Need a better filtration process

[simone0414]

My current process cleans the oil just fine but I would like to make a less labor intensive way to filter & dewater my oil. One that I could pretty much walk away from it once it starts & it does its thing on its own. Plus my current setup will not allow me to filter large amounts of oil without me being there most of the time. The way I do it now is I have 2 ways to filter for different grades of oil I get. Most of my oil comes from one source & is very clean to begin with & is almost always water free. So this stuff let settle in the buckets I pick it up in for a week or more & I just pump through a 10 micron furnace oil filter & then a 5 micron whole house water filter. I use my SBC pump which is mounted to a 1/2" drill for this. Any oil that has water a heat to 100-140 & then run through my ACME jucierator. Works good but is slow & cannot be left completely on its own cause it will go unstable once in a while.

I have considered a proper centrifuge which I know would do the job but it is quite expensive to get set up for & I again I need something that I can leave on its own for long periods of time & it will do its thing on its own.

So I am considering Clay's filtration setup or Joh Galt's cold upflow. I like Johns cause it's simple & would be cheap to set up but I don't think it would produce enough oil fast enough for me. I'm pretty sure Clay's would but I am considering changing my setup a bit to keep costs down.

I already have a HWH I can use & have access to all the barrels anyone would need. I would like to make 2 changes which would greatly reduce the cost of set up & allow me to use stuff I already have. Instead of using a pump to pump the oil from the settling tank to the HWH can I just elevate the tank higher then the HWH & gravity feed the oil into the HWH? Instead of buying the filter housing I would like to just plumb in my furnace oil & water filter setup & gravity feed from the HWH. If gravity feeding through the filter setup doe not provide enough pressure to force the oil in the HWH through my filtering setup then could I just fill the settling barrel up with new oil & use that oil to provide more pressure to force the oil in the HWH through my filters. Basically I would be draining & filling the HWH at the same time. Or just get a small pump.

Seems like it would work this way which would greatly reduce the cost by not having to buy a pump or the filter housing. I would set up everything else the same way Clay has.

Anyone see why this won't work?

[Clay Henry]

No real way to get by without a pump and pumps can be found relatively cheap. Gravity feeding into the water heater would work i guess but if your going to have a pump to cycle through the filter you may as well use the same pump to pump into the water heater. J Galts system is effective but slow. My old system with the water heater will produce clean dry oil at the rate of 50 gal. every 24 hours.

[simone0414]

Originally Posted by Clay Henry

No real way to get by without a pump and pumps can be found relatively cheap. Gravity feeding into the water heater would work i guess but if your going to have a pump to cycle through the filter you may as well use the same pump to pump into the water heater. J Galts system is effective but slow. My old system with the water heater will produce clean dry oil at the rate of 50 gal. every 24 hours.

Just trying to do it as cheap as possible I guess. No pump to maintain, run wiring to ( my shop is not wired) etc..I think I will try it gravity feed & see how well it works. If it doesn't then it should be easy to add one. I expect I will need a pump but can't hurt to try.

Are HWH elements 110 or 220? I think they are 110 which is what I want.

50 gallon every 24hrs perfect. If all goes as planned I will be putting my truck to work running on free fuel & will be gone most of the day. So I need something that will do its thing while I am gone.

[Clay Henry]

With the pump, my old system was designed to cycle through the filter housing more than once, how will you do that without a pump?
I just don't see it working to be honest.
Water heaters operate 0n 240 volts but you will want to wire it to 120 to heat it slower.

[vegginpsd]

Go the gravity feed CF route and be done. Most people end up there anyway.

[simone0414]

Originally Posted by Clay Henry

With the pump, my old system was designed to cycle through the filter housing more than once, how will you do that without a pump?
I just don't see it working to be honest.
Water heaters operate 0n 240 volts but you will want to wire it to 120 to heat it slower.

Why would I need to run my oil through the filter more then once? Most of my oil is pretty clean from the restaraunt. I will pouring my oil through either jeans legs or bag filters into the settling tank & then through a 10 micron & 5 micron filters. That seems sufficient to me. I am not trying to disagree with you just trying understand why more then one pass would be necessary?

You very well could be right Clay but I would like to try it & see what happens. I can plumb it in such a way that if a pump is required then it would be easy to add one. The way I am looking at it is if it works without a pump great & if it doesn't then with a small amount of work I can add one.

[Clay Henry]

Originally Posted by simone0414

Why would I need to run my oil through the filter more then once? Most of my oil is pretty clean from the restaraunt. I will pouring my oil through either jeans legs or bag filters into the settling tank & then through a 10 micron & 5 micron filters. That seems sufficient to me. I am not trying to disagree with you just trying understand why more then one pass would be necessary?

You very well could be right Clay but I would like to try it & see what happens. I can plumb it in such a way that if a pump is required then it would be easy to add one. The way I am looking at it is if it works without a pump great & if it doesn't then with a small amount of work I can add one.

The same reason your using 3 different filters. Which by the way is pointless to use 3 different size filters. Just use the 5 micron and run it through a couple times. Using a ten and the a five it kinda like washing your hands without soap and the washing them again with... Just wash them the first time with and be done. I run the oil through more than one in case some particle were able to pass. I got better results and besides, I turned on the pump to cycle the oil through and at the flow rate I had, it only took 15 minutes to cycle 50 gal. Through the filter multiple times. Also the oil exited the filter and went back into the water heater mixing with the unfiltered oil so multiple passes is the only way to ensure it all gets filtered. When I'm done, I opened a valve to deposit the oil into the INC tote so all the oil made a final pass and into the tote. This all took 15-20 minutes.
If u are dead set on no pump, another cheap method of moving oil is with air. 2-4 psi in a barrel will move the oil out quite nicely. If u have an air compressor.

[simone0414]

Originally Posted by vegginpsd

Go the gravity feed CF route and be done. Most people end up there anyway.

I have thought alot about centrifuge vs other filtration setups. I have a ACME juicerator that does a very fine job of cleaning & dewatering so I know they do a good job but I don't think I would be comfortable turning my centrifuge on, going on a road trip for 10 to 12 hours & leaving it running unattended. That's my main goal is processing fairly large amounts of oil unattended for long periods of time. My time is limited at best now & if I take on this new job then I will have even less time & my oil useage is going to go way up.With Clays setup I feel I can do that. Also I already have a HWH & settling tank so why not use them? I'm guessing to get a good centrifuge would cost me over a grand with tax & shipping & I should be able to setup one like Clays for much less then that.

Centrifuge & heating & settling will give you the same results won't they or am I missing something?

[simone0414]

Originally Posted by Clay Henry

The same reason your using 3 different filters. Which by the way is ointless to use 3 different size filters. Just use the 5 micron and run it through a couple times. Using a ten and the a five it kinda like washing your hands without soap and the washing them again with... Just wash them the first time with and be done.
If u are dead set on no pump, another cheapmethodcof moving oil is with air. 2-4 psi in a barrel will move the oil out quite nicely. If u have an air compressor.

I'm not dead set on anything. I just want to try it & see what happens. I never thought of the air compressor. I do have one. Thanks

The only thing I will say about the filters is it has worked fine for me. You run your oil more then once & I do it this way. My way of looking at it is why run the oil more then one pass when I can set it up so one pass will do. Seems faster to me that way. I will give this some more thought though.

I do appriciate the input though.

[Clay Henry]

Sounds like you already know what's best so good luck
out...