inline wvo heater

[mako314]

I tried this inline heater that was mentioned in another thread here and man, it works. I can heat 50 gallons of wvo to 130*F in about 20 minutes and hold that temp during the reaction..it's simple and only cost about $30.00

[dieselfuelonly]

where do u get it?

[mako314]

I built it from parts I got from lowes, it's realy simple you just need to use pipe dope thats good for chemical use or yellow gas line teflon tape, the white tape gets ate away by the oil and bio.

[dieselfuelonly]

u got the heater from there too?

[mako314]

yes sir, all it is is a 3500watt 240 volt water heater element that I wired for 110 volt. it screws right into a 1" pipe fitting and is about 10" long. I wired the heater to a thermostat and then in with my pump timer so one will not run without the other which works out great since just about everything to do with making biodiesel requires heat. I guess you could use the full 240vlts but I felt safer with 110 and it gets plenty hot, anything over about 145* to 150* and you will boil off the methanol.one other thing you need to mount the heater horizontal with the heater end slightly lower to keep the element fully submerged and the air bubble if any at the other end this will greatly lenghen the life of the element.

[7.3TurboDiesel]

This sucker looks sweet. i'm gonna build one soon

[tubular031]

yup works good. That has been my design since day one

wrap the threads on the heater element very well with yellow tape. the first 1 or 2 threads will feel right then it will get really hard to turn. Just crank it hard with a pipe wrench and don't forget the little rubber o ring that comes with the element. They are different thread series, but can be forced to work. lowes has a bunch of elements to pick from. i use a 4500 220v wired for 120. it pulls about 1100 watts when its on. I think it was $8.95? Just remember that you MUST have flow to turn on the heater otherwise you will burn up the element quickly.