New To WMO. Many questions. Any thoughts?

drewr13NJ

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Hi guys. I've been lurking for a while on this forum, mostly on the Ford IDI forum. I finally got my '92 7.3 IDI reliable enough to drive regularly. I did some research on WMO as fuel and I am experimenting. Everyone seems to use a centrifuge, but I don't have a consistent supply of WMO so with them costing $1500 up, I don't think I can justify it. Currently have less than $200 invested in a Fill-Rite crank pump, filter base and a couple barrels. I plan on buying more barrels for settling and storage.

Here is my process so far: Currently I add oil to a barrel via a funnel with a 60 micron screen. Add gasoline; between 10 and 15%. Let it settle out for a few days to a week and pump to a 15 gallon barrel on a hand truck, move my pump to that barrel to pump into the truck. I don't extend the barrel pump all the way to the bottom so I can hopefully leave sludge in the bottom of the settling barrel. My filter on the pump is a 10 micron WIX 51551 hydraulic filter. My thought is the stock fuel filter is 14 micron IIRC, so I figured 10 micron should be good enough.

Most of my oil thus far is coming from friends, family and co-workers giving it to me in 5qt jugs. I plan on getting more in that form. I am also watching FB market place and I might be able to snag up some 55 gal drums of used motor oil. I have no way to move IBC totes and have limited space in my garage.

My question to you guys: Am I missing something? Should I be running a water separator inline with my pump? Should I get a diaphragm hand pump? Any recommendations for collection pumps? Should I pump the sludge off the bottom of the settling drum before I pump the mix out? If so, what kind of pump should I use and how much should I pump off? I've thought about buying a 15 gallon cone bottom tank to use for settling with the thought that draining off the crap in the bottom would be easier. I'm willing to invest a few hundred dollars into this, but not much more a least at this point. I also have two other vehicles I can drive too. If I drive my IDI to work every day, I only burn maybe 7 gallons/week just going back and forth to work, so I'm not using a lot of fuel.

I did one batch this way with no problems. I also had over half a tank of diesel in my truck, so I'm not running it straight by any means.

Oh, I got most of my info from this site before proceeding with this process. https://www.thedieselstop.com/threads/wmo-how-to-thread.277887/ I feel like my process is adapted for drmiller100's "low buck" method. Think an up flow processor is worth it considering my lack of consistent supply? Also, has anyone had issues with taxes/fines via being dipped by DOT by running WMO
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? Thanks for the input!
 

Cactus Bob

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this is my set up . i have used this pump and filters for over 25 years. it works on any oil and WMO is great because it does not plug up the pre filter at all. on WMO i get almost a year on the pre filter and 2-3 years on the polishing filter. it is made from an old household oil furnance gun stripped of the nozzle ass and the spark transformer . leaving just the pump and motor to drive it. the high pressure port has been plugged so it's fuel in the input and the return port is your product. video here :
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u2slow

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@drewr13NJ you already have more pumping/filtering gear than I.

The main truck I run wmo in has an additional primary filter. I just collect my used oil in clean containers, and 'blend' by portioning it into the truck's fuel tank with however much diesel. And a splash of additive.

For "filthier" collections I have a sock filter I manually pour through first.

I finally got a smallish furnace oil tank, so my process will evolve for the better.
 

ttman4

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Filtering & heat!!! Warming it up helps as much as anything!
I try to settle my WMO, then sometimes hang up some “fat boy” jeans, tie the legs, let it strain thru, then settle some more.
I used to run very rich, specially in summer, but not bout 30% in summer, less winter.
Also have heat plate exchanger
 

Wulf202

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If you want to add to your settling process you can look up "upflow filter" it's just connecting 2 barrels in such a way they force settling.

Priming the up flow filtration does require 2 full barrels of oil though.
 

pastorjeep

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I used a whole house filter and HF trash pump. Kept two barrels one settling ad the other of filtered. I would pump off the top of the settled through the filter and into the other tank. When I added oil to my truck tank I would pump through the filter again. I would use 20 micron on first transfer and 2 micron when pumping into truck. It was in the truck in my sig. When I was going to school (72 miles away) full time I had one year where I was running 90% WMO because I was a poor college student with 5 young kids and a wife at home. In normal times it was 70% in summer and 50% in winter mixed with diesel. My winter blend also was a premixed 80/20 of WMO and regular gas blended and then pumped into the truck. That one year at school I drove 30K on almost straight WMO. I took a trip to the Catskills from NC and got 22mpg on WMO doing 60 in the slow lane!
 

u2slow

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You guys aren't having trouble with the gas mixed in? I'm too nervous about that with direct injection. I thin with diesel if it's too thick to strain/filter easy.
 

drewr13NJ

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I would like to thank everyone who posted and gave some insight on the topic. I definitely got some ideas and concepts to run with. From the sounds of it, it looks like I'm off to a good start. I think the next step is for me to get a pump which should give me more flexibility on collecting used oil.
 

AcIdBuRn02ZTS

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You guys aren't having trouble with the gas mixed in? I'm too nervous about that with direct injection. I thin with diesel if it's too thick to strain/filter easy.
No trouble with gas. We've been blending with gas since we started... typical batch is 5 gallons to 50 gallons of oil. We've ran the blend in everything from the IDI and OM616/617s to a 4bt Cummins and a DT360. No problems.

We recently upgraded our setup to a single pass 'fuge and now we can run the same blend down to single digit temps without a problem (dual tanks.. no heating of the fuel system... just start and shutdown on pump diesel).
 

drewr13NJ

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dieselfollower

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I’ve run approx 450 gallons of WMO/ gas blend in my ‘92 12V. In the coldest winter months I ran 75% WMO TO 25% gas. I usually added 4-5 gallons of D2 to that to make a tankfull.
In the summer I’d sometimes only run W80. A factor that I believe is important to keep coking at bay is at least 1 WOT clear out before shutting the truck off. But then again my truck doesn’t have dual tanks.
More timing advance is a great thing (moderation) when running slow burning oil.
 

drewr13NJ

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If you have a local transmission shop, check with them as a source for used tranny fluid it burns awesome!
I have ran used ATF from vehicles of my own in my generator and air compressor; both are IDIs and it runs well. I do have a tranny shop right down the street from me, but it is a chain, so they might be hesitant to sell/give it to me. Anyone buy WMO? I've seen some people want around a $1/gal on FB marketplace. I was thinking 50 cents/gal is more reasonable. I've gotten a lot free too!
 
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