Pre Filtering your WVO...

[bct]

It's pretty thik, Ive been carving cubes of butter out of it for practical jokes...

Its pretty runny actually, just not enough for the ole fram to move fast nuff for me.maybe I'll do some ambiant temp tests and see what I can live with....

 

[towcat]

You guys are killing me....
I could have fooled the guys who show up at my BBQ, but I come from a rest. background. worked at my grandfather's HofBrau and still own a chinese fast food operation in southern cal.
I don't care who/what your background is, fryer oil does not pour well in temps less than 60deg. If you are going to filter the crap, it better be HOT or it won't flow. You won't need as much heat when you pull more impurities out of suspension. The flavor in that old oil is one thing, but the heat needed to get the fryer going is the second reason why the stuff is thrown out. If you want to pour and forget, the stuff better be hot. Need a close example? Go fry some bacon, and see how much heat you need to melt the bacon grease after it has been sitting in the pan for a day.

 

[MudHog]

DING DING DING!!!!!!

we have a winner.

Heat works wonders when messing with veggie oil. Get it warm (or HOT as towcat mentioned) and everything will flow much better than you ever expected.

 

[bct]

alright, I got home and started experamenting. A bed sheet on a screen door filters out the sludge in the oil. I supect this sluge is food and animal fat. Its in the hi 50's ambiant. after the sludge is out, the fram is flowing pretty well. I figured this sludge is whats pluggin the fram. I suspect we're getting 15+ gallons per hour at this ambiant. Ima do some fabricating with some expanded metal to make a pleeted bed sheet filter that sits in the tub. I suspect with the dead space, I'll still be able to pour 60 gallons in at a time.

More later......

 

[MudHog]

Yay, Bill Nye The Science Guy figured out something on his own.

 

[bct]

thats the best you could do? Im NOT impressed.

A quick check, and the flow has slowed. Its 56 degreese out now. Im prolly looking at a combination of stuff thickening with temp drop, bed sheet becoming clogged, fram becoming cloged. Hard to tell, will prolly know more tomarow when the temp rises, or stuf isnt flowing.....

 

[bct]

the morning after....

alright, my overnight temps were 46 deg and its currently 53. It looks like the bedsheet had almost a 1/4" of crud settled onto it. theres possibly 3 more gallons of cood oil sitting on top. The fram is filtering the little bit of post bedsheet oil as it comes, theres just enough to reach over the lower lip on the filter. so I feel its doing well. Im kinda thinking the low overnights caused the sludge to spearate better. The bedsheets pretty much done in my oppinion. I hoisted it out of the tub makeing a sack out of it too get the last bit of oil filtered out. if that doesnt work I think layin it back in there after sludge has slid too the bottom will get me renewed filter area. I could prolly rinse out the sheet and use it again. My next question is, how do I get rid of all the sludge? i have a fire place but live in the middle of a small town.

Im consideirng dumping it in a restraunts waste dumpster....

 

[MudHog]

So how much of the oil actually came out of the bulk tank? You don't mention anything of flowrate, other than the filter is filtering what little oil does come out of the bedsheet (which sounds pretty damn slow).

How do you plan on rinsing the grease off the bedsheet? Don't you know oil is water repellent? Maybe get some degreaser from wal-mart and use a spray bottle to cover the sheet then rinse it clean.

You probably could get legally in trouble for dumping anything in that dumpster. Same goes for a regular trash dumpster, by law your not allowed to dump into someone elses dumpster.

 

[bct]

Ok as far as flow rate, it had roughly 2/3 of a drum and 2 4 gallon carboys. so I guess were talkin about 40-45 gallons in 12 hours? The setup had enough room for more oil, I just didn't put it in there. It is slow, however i feel like its doing a pretty good job of getting the sludge out, and the fram should last a few hundred gallons at that rate. The speed isnt an issue now that i can pour in an entire drum and walk away. The first setup would have taken FOREVER as it didn't let me stage much volume. Im pretty happy with it.

I've been rinsing the fram out with the hose, I bet the sheet would come pretty cleen in the same method, however its free bedsheets, so i may just dump it.

I guess maybe I could dump the sludge in the woods or in a hole for now... *shrug*

 

[MudHog]

Hell if they free, then yea, don't worry about cleaning them. just replace.

It's veggie oil, so the woods method doesn't sound to bad. If you have a fire pile, you could just burn it too. Will help your fire burn.

 

[bct]

Hell if they free, then yea, don't worry about cleaning them. just replace.

It's veggie oil, so the woods method doesn't sound to bad. If you have a fire pile, you could just burn it too. Will help your fire burn.

Now your talkin, stand around and eat fried egg rolls and drink beer with my buddies.....

 

[sagebel]

FWIW, I welded a bung near the bottom of a 55 gallon drum and installed the upper heating element that I removed when I built my processor. It is just above the drain valve. I generally heat the oil to 180*F and then filter it. Also, this barrel is on a platform above the other barrel with the filter on it.

Scott

 

[bct]

so what do you do with all the animal fats n such? I would think you'd want those out and it seams they turn liquid at the higher than room temps.

 

[sagebel]

I usually only have a few chunks and they are taken out with my pre-filtering set up.

Scott

 

[bct]

It sounds like scott has a restraunt guy workin with him pretty well. The stuff i got has like 15 gallons of food sludge at the bottomm of the drum. I'd leave it for them to deal with, but Im affraid they wont call me to get the stuff if Ima pita. So any idea what to do with it? Im pretty decided against trying to separate the oil out...