WVO Filtering

[johnsiddle]

Fatty oil

Hi Mate
So should I heat it up and filter it then leave it to settle out.?
Tap off the clear oil and save the fat for summer bio... yes???
Will adding petrol or dino help??
John

[POPEYE]

Thinning it with petrol, white spirits, will help the injector pump handle it and avoid it blowing a seal, although if you have tank, and inline heaters.exchangers it should be ok without thinning, i'm still just mixeing with derv so i do thin it a bit, i'd warm it up to filter tho if only to save the filters blocking up in no time,
good news tho about the leaflets, still aint got round to doing it, did you post em or take em round the places, ask for the catering manager etc?

[johnsiddle]

Leaflets

I stuck them thro the letter boxes.
The one that I am promised (although nothing yet) my daughter gave to a catering manager of a pub they go to.
They have their own drum and said they would call when full.
I hope its not a 45 gal drum, I shall be a long time hand pumping that into 60 ltr drums.

I thought the all idea of bio was that it took the fats out and left pure (ish) oil.

I get about 30/40ltrs of good stuff per week this chinese stuff is on top of that
Perhaps I will cook it, spin it, add 50% diesel and store it till the warmer weather comes.
My rig has the heater in the tank, one wrapped around the filter and another about a foot long just before the injector. Plus the original dino tank which I accidentally topped up with veggie again ( must put a longer bit of pipe on my hand pump, but at least it is getting warmer so starting is ok. Dont think the fat will go thro as yet.
john

[POPEYE]

I'm far from an "expert" on this shoit but yup always thought fats were to be avoided going in the tank, i'd do what you suggest (heat and filter)and leave it afterwards to see what solids form in the bottom, then drain off the top and dump whats left,

If you getting a regular supply it would be well worth getting a decent hand or electric pump, that hand one in the pics i use does shift a decent volume without you haveing to crank the buggery out of it seen em on ebay for not too many ££££'s, saves a lot of tipping cans up and getting it all over you, orrible stuff to get off,

[johnsiddle]

Hand pump

Yep I have the same one.
Cast iron and red. I have a plastic pipe fixed to the top with some 22mm pipe on the end to go into the filler hole, but its a bit short and sometimes misses the left hand turn.
Your arm aches a bit pumping 40ltrs of COLD veggie.
But they are good

[tintin]

I dont do any of that!!!!
Just filter thru a cotton sheet.
Then put in top tank,
leave for a week,
drip thru sponge filter into middle tank,
leave another week,
drip thru another sponge to bottom tank.
Then leave a week and drain into bottles.
The solids all seem to be left behind in the bottom of the tanks.
(my oil has only been used to cook chips tho')
Anyone who doubts the use of filtering thru a cotton pillowcase or similar should take a look at the amount of shoite that wont go thru!
I reckon my oil is pretty much ready to use after this, but i still use the settling method as well.
Up to now i've never added anything to the oil, just used it in the truck 'as is'
albeit never more than about 40% oil.

Alan
( i do use injector cleaner regularly tho)

[johnsiddle]

Fat

Hi Alan.
oil from chips tend to not have much fat in.
For my best stuff from the pub and an Italian I filter at 200 then heat very hot and pump thro a 5 micron before spinning in a homemade centrifuge.
I run this at 100% with a twin tank system.
But the stuff I am concerned about is from a chinese and smells like a load of ducks have been fried in it and is almost white with fat.
It will just about go thro a 600micron filter but a 400 and a 200 blocks in seconds.
Its this stuff I am trying to sort.
Regards John

[GIRDLES]

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/...d.php?tid=3252
Have agood look at this site it contains all the Information you will need.
I settle for 2/3 weeks prior to filtering thus avoiding putting the whites/fats through the filters I filter cold to prevent as much fat as possible from entering my tank. The whites are used for summer Bio which is mixed with the veg during summer months saves me wasting the thick oil I collect.

[johnsiddle]

Fat

I take back what I said about going thro a 600... wrong that blocks also.
I have put it in store for now and will continue to collect for now. My farmer mate said I can always put it on his muck heap if I dont use it.
I have decided to build a processor for bio.

Just ordered a litre of methanol to try a test batch of bio first tho. If that works then I am thinking of a 100/200 ltr plastic drum with a motorised paddle and small emersion heater fitted. I assume an emersion heater wont melt the plastic drum, unless I try heating up fresh air like I did once with my normal filtering system.

Does anyone know if lye/methanol mix will corrode galvanised drums cuz I just saw some on ebay quite cheap.
John

[GIRDLES]

John
For safety and your own health have a good look at the http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum
The information there will help you build a safe machine that works look up GL processor

[GIRDLES]

John
This is a link to GLs website shows you how to build a cheap safe machine and has all the relavent info you will need.
http://www.graham-laming.com/bd/main.htm

[johnsiddle]

Bio Processors

Hi mate.
I have spent the last two days reading and rereading all the articles on Bio Processors on the Journey to Forever site also the mother earth site.

I think I have just about got my head around the process and the equipment.

I think the galvanised tanks will be at least as good as the painted or plain mild steel ones which most people seem to use. I have decided against the plastic ones. I will use some of my 50ltr plastic drums as settling tanks
I should be able to use my existing filter tank with an additional cartridge filter (maybe a washable one) and a bit more plumbing, as a pre heat tank so I can get this peking duck fat moving.

I spent some time at the site you suggested not sure what you mean by search GL unless you mean glycerine
John

[johnsiddle]

Gl

Found your second post with Grahams link
Brillient, I shall make one of those.
I though you couldnt use copper for bio but everyone else seems to be doing so.

I would have thought the lye would have rusted the CH pumps but obviously not.

Will post when I have done something constructive.
John

[POPEYE]

Just added that graham link to my favorits so i can access it, have to have a good read through that, very good link! the link below john is for the surface mounted thremal switches, thought they might be of use as a back up safty for the emersion heaters, verious rateing available so you could get one at just a higher setting than the heaters set at, if you plan to use plastic drums, i've seen a few emmersions that have failed (stat) and just boiled away, they can build up very high temps and be dangerious, as we saw in the news a while back, toddler died as a result of a stat failing,
http://cpc.farnell.com/jsp/search/br...at+switch&Ntx=

[biosurf]

Do also bear in mind that lots of the stats you can buy now are set to go no higher than 55-60 degrees which is a bit low for efficient water drop out. You can fiddle with the stats to change this but I bought some rorm a plumbing supply shop that go to 75 from the factory.

whatever you do make sure that you don't let the stats accidentally switch on in your processing tank when they are not covered. If you have been using methoxide etc. you will have fumes present in the processor and at the moment the unsubmerged immersion glows hot you will have an explosion.