What are your heating methods?

[Josh Carmack]

I use a 4500 watt High density WH element simply dropped into the processing or mixing tank. I also have two secondary heater elements that are 1500W a pc. I'm growing tired of this method. I am considering using a heating element directly at the pump intake. Possibly two or three in series to have the capacity to heat cold oil to working temperature before entering the pump and on to the fuge duo. That would allow me to begin processing as soon as I load the fuge drum. I am also considering building another inline heating setup that will heat the oil above boiling temperature and then allow the oil to flow slowly out of the heater to allow the oil to lose more moisture. All the oil I am working with is wet or so it seams after I start heating it as I get the grey/brown air bubbles that float up to the top after heating for a few minutes that tell me there is water that is being flashed into steam and floating up. So I'm trying to figure the best way to heat the living s$%t out of it, but not from the bottom of a tank, as the lower the pressure on the "wet" oil the better it will give up it's moisture. I am also considering vacuum distillation by using the condenser coil from a refrigerator and a 120 gallon air compressor tank with a little propane heat added to the bottom of it.

Anyone try vacuum distillation? My only reason for wanting to try that is to lessen the amount of heat energy i put into my fuel.

 

[JasonSVO]

Using inline heaters before your centrifuge will lessen your electrical load. Element in tube style works the best. Settle off the water before you send it through the centrifuge and there should be little that gets flashed off with the heaters.

Jason
WVO Designs

 

[Josh Carmack]

Yeah, most of my oil is settled several weeks to a few months. I'm guessing it is water trapped at a molecular level, or even in chemical bonds as my holding tank sat for 2 months during the summer. I run into that problem every batch, I get very little water in the fuges, but always get the tell tell sign of flash bubbles. It may not be that big of a deal really, but when I see the grey/brown bubbles it bothers my conscience.

 

[The FNG]

We vacuum treat oil oil transformers at work, it's incredibly expensive to build a vacuum chamber and there is more to it than one might expect. Once you heat the oil and draw a vacuum on it, it will begin to foam and fill the chamber...will definitely slow down the process. We have to filter some of our 690 gallon transformers for days at .5-1 gpm due to the amount of foam and dissolved gasses. I can only imagine what it would do with WMO.

 

[Brad S.]

This is a really good question because for us (wmo users in areas where it gets cold) is tough.
I don't have a good answer but let me try to explain a thought I had. (means I could get long winded)
A few years ago we bought a tankless water heater from ebay, works good but had to send it back when it went out, got another one back.
Had to open the case cause the electricians direct wired it.
The basic way it works it has 2 water heater elements basically inside a couple of connected pipes. When the water comes in it runs along both elements to get maximum heating ability before it goes out or to the house.
Thought was why not do this for wmo...???
I've got some pics of the inside of this heater, I'll try to post em give a better idea.
Maybe bad part of this set up it uses a lot of electricity. IIRC the heater is rated at 60 amps @ 220 volts.
And I think a person needs to keep the flow going because it keeps the elements from burning up..??

 

[Brad S.]

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This is the top end of the heating elements.
Water comes in from the right hand side, goes down along the right element then up from the bottom on the left element and out.

 

[Josh Carmack]

Going to set up a single 5500W element and measure the ambient temp, oil temp, and the rise so I can do the math on what'll be needed to get it above boiling temps. Also going to test about 50 gallons in the 120 gal tank to see what happens under vacuum. got and idea r two to combat foam, including a defaoming agent, or perhaps the addition of trans fluid since it already has defoamer.