the big bad oil tank and filtering system

[MIDNIGHT RIDER]

>>> IDEA <<<

That is an impressive set-up.

Goldenrod makes a cleanable re-usable stainless wire-mesh cartridge for their wonderful see-thru bowl filters that would be a good first filter; as in, you can actually see through the sediment-bowl and many expensive cartridges can be saved by the re-usable factor.


I took the leg from an old pair of jeans and sewed the bottom together, thus making a long denim tube.

I cut a hole through a scrap of plywood that the open top of the pants-leg is screwed through.

This piece of plywood fits on top of a bottomless 5-gallon bucket, with a few cleats on the bottom side to keep the plywood lid on the bucket.

A bigger plywood lid sits atop a drum.

The bottomless bucket sits on top of the wood drum-lid, with it's bottom snugly fitting in a hole and screwed in place.

A barrel-pump pokes through another hole.


Used oil is poured through a funnel into the denim "tube" and filters through the tightly woven cloth, then drips into the drum.

I have no idea how many microns this is.

 

[Boston]

ya I'm not suggesting that anyone use head lamps as a heating element. The diagram simply shows that by adding a load to the connection there is a more even distribution of potential. since the connection isn't a circuit in 12 volt mode the load is doing basically nothing but when you flip the switch you get a circuit at 24 volts. Which I suggest is plenty adequate to power "some form" of electric heating element. an inline block heater for instance. Possibly the glow plug systems that were discussed earler or maybe just a heating jacket like whats used on oil pans or fuel filters in the larger trucks.

 

[Blind Driver2]

Headlights themselves get mighty hot; could not the headlight bulbs be submerged in the oil ??


So far as the wiring diagram, what purpose do the headlight bulbs serve ??

Build a housing under the tank and install a dozen heatlamps facing up

 

[Boston]

Maybe I should explain that better, the headlamps by providing a slight resistance when the switch is opened and there is no true circuit between the leads allow for a more even charge on the two batteries. also allows for a more even draw on the system in 24 volt mode. If they were not there you'd be getting the majority of the 12 volt charge in the 1st battery and a majority of the 24 volt load in the 2nd. Means you'd be loosing that second battery and see a drop in power off the 24 volt end a lot faster than if you had a more balanced system.

or at least thats how it was explained to me
I'm not an EE

hope that helps
B

 

[david_lee]

if i were doing this, i'd use two small 12V deep cycles (like for a kids powerwheels or a lawn mower thats about $35 each shipped on ebay) wired in series for the 24V. to keep them charged, a 24V alternator (about $100 new on ebay right now) mounted mounted up where ever you have room on the engine. the 12V alternator and 24V alternator will have no problem sharing a common gound (chassis) as long as their positive sides never come into contact. this seems like the most reliable method for using the 24V motor as it is completely isolated from the 12V primary system and cannot drian or damage your big, expensive batteries.

just an idea

 

[TestDriver]

Comlexity Gone Awry

if i were doing this, i'd use two small 12V deep cycles (like for a kids powerwheels or a lawn mower thats about $35 each shipped on ebay) wired in series for the 24V. to keep them charged, a 24V alternator (about $100 new on ebay right now) mounted mounted up where ever you have room on the engine. the 12V alternator and 24V alternator will have no problem sharing a common gound (chassis) as long as their positive sides never come into contact. this seems like the most reliable method for using the 24V motor as it is completely isolated from the 12V primary system and cannot drian or damage your big, expensive batteries.

just an idea

Boston,

This and several of the other ideas here would work. But, would it not be simpler to just try a hydraulic pump off the engine? The way you have it now is; mchanical->electrical->mechanical->hydraulic. You could just bypass some of these conversions and go straight from mechanical to hydraulic in one step.

I built mine (http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48004) for no money from parts laying around but I'm sure there's commercial units out there for about the same or less than the cost of all the associated motors/converters/batteries etc. that what is being discussed here.

I'm just sayin.

