Put some of that chicken cooking oil in the refrigerator and see what solidifies. This seems to be a pretty good indication of what will catch in your filters.

I have thought about running the refrigerated oil through a cheesecloth, etc to remove the solidified grease but I don't remember that I ever tried it. Too many steps for production, good for testing, maybe.

To approach it from the other direction, use heaters and keep the oil hot. Burn the oil and the chicken grease.

Another approach is to water wash the oil. Too labor intensive for me but I have experimented with it some and you really can clean oil with enough time and water. It is messy and makes a lot of waste.

I am big on the keep it simple approach, especially mucking around in dirty old oil.

Gotta agree.

RULE # 1 for using UCO is to get it from a couple of good sources.

If you do the extra work of sucuring UCO from a fryer that is not used to cook meats, you won't have sat fat issues.

I get all my oil from Japanese restaurants who only cook veggies and some fish and I never see anything floating in my barrels, except an occaisional palmetto bug....yuccch...

__________________
'87 924S
'81 280SEL

Sold ->

81 300SD -
93 300E w/ 3.2
85 300D-
79 300SD
82 300CD
83 300CD - CA
87 190E 5 spd
87 Porsche 924S

"..I'll take a simple "C" to "G" and feel brand new about it..."

We live far out in the sticks where there are no japanese rest. for a long ways. The oil I am getting looks really god. Nice medium brown with little settling out. I really don't have a choice. Wish there were some places close by that only cooked veggies.

I have yet to try it in the fridge. As soon as the wife is off to work this week I'll be doing my test.

Cheers,

Bill

Anyone know anything about using the "diesel secret energy?" Sounds like most of you are using straight veg oil. Are you thinning it with anything? Gasoline? Kerosene? Adding any Cetane boost?

Mercedes 240D 83'

Blessings

Yes, I am. I use all the above plus biocide.

Cheers,

Bill

Why the biocide? I've only been going about 2wks on the DSE formula. Been adding about 25% less on everything in the formula and running good. This week I'll be changing my fuel filter and prefilter. Any problems for you?

Because the WVO has more of a tendacy to grow algae than regular diesel. I use it for more of a preventative measure.

I'm running great! Thought I would have filter plugging issues but I have always run additives so I guess my tank/lines are fairly clean as I've had no problems with that yet. I did remove the sending unit on the fuel tank and took a peek when it was almost empty and she looked good. Am still only putting 5 gallons at a time in just in case I need to clean the tank screen.

Cheers,

Bill

I had about 2k miles on WVO and running fine. I had always used a Startron in every batch. Well I ran out and went without it figuring what could possibly go wrong?
Well, it did go wrong. I developed such a bad case of algea/fungus that I couldn't go more than 100 miles before clogging up the filters. I went on a 200 mile trip. Changed the filters half way and was only able to do 45mph by the time I got home.
This was about 2 weeks ago and I'm on my second tank of Dino with lots of Startron. It seems to have cleared up so I'll be going back to WVO this week.
Of course it couldn't have happened at a worse time, I was driving to my brothers funeral in Tarpon Springs. What a PITA.

Lesson learned, always use biocide!

Danny

__________________
1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

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My source fries with refined canola oil. He often does not completely empty the new oil into fryer. I collect the newer cubies that have fresh canola oil in them and over 2 weeks, I get about 1 quart of fresh canola oil. Can I put this straight into the tank?? I don't know if I should filter it first.

Any comments?
Frankie
1984 300 SD turbo

What biocide do you use and where do you get it? I havent had the problem yet, but I dont want to either. I have been running the DSE stuff to the letter for about 6 months in an OLD ex uhaul and had to change the fuel filter 2 times, but I am sure there were no cleaners run through it before.

My source is 8 or 10 on the oil scale. They refill the cubies so it is easy to handle. Every two weeks they do a major clean out and one cubie is dark. I use that for weed killer.
I have two methods for filtering. In Wisconsin it gets a bit cold so unheated filters like to clog. Both these systems are used outside in an unheated shed.
1. Is cheap and dependable. take a 15 gallon plastic ag. chemical drum (many dairy farmers will give you all you want). Cut a 6" hole for metal ringed 7" OD sock filters (Cole Palmer). A cheap 6" cooking strainer fits ontop of the sock filter. Pour in the oil and when the filtered oil level reaches the sock, use the filter hole (sock is still in the hole) as a handle and pour the oil out through the bung into a 5 gallon pail.
2. Cheap but a bit more complicated. I sized this to the collection rate thus reducing my time pouring and handling oil. A 5 gallon pail has a 2" standpipe PVC glue'd to the bottom & rises of the inside of the pail 3/4 to the top. I make sock filters from Wally World fleece (roughly 20 micron) and with another cooking sieve, this is the prefilter and it holds 2 cubies (I know but just keep reading). This prefilter feeds a converted (free) chest freezer through 2" PVC through the side wall near the top of the freezer. Inside the freezer I mounted two pieces of 3/4" plywood drilles to acept the 2" PVC and 9/16" slots to hold 1/2" fibergalss rods. The fibergalss rods support two 'tray' filters made from more fleece and filter 5 micron and 1 micron. A 12V bilge pump sits on the bottom (freezer ot canted to drain to one corner) and another 500 GPH (in use more like 200 GPH) pump sits on the compressor shelf. A modified water bed heater heats the filtered oil 100 -135*F. This freezer settles out water, filters, is the reactor and wash tank for biodiesel (future plans have 1/2" ID recycled car tire irrigation hose and the freewzer's compressors supiying the bubbler air). I can pour in 2 cubies and walk away. A day later I pour in two more cubies. In the winter time I place up to 6 cubies in a salvaged refrigerator with a small ceramic heater (free at the dump) that can heat the oil to 120*F if needed.