Help with centrifuge basics

[MontanaJack]

As this is my first post, I'd like to thank everyone for all the helpful ideas and recommendations I've read on this forum so far. I'm new to wmo and idi both. Just bought a 1991 f-250 7.3 with the banks sidewinder setup this week and have started cleaning some oil last night. I'm using a gravity feed centrifuge.

I have tried to search any info on this but came up with nothing.

I bought my cleaning system used and the centrifuge didn't come with any instructions. I'm simply wondering how critical it is to have the centrifuge absolutely level. Does it even matter? It is creating its own gravity after all. And I know the slower you add oil to it the more cleaning time it has, but what would you say is optimal? I've been running a 1/16" stream into it. Too much? Too little?

Any thoughts would be helpful, thanks.

 

[Josh Carmack]

Well, the fuge could be inverted, the amount of real gravity vs centripetal force is so slight it would take a microscope to see the difference. What's the bowl diameter, what's the rpm? Are you splash feeding, or have a feed tube/cone?

The 1/16" could mean a very large variance in actual flow rate depending on temp/viscosity, height of fall etc etc.

5GPH seems like a solid number for me. A ten hour run would leave you some expansion room in a drum for safety.

I'm a little rusty in the oil cleaning dept, I haven't fuged any since last fall/early winter. Just bought a new IDI Monday and am in the prepstages of redoing EVERYTHING in the shop from the super sucker down to the storage and settling tanks, no more messes, no more spills.

 

[Josh Carmack]

http://www.endmemo.com/bio/grpm.php

That link will help determine the amount of force exerted.

http://www.simplecentrifuge.com/gseconds.cfm

That link will calculate g seconds, which is the real value at work in centrifuges cleaning any fluid.

 

[MontanaJack]

It's an 8" bowl. Gravity feeding through a down tube. 3450 rpms. I'd say Im running 3-4 gallons per hour at the most. Thanks for the links too.

 

[MontanaJack]

I've got another question that I'm pretty sure I already know the answer to. Can you fuge too slow? As I understand it, the slower you feed the fuge the more time the fuel has to be cleaned. Sounds like a good thing to me.

The reason I ask though, I've been cleaning the same batch of wmo for the fourth time now. I'm gradually getting less sludge out of each cleaning but there is always something. I got to wondering... As this has already been mixed with D2 and some Stanadyne, am I slowly pulling out vital ingredients of those? This last cleaning was run very slow. It's still running right now actually @ about 1-1.5 GPH.

What do you think? Is the old standby of the slower the better still applicable or should I speed things up a bit?

 

[Josh Carmack]

I really don't see the problem with doing so, carbon can be suspended very finely in oil so you'll never get it all out, hence the "little less each time". A fuge cannot mechanically separate a chemical compound, all it can reduce is emulsions/suspensions. So you'll never alter the chemical makeup of the fuel. One thing to remember though carbon burns too, so not all suspended carbon is bad.