its easy to keep the bag full unatended think of a pet waterer . have a tank that you can seal up say a 55 gal drum , put it on a stand on the side , a valve on the small fitting with an elbo pointing down with a length of pipe that extends into the filter a couple inches. on the big opening another valve to seal off .close the small valve fill the barrel through the large opening ,close the large valve . with the filter in place open the small valve . the oil that will come out of the small valve is determined by the amount of air that will go into the same valve . when the oil level in the bag gets up to the pipe it stops air from going in and the oil stops coming out

Thanks for the description of an easy filter while away set up.

WVOCOLL

I cut about a 7" hole in the top of my drum and hung the filter sock into the hole.

I fill a 5 gal water bottle with WVO and turn it over into the sock and set it down.

As the oil filters down thru the sock, air bubbles into the bottle and more oil flows into the sock.

It feeds the filter sock just the right amount until the 5 gal bottle is empty.

I actually have two holes in the top of my filter drum and use three layers of socks 25/10/5 micron. It gets the job done simply and I don't have to every worry about the sock over-flowing.

the water bottle does the same as my barrel but it does more than 5 gal and the bottle is real simple

Diagramme?

Great Idea!!! I did the same thing with a hole in the barrel to hang a bag filter. Never thought of the water bottle (or valves fitting) idea.
Thanks,

Shep

I do the same thing with my wvo sucker collection unit.

Suction hose goes in the filter bag and I open the large bottom valve. As the wvo level drops air can enter the "sucker" hose, travel to the collection tank, and lower the vacuum in it.

This begins the oil flowing into the filter bag and the level rises..which prevents more air from entering the hose/tank and stops the flow. Then as the wvo level in filter bag gets lower and air is allowed to enter the hose the cycle repeats.

Pictures at 11?

seriously, this is one case where a picture is worth a thousand words. I know Dana may not abe able to post since it would bascially take from his how to file, but you other guys?

thx.
-Tony O

Not a picture..how's a schematic?



For a larger image click here

Air can only enter the sucker vessel from the hose with one end connected to the bottom of the sucker and the other end in the filter bag itself and any air is prevented from entering it when the level of wvo is higher than the open hose end in the filter bag. When enough wvo is filtered to allow air to enter the hose it "glugs" in and allows some wvo in the sucker to be released into the filter..and level in it rises preventing more air from entering. Eventually the level of wvo in the filter drops angin and the cycle repeats.

Just make sure you start with a filter drum empty enough to allow all of the wvo in the sucker to fit.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: danalinscott,

A question or thought, would it work best if you had the filtered oil level, in bottom container, at its highest still be below the bottom of filter? So the oil would gravity feed through and not have filter immersed in oil.

Certainly Charles; otherwise you have to stand there for hours pulling the filter bag out gradually or make a big mess when you pull it out when the oil still in it continues to flow out of it.

quote:

A question or thought, would it work best if you had the filtered oil level, in bottom container, at its highest still be below the bottom of filter? So the oil would gravity feed through and not have filter immersed in oil.

I have not found this to be true. Except in the case which BP speaks of (pulling a filter out of a full drum which is itself full of oil) there can be several advantages to having the outside of the bag filter immersed in vegoil.

And when I do need to remove a filter for cleaning I just draw down the level outside the filters and allow them to run dry...then remove them.

Has anyone figured out how to feed multiple filter socks automatically? Different socks pass oil at different rates, so the fastest filter would keep calling for more oil which would come to all outlets of the upper container. I have 4 socks and would like to autofeed all. I think it requires separate upper tanks....

If you connect all the bags together with a siphon line...or lines... they will self level with each other.

Then ANY of the bag filters can be auto filled and it will feed all the filters.

I made a handy 4 line "octopus" with tees and hoses. Three of the clear hoses go into the bag filters...the fourth has a small (needle) valve and a clear line. So to "prime" the siphon I just open the valve and suck vo up all of the 3 lines (in the bag filters) at once...and once oil is above the valve...I close it.

I am having trouble picturing the 4 line octopus and the role of the valve. Could you give more details or a drawing?

This sounds like the solution I have been looking for!

THANKS!

OK...Here is a simple side view using two bag filters for clarity. As many bottom hoses can be added as wished.



The top hose is just to allow all air to be removed from below the valve so the siphon effect takes place. Once VO is drawn up to the valve it is closed.

Self_leveling_siphon.JPG (5 KB, 857 downloads) Self Leveling siphon

ok I know this is a really weird and possibly ridiculous question. I'm a member of a network of fish enthusiasts and I'm reading all of this, y'know, cause hell, who isn't interested in new fuel sources with the price of oil these days? Anyway.. do you think this type of mechanism could be used with a fish tank filter for automatically changing water??

quote:

Originally posted by Tony O:
Pictures at 11?

seriously, this is one case where a picture is worth a thousand words. I know Dana may not abe able to post since it would bascially take from his how to file, but you other guys?

thx.
-Tony O

yeah,,a picture would be very useful for this thread…can anyone write a diy for a fuel pump repair on this forum??

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kurtdaniel,

I do not need the volume of oil that would justify more than a simple system, so here is what I do.

I settle oil for a couple of weeks, minimum. I then gently pour the settled oil into a recycled five gallon water cooler bottle until I see some sediment (like decanting an old wine). As water and sediment settle towards the bottom, I stop pouring when I see the sediment. At cooler temps, this gunk includes animal fats and any hydrogenated oil.

I then filter my settled and decanted oil through a 1 micron ABSOLUTE filter bag that is suspended in a female PVC pipe connector that is inserted in a piece of plywood on top of a home depot plastic paint bucket that has a hole cut in the bottom for the oil to drip through. I upturn the water bottle so that it is sitting in the filter. When the filter is full, the vacuum stops the oil flow until there is room for more, just like an office water cooler. That bucket is placed on top of a piece of plywood with a hole cut for the oil to pass through, and it is sitting on top of another HD bucket (for collecting the filtered oil). When the oil is finished draining through the filter, I move the contraption over to another empty bucket and seal my filtered oil bucket with a lid.

I then pour the filtered oil into a recycled 30 gallon barrel (from a car wash) that has 2 standpipes on the bottom, one flush from the bottom (to drain crude and water), and the other about 8 inches from the bottom (to transfer dewatered oil). When the barrel is full, I heat the oil using a bucket heater to 130F (takes @20 minutes). Then I let it settle for 24 hours and test for water. When the HPT gives me a dry test, I transfer the oil a bit at a time into a 5 gallon container with a gallon of kerosine in it. I interrupt the transfer several times to agitate the blend until it is full and I pour the blend into another recycled barrel for storage.

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The bubble line is a good idea Magyver. I used to use a siphon set up like Dana suggested. The filter bag was suspended a little lower than the container that fed it. A customized container (Cubie) lid had two holes in it. One hole was used for a rubber fuel line that was pushed down into the cubie, through the hole to a point safely above the settled-out junk. The other end of that fuel line looped over into the bottom of the filter bag. The other hole in the lid had a different small length of hose pushed into it that I would blow into to pressurize the container, which started the oil flowing out into the filter bag through the other hose. Then I could walk away and let the blow hose provide an air intake for the draining container. If the oil level in the bag came up to the level of the container, the siphon would stop until the level in the filter bag dropped. And naturally, the feeding container was only drained to the level that the hose was pushed down to. Just another way up the same mountain I guess.