the steps i take are as follows
1. i use a 55g drum with a drain valve welded to the bottom.(the boiling barrel)
i fill the drum with 25g of wmo and boil it until it stops crackling (the crackling is the water boiling out)
2.i then remove the heat and mix in 25g of kero (makes it thinner for easier filtering)
3. after adding the kero the mix is still gonna be plenty hot enough to keep things thin.
i then open the drain valve on the bottom of the drum and send the fuel through the centrifuge. the return fuel is sprayed into a sock filter at the top of the drum. the sock filter is free hanging so that any fuel that doesnt flow through it flows over the sides of the filter and back into the drum. (i also use this filter to pre filter my wmo when pumping it into the barrel in the first place but i try to go slow enough to have minimal over flow-i do the same for the kero)
for the first 2 hours of filtering i use a 5 mic sock and when i think the oil is starting to change colors just a little i then use a 1 mic sock.
the sock is more of a helper to the centrifuge and nothing more.
after a couple hours of filtering i close the drainvalve, turn off the centrifuge and reapply heat until the 50 gallons of fuel heats to about 180-190 degrees. (i use a laser thermometer)
at this time i also give my centrifuge a nice cleaning and once over.
i then switch the 1 mic sock for a 1/2 mic sock.
then i open the drain valve and start the centrifuge.
the centrifuge will almost always push fuel faster then the socks can drain it but like i said before, the sock filter is for assisting only. any extra fuel just drains over the top and into the barrel.
i also have a setup that has the overflow fuel flowing into another sock that is placed under the other sock but im having a hard time catching the over flow and not the filtered oil. basically the filtered oil draing from the top sock is filling up the bottom sock and not helping very much with filtering the overflow from the first sock...hope that makes sense.
i think the best setup is to use just one sock. but if i get my multiple sock filters set up real good then they will be able to do a better job.
the best socks to use are the xtra large 36" filters. these hold alot more fuel and have enough surface area to almost keep up with the fuel flow rate.
however you heat the oil is up to you- i use fire but that isnt normally safe but i have the fire underneath a sheat of half inch steal to keep the flames from touching the barrel. i also have it set up so that if the barrel starts leaking the oil flows away from the fire. i would highly recomend that you use a safer form of heat, then what i use, to boil the water out of the fuel. however, an electric element takes alot of juice inorder to get 25g of oil to boil.
if you start off with 10 gallons of oil, the process is alot safer and faster and then add 10 gallons of kero it also filters alot quicker but i find it alot less labor intensive to do the big batch and just let it filter all day while im working in the yard.its preference really
hope this helps
