flow through heater idea for WMO

chillman88

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Hey fellas,

I'm starting to get stuff set up for filtering WMO. I was wondering if anyone had any input on if my idea would work or not.

I'm thinking about setting up a water heater element inside a tube and pushing the oil through it. Basically like a mini water heater. In theory it should heat up the oil that passes through and as it circulates the whole drum should get warm (eventually), but it might take forever so I'm not sure if it'd be worth it or not.

Anyone tried this? I saw a similar setup posted somewhere but I can't remember where. I think the guy had some 2" pipe he ran it through before his centrifuge.

Alternatively, what about pumping hot water through a copper coil immersed in the oil?
 

Cactus Bob

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sounds like a lot of work .
I just have a really heavy duty Turkey fryer burner i use with a 25 gal drum. it's safe when used outside, just don't let the oil get too hot, it takes a lot to get motor oil to burn you would have to get it really hot for it to flame.

Keep in mind you only need the oil to get to about 110F for it to flow through any filter and at that temp it's also safe if you get some on you (no burns)
 
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chillman88

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That's a good idea. My concern isn't purely filtration, I also want to make sure there is no water present, so we're talking what, about 200 degrees now? I'm trying to be consious of the cost associated with heating the oil as well.

I assume your burner is propane powered, how long will it run on a 20lb propane tank? A 20# tank costs about $12 to fill around here so that'll add up fast if I have to run a burner for a long time.

I'm not shooting your idea down, just trying to figure cost factor in.
 

Cactus Bob

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I can't answer that , i live in Arizona and use the Sun to heat my oil . i only need the burner a few times a year.
That said your only going to use a low flame and if water is present you will see bubbles way before 200F and if not don't bother heating that batch up to hot there is no water to get rid of.

PS one more thing when using open flame . Some service stations use there waste oil tank to get rid of waste gasoline . you need to test for this FIRST. I use the smell test and the burn test. first smell it does it smell like gas? then take a clean dry red brick and dip it into the waste oil..take it out and try to light it with a match. if it lights easy it has gasoline in it . I let my "mixes" sit in the sun with a bung cracked a bit for a few months , then retest. it's always good then.
 

chillman88

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I was curious about that as well. I assume the gas will flash at a much lower temperature than the oil?
 

Cactus Bob

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Yes ....you can set the top of the drum on fire, i have done it.

This is just one of the more minor reasons i no longer mess with WMO.

There are people on here who say they run it all the time, but i stopped after a little over a year because of mounting problems and went back to WVO , that is safer,cleaner and all around easier than the motor oil.

it's always nice to know you can do something and have the tools to do that something but sometimes it's just better to keep that knowledge for emergencys and not try to do it everyday.

19 years and 400,000+ miles running on mostly WVO. plenty of problems but too addicted to stop.
 

Ironman03R

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I used a 5gal bucket heater to boil off water contamination. I would fill plastic bucket with about 4.5 gal and used extension cord to get it away from the barn. After a couple hours any water would boil out.
I wanted to install a water heater element into my filtration drum but never did. Might still have the element in the attic now that I think about it! Lol
 

Christian9112

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gasoline blend wmo is safer for me. The water settles at the bottom and I never put the last 5 gallons in my fuel tank. Goldenrod water block filter is great to also filter the water out.
 

catbird7

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Let nature take it's course, you live in NY, wait till November thru March, if there's water in there, it will be frozen!
 

210Tumbleweed

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I used a 5gal bucket heater to boil off water contamination. I would fill plastic bucket with about 4.5 gal and used extension cord to get it away from the barn. After a couple hours any water would boil out.
I wanted to install a water heater element into my filtration drum but never did. Might still have the element in the attic now that I think about it! Lol

I CAN'T SAY, NAY, WONT RECOMMEND USING A PETROLEUM BYPRODUCT (PLASTIC) TO CONTAIN A PETROLEUM BYPRODUCT (WMO)….it goes with the whole solvent-solute thing. Howevero_O
Not sure what your cost considerations/budget for this is...but the water heater element mentioned above seems like a good "set it and forget it" option...if you pair that with something like
1) 12VDC heating element (NOT AN AD---MoW&S has some)
2) Solar Panel(s) of adequate wattage/ and - or Battery Bank with charge controller (you could even use the heating element as a "dump load" if you have enough production on the PV side)
3) Most importantly you'd have to run a temp controller w/ a feedback loop or two
4) Free vent or Condensate capture... the vessel of Choice would NECESSARILY not be located near any thing that you'd like to keep and is in the least way considered to be FLAMMABLE, COMBUSTIBLE, or VOLITILE...Eh???

P.S. -Flame ThrDoesn't water undergo a phase change at 212*F (standard atmosphere & pressure applied) ?
 

subway

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i know someone who did the water heater in a small chamber trick and he said it worked well. this was to heat the oil before sending it into a old oil furnace though. he had some sort of float valve and a heater thermostat to keep it under control. i believe he used it to run the under floor boiler in his shop. i am not sure how well it would heat a whole tank but it should get it nice and hot before it hits a fuge for filtering if that is the goal.
 

catbird7

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I store wmo & tranny fluid in 55 gal drums outside and they're painted "black". As the oil gets repeatedly heated via the sun, particles mixed within the oil naturally fall out of suspension and collect at the bottom of the barrel. This provides a huge advantage when filtering and costs nothing......
Don't lose sight of the objective, we're doing this to reduce fuel costs. I can only guess at the costs involved using a water heater prior to filtering, however do know each dollar spent reduces your potential savings. Sun power is free!
 

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