Rear Tank HotFox Heat Exchanger in

[mankypro]

Well everything is in. Interesting stuff.

I drive hard for an hour, I couldn't get the engine above 180'F this normally is not an issue. And it's begun to get chilly here in the high desert - ambient was about 53'F.

My rear tank is 45 gallons - of COLD ARSED WMO - it was 42'F last night. I think what I've created is one hell of a heat sink.

The hoses going into heated pickup are too hot to touch and the outbound hose is cooler than the inbound - which would betray that it's working - yet after an hour I cannot get the temp above 100'F in that tank (I added a temperature gauge pickup right before the fuel filter).

Guess it takes a while to heat up 45 gallons of cold arsed oil - 'cept I'd think that the heated pickup would be good to get the oil up a few degrees - and maybe it has, my gauge starts at 100'F.

Anyway it's nice to have a cooler engine

 

[FordGuy100]

I didnt think it would effect the engine temp that much for that long, but dang it sure did. Turn that pump up some more for some higher EGT's

 

[69dieselfreak]

where are the pics man

 

[mankypro]

It's too dark to take pics right now. Put in the pillar gauges - one pod is empty waiting for my egt to arrive. I'll take some pics in the morning.

Still need to finish wiring the vegtherm tomorrow.

I ain't going to turn up the pump until I have an egt...

 

[hheynow]

A heat sink is an understatement. A real hot fox heated by a coolant loop will heat the oil around the pickup tube. As it travels through the fuel lines it should pass through a heat exchanger and a vegtherm right before the engine. As it passes through each successive heater it gets hotter and hotter. Take your temp after the vegtherm. Trying to heat your 45 gal tank is like rolling a heavy round stone up a steep hill.

 

[mankypro]

We'll see tomorrow after the VegTherm is up and running...

You'd think 14" of heat exchanger/fuel pickup full of 190'F coolant would be worth a few degrees.

 

[hheynow]

The only purpose for a heated fuel pick up is to thin the oil in a cold tank JUST AROUND THE FUEL PICKUP. This takes some strain off the lift pump which really is designed for diesel. Any more heat on the tank is wasted energy.

 

[Full Monte]

I agree. Also, having the entire wvo tank heated may cause faster component corrosion due to any acidic component in the wvo. Just enough heat to make it flow is what you need, until it gets close to the IP, when you need the higher temperature.

 

[DeepRoots]

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12791&highlight=DeepRoots

thats my super easy wvo burning system. ran it for i dunno about a year and a half. I was making 250 gallons of biodiesel a week with a friend, so i gave up on the wvo. worked well, even in winter. all coolant operated.
a 26 plate heat exchanger could make a huge difference.


ohh and not in that thread, cuz that was a first shot...... i added a 74 gallon aluminum tank. steel reacts with wvo, dunno about lubeoil. I also added check valves with two fuel filters, one for each fuel. had 3/8'' coolant line wrapped around waste oil filter, helped alot.

drew

 

[mankypro]

Looks like with the addition of the vegtherm I can get to about 130 degrees F. Good enough. Maybe I'll wrap the fuel filter with a silicone heater too - We'll see.

 

[Full Monte]

http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=12791&highlight=DeepRoots

steel reacts with wvo, dunno about lubeoil.

drew

I've been wondering about this compatibility of wvo and steel tanks. Do you think it may have something to do with some salt dissolved in the wvo, perhaps with a little water? Or acidic wvo?

 

[Diesel JD]

I'm not sure what it is but I hear about it a lot. I can tell you after doing a lot of biodiesel production typical waste veggie oil can have an acid % anywhere from 2 to better than 10%

 

[mankypro]

Like many things often anecdotes take on a life of their own - I often ask for photographic proof of such things that people repeat - that or testimony of someone who actually witnessed the thing in question.

99% of the time the information or 1st hand word of it cannot be secured.

 

[DeepRoots]

full monte.
from what I could figure it was the warm veggie sloshing up on the tank and drying to a film.
when it broke loose it clogged the valves.
Chris Goodwin has an article on this written by J Beatty over at frybrid.com
and I water/mist washed my wvo before filtering so I doubt salt... acidity perhaps, tho I washed it until the ph was of the water was the same going in and out of the wvo.

whatever the reason, aluminum and stainless, no problem, copper and steel, big problem.

Manky, why so cold? is it that much harder to heat wmo than wvo?
just with coolant I was running 180 veg temps in town, 160 on the highway.
and yes heating a filter is a must.

 

[mankypro]

Manky, why so cold? is it that much harder to heat wmo than wvo?
just with coolant I was running 180 veg temps in town, 160 on the highway.
and yes heating a filter is a must.

No idea mate. When coming to a stop, I can get to about 150*F - I've turned off my vegtherm until I can figure out how to upgrade my alternator - it was pulling too much and running down my batteries.

Maybe my cooling system is very efficient? Maybe the fact that my rear tank is 45 gallons of 40*F oil might have something to do with it.