 

[Devilish]

Boston,

This and several of the other ideas here would work. But, would it not be simpler to just try a hydraulic pump off the engine? The way you have it now is; mchanical->electrical->mechanical->hydraulic. You could just bypass some of these conversions and go straight from mechanical to hydraulic in one step.

I built mine (http://www.oilburners.net/forums/showthread.php?t=48004) for no money from parts laying around but I'm sure there's commercial units out there for about the same or less than the cost of all the associated motors/converters/batteries etc. that what is being discussed here.

I'm just sayin.

This is an idea I like! If the truck is a stick then a pto pump can be used. Better than that and necessary if auto, a engine mounted pump using an ac type engagement clutch. Good hose fabrication would cost though.

 

[Boston]

its kinda 6 one way and half dozen the other.

 

[Blind Driver2]

Coolant heater

http://www.fryertofuel.com/springflow_250_springboard.html

 

[Boston]

My theory is that simpler is better, at least to a degree. Convenience has a role to play as well. That type of coolant to fuel heat exchanger requires three things that I'd prefer to avoid. One would be plumbing, less plumbing is better than more, and is a whole lot less expensive. The other would be a delay while waiting for the coolant to heat up, a third might be cost, its pretty expensive to begin with even without the plumbing.

these electric jackets are a lot simpler/cheaper to install.
http://dieselproducts.com/cgi-bin/online/storepro.php
they are also often found on Ebay for half the price listed on that site
http://compare.ebay.com/like/220318...fe9b10a&itemid=220318236168&ff4=263602_309572

My take on the biodiesel market is its a very profitable business to be selling all kinds of fancy bits and pieces that the advertising campaign would love to convince me I gotta have. I don't, what I gotta have is a simple and effective means of transferring, filtering and, in the winter, heating my fuels. I kinda like to make a game out of finding the simplest and cheapest solutions to each issue. Ok I went a little overboard on the tank but the filter set up doesn't have a component that cost more than about $30 except for the centrifuge and I didn't really need that.

The two most expensive parts failed by the way. The centrifuge arrived stripped on both ends, had to have been used and was obviously a return they sent my way ( thanks guys ) The power converter also died after about two weeks. The parts that are functioning well are the all the cheapest ones. Go figure.

I'm leaning towards an electric inline heater for the big tank just ahead of the filters and jackets for the fuel tanks and filter in the truck. I'll start and stop on diesel, run it on motor oil. Should work like a charm ( fingers crossed )

 

[TestDriver]

My theory is that simpler is better, at least to a degree. Convenience has a role to play as well. That type of coolant to fuel heat exchanger requires three things that I'd prefer to avoid. One would be plumbing, less plumbing is better than more, and is a whole lot less expensive. The other would be a delay while waiting for the coolant to heat up, a third might be cost, its pretty expensive to begin with even without the plumbing.

these electric jackets are a lot simpler/cheaper to install.
http://dieselproducts.com/cgi-bin/online/storepro.php
they are also often found on Ebay for half the price listed on that site
http://compare.ebay.com/like/220318...fe9b10a&itemid=220318236168&ff4=263602_309572

My take on the biodiesel market is its a very profitable business to be selling all kinds of fancy bits and pieces that the advertising campaign would love to convince me I gotta have. I don't, what I gotta have is a simple and effective means of transferring, filtering and, in the winter, heating my fuels. I kinda like to make a game out of finding the simplest and cheapest solutions to each issue. Ok I went a little overboard on the tank but the filter set up doesn't have a component that cost more than about $30 except for the centrifuge and I didn't really need that.

The two most expensive parts failed by the way. The centrifuge arrived stripped on both ends, had to have been used and was obviously a return they sent my way ( thanks guys ) The power converter also died after about two weeks. The parts that are functioning well are the all the cheapest ones. Go figure.

I'm leaning towards an electric inline heater for the big tank just ahead of the filters and jackets for the fuel tanks and filter in the truck. I'll start and stop on diesel, run it on motor oil. Should work like a charm ( fingers crossed )

Boston,

This is only related to the heat necessary for centrifuge operation.

The problem with all those electric heaters is that, they just don't put out enough heat to thin out the oil enough. The specific heat of the oils we're talking about is roughly half that of water. That is, it takes a very high amount of energy to bring the temperature up to where it needs to be. That is, something above 160F or so for the centrifuge to be effective.

You had mentioned that the sun is hot in CO and I know this is true. But, even in the best of circumstances, with the sun high at noon, in the southern US, during summer and a flat surface to absorb it, it puts out roughly 1000 Watts/m^2. If you have a tank with a perfect absorbing surface of say, two square meters, you'll be putting 2kW into the system with no losses. Even then, with a little over 100 gallons or about 300kg of oil in the tank at 80F or 27C, in order to raise the entire volume's temperature to 180F (82C), it would take 33.6MegaJoules/hour or a 9.3kw source to do such a thing.

You're much better off just heating the oil you're about to centrifuge right before the process. And, there is really only one readily available source that can safely do that. It's your cooling system.

I've been gone the last 8 or so weekends and have not worked on mine. I've had a couple of hick ups but they're getting worked out. I'll post progress when I get there. I think we're both headed towards the same end.

 

[Boston]

Sounds good and i"m looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I've decided that I will hook up the other motor, going to slave the two with a sprocket and chain so I can pick up cold motor oil faster. also puts less strain on the single motor I have now. The sun out here is screaming hot, I painted the tank flat black and you can't put your hand on it even after just an hour or so in the sun. I've got it sitting while I wait for parts, got the headers today, and after about a week in the high 90° F and blazing sun I've got about 100 gallons of plenty hot oil. I need a temp gauge but its bound to be well over 100° F.

I'm waffling on the centrifuge. Might use it, might not. I do after all have that huge fractioner on there that removes non emulsified water, most systems just go with that and I'm already down around 1 micron just with the purilator filters.

oh well keep me posted on your progress and I'll do the same.

Next shots will be of the front clip removed and some new gizmo's going in.

 

[wmoguy]

Sweet setup!
Fwiw I think id talk with Joe at pabiodiesel before adding the centrifuge. Icbw but I don't think it would fair well to the bumps and vibrations of being on the pickup as it was operating and going down the road.
Btw I'm 45 minutes north of you. If you want to see one of their centrifuges in action you are always welcome to come up.

 

[Devilish]

I'm ultra cheapsk8 when it comes to doing anything. You might not like the plumbing part of heating the oil but in reality it is the cheaper method. You've already fabricated the tank which does make what I'm thinking more difficult. You still can cut off 1 side panel to install steel pipe inside the tank also welding pieces of flat metal onto the pipe to act as heat spreaders/ baffles. Electrical methods of producing heat are more expensive in the long run because of 1. added costs of parts/ugrading, 2. higher failure rate, 3. increased load on engine to run electrical items. Sure it takes 15 minutes or so to get the heating system up to operating temps but it'll take a while to heat up oil with an electrical heating unit as well.
Take a look at this tank from onken http://www.onkens.net/heated-tanks.html Vertically mounted in the middle of the tank is a length of box tubing and a 120v 300 watt heating element screws in at the bottom to heat antifreeze thus keeping the wvo warm enough to transfer. You can do something like this too to keep the tank warm when the truck isn't running. I myself was also considering diverting exhaust to use for heat but scrapped that idea because of heat regulation issues.

 

[Boston]

hmmmm hadn't thought of that part about being pumped around going down the road, I guess it could screw up the rotation in that thing, although they do have on board centrifuge systems and I'm pretty sure they work ok. Maybe they are on gimbals or something. Ya I gotta call Joe again cause I've yet to send back the one that arrived damaged and frankly I'm just not that interested in adding even more complexity to the system. 1 micron is more than enough and the vast majority of water in the fuel won't be emulsified anyway. I can fraction it off without to much trouble in a typical separator.

I'm kinda entertaining the idea of going with a stack and dropping a coil down it to let exhaust gasses do the work for me. Fastest heat available on the truck and if I oversize the pipe it wont adversely effect performance. I could set a pop valve to drain back into the tank should anything boil. Cap is pressure release