My WMO setup (just getting started)

chillman88

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Well I've got plenty of oil and I definitely need to get started filtering it if I'm going to run it.

Picked up a PA Biodiesel centrifuge on the marketplace from @homelessduck wo wasn't using it anymore. Pleasure to deal with him if anyone wonders.

I picked up some scrap from work, oddly enough it would have been a pump base if it had come in the right length.
I had a 3/4hp electric motor in the garage. I ordered up a power steering pump for a 89 Honda Accord and didn't want to buy a Honda pressure line, so I ran a 1/4NPT tap into the outlet.

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Looks like it might work once I goober the threads with sealer.

Got the scrap channel all marked up and went to town with the drill and welder.

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That motor is bolted in with 4 grade 5 1/4" bolts which I welded to the base. The ear there is a drop from the bumper I'm building for my Jeep, and that angle iron is part of an old bed frame. This whole project is a recycling story lol!

Once I got everything fit up, I realized the pump couldn't mount the way I wanted it to... Figured out I could use a little more angle iron and make an extension of sorts. Found a weld stud in a junk box, perfect!

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Fit everything up and hopefully in a couple days I'll see what breaks LOL I really don't have time for breakdown repair but... you know something will! Oh.... the belt is a spare vacuum pump belt from my truck! Went hydroboost so I didn't need it and now I don't have to guess what size it is!

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That's all I've got finished so far. More in the next couple of days!
 

chillman88

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Nothing much today. Mounted the fuge. I'm going to need another section of hydraulic hose. 48" isn't going to cut it.

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I may have to reseal the mating flange but it's there now. Drilled a hole with a grommet for the pressure bypass.

I'm probably going to have to use a scrap barrel as a starter. Some dummy forgot to take the top off the clean barrel and there's still wet paint in it so I don't think I'm going to chance that. I do plan on fuging directly into a clean barrel after it runs for a couple hours.
 

Mt_Man

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Do you always run the bypass partially open or completely closed when at operating rpm?

Looks good so far!
 

subway

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Do you always run the bypass partially open or completely closed when at operating rpm?

Looks good so far!

to jump in, i have the same fuge, you run it partially open to regulate the pressure. power steering pumps can get up to 1500 or so psi, much more than the fuge wants!
 

Mt_Man

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So in a two barrel setup you choose which barrel the bypass goes back to. Correct? Seems like it could cross contaminate your centrifuged oil.
 

chillman88

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So in a two barrel setup you choose which barrel the bypass goes back to. Correct? Seems like it could cross contaminate your centrifuged oil.

Yes that's correct. I'll be running everything into the same tank for a couple hours and then feeding the clean oil into a new barrel while recycling the bypass into the "dirty" barrel until the clean one is full.

I hope to have it running pretty soon here, I ended up grabbing the wrong hose barb so I had to go grab more fittings.
 

bbjordan

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Do you always run the bypass partially open or completely closed when at operating rpm?

Get a pressure regulator! PA Biodiesel sells them.

I tried just doing the bypass valve partially open to regulate the pressure, but when the system gets warm, the valve loosens up.
One time I accidentally caught the bypass valve on my sleeve and it closed. The pressure spiked and it wrecked the centrifuge bowl. Doh! Lesson learned: get a pressure regulator.
 

chillman88

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Get a pressure regulator! PA Biodiesel sells them.

I tried just doing the bypass valve partially open to regulate the pressure, but when the system gets warm, the valve loosens up.
One time I accidentally caught the bypass valve on my sleeve and it closed. The pressure spiked and it wrecked the centrifuge bowl. Doh! Lesson learned: get a pressure regulator.

Didn't see one on their site. I'll look around though, thanks for the heads up


I used one of these old barrels from work because they already have a fitting on them... Well I should have just had someone weld a fitting on a different barrel because I've got about $30 in reducing bushings!

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That line runs directly into the pump and then from the pump up to the fuge.

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It's hooked up though. I'll start fuging tonight if the rain lets up so I can grab a barrel from out back. If it doesn't, I'll probably just start out with the dirtier oil I already have in the garage. I'm planning on fuging the good clean hydraulic oil though if I can.

Grabbed another pressure line and tied them together with a disconnect off my old plow truck.

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chillman88

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That's what I've used for a few years now. It works good. :dunno

Hey I won't knock it until I've tried it, sometimes using things the wrong way isn't necessarily wrong lol. The best tool for the job is always the one that works!
 

chillman88

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Purring right along. My centrifuge setup is actually the ONLY thing I haven't had problems with yet. I'm kind of impressed it's not leaking anywhere lol.

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First I dumped several gallons of water based cutting oil in because I didn't check the barrel first and my supplier gave me a couple barrels of that on accident.

Then my "clean" barrel started leaking all over the floor in the garage... Pinhole leak in the bottom.

Then I killed my truck battery because I forgot to start it before running the transfer pump for three barrels....

Finally reworked the outlet for the fuge. Now it's going directly into my transfer tank. It's leaking a little bit now due to me rushing but not bad enough for me to fuss over as far behind schedule as I am.

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This oil is really pretty clean. It was in a filtered hydraulic system indoors in a manufacturing facility. I'm not getting much in the fuge, just a thin layer of silt. Probably more from being transferred multiple times between barrels.
 

reset2

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Hi Chillman. Sorry I wont be able to meet you at the rally.
Also look at a site SteelSoldiers they have an alternate fuels forum. There is a lot if info there also. I currently use the 1 gal rug and 4 wmo in a five gallon bucket. Settle for a month (summer). Then pour off 4.5 gallon of good oil .5 gallon of scrap oil. Then I mix at a rate roughly 50 /50 with diesel. With what I have learned that more than that percent you will carbon up your pre chamber. Then ever so often pure diesel.
If I get my act together a centrifuge is in the future.
Good job getting set up. Love the pictures. Also always the very bottom of the oil you recover from places has junk in it. Save yourself some aggravation and don't take the bottom dregs. Also no antifreeze.
Let the wmo smell be with you. :)
 
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