and construction industries.