Thinning vs heating before centrifuging?

NeverHave-I-Ether

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Thinning with pump fuel vs heating.

Both methods are done with one goal in mind, to thin the viscosity of the oil so that the centrifuge can pull the maximum amount of containments from the oil.

It is different for every person as their source of WMO can be a different viscosity.

You can add diesel to thin the viscosity cutting it about 50% give or take and that should be more than adequate in most situations.

Heating the oil to 170-200°F also works in most applications and thins the oil enough. Relatively easy down south.

If you are in a colder climate or have very thick oil, thinning the oil somewhat and heating the oil may be necessary.

The end result which you want is the same, to thin the viscosity of the oil.

Hope that helps
 

Mt_Man

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Well found the limit to my heater was about 25-30degrees. Started a new batch of wmo. Prethinned and ran it for about a week cleaning every 24hr and was getting about the same amount out each time. Ambient temps are low today at 35f but around 45 past fuel weeks. With the heater it was able to get it up to about 70f. Really wanted it to go up higher to 110f. It did doubled what I was pulling out. But also doubled the power consumption. So I will have to crunch some number to see where the break even point is.

It would be nice to have it indoors haha. Next place.
I am thinking I need to invest in another heater maybe set up a diesel coolant heater and a heat exchanger that way I can use some fuel and save some electrons. I would set it up either of two ways. Heat the whole tote. Or inline and heat the oil going to the fuge. It would then heat the oil in the tote. Could use this heater for other things like warming trucks up and be portable if I make it have quick couplers. Like the old days or connecting crummies to equipment to preheat them. But really don't need block heater out here. Could always use it to heat a shed with a car heater and blower or radiator.
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Mt_Man

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Yep I have one of those and the that came with my centrifuge. Different design but same thing. I am trying to think of ways to use less electricity. But if it filters way faster then might worth just paying for the electricity.
 

Mt_Man

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Added another barrel of thinning fuel to the current tote I am processing. Total volume 330gal now with heat off. Definitely pulling more sludge out. Similar amount to heating to 70f from 45f.
Found some interesting online calculators. One is for boilers and other is more generic water heating. Yes, I know oil has a different specific heat than H20, but this get one to a ballpark. It will be an overly conservative estimate by almost double. Water is 1btu/degree f and petroleum is 0.51 btu/degree f. According to one chart I found. Kinda fun to think about and see some numbers. Lastly, a power consumption vs cost calculator.
https://myboiler.com/calculators/hot-water-flow-rate-lpm-to-kw-input/
https://bloglocation.com/art/water-heating-calculator-for-time-energy-power
https://www.calculator.net/electric...5&usage=24&usageunit=hpd&price=0.15&x=70&y=39

So if the heating triples the cost of operations and 1/3 the time it takes to filter then it's a win. But if it still takes the same amount of time then it's kinda of a lost for me. It can become costly to run the heater for very long. Now I am recirculating a bunch more times then just a single pass. I am trying to find out how much sludge there is to pull out. Part of my goal is to mix the batch and pass it multiple times in a 24hr period. At some point I will test decreasing the flow rate and see if that significantly decreased the processing time.
 

PossumTruck

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Thinning with pump fuel vs heating.

Both methods are done with one goal in mind, to thin the viscosity of the oil so that the centrifuge can pull the maximum amount of containments from the oil.
Some folks add RUG to aid in settling as well. RUG certainly alters the properties of motor oil. Whether it reduces the load on the filtration system (filter media or a centrifuge) by leaving greater quantities of undesirable matter in the bottom of the storage vessel, vs settling without, is unknown to me.
 

Mt_Man

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Gas is what I mainly use to thin with. It does do good and trucks start easy with a right blend. Lot of my stuff has been settling for long time and preblended.
 
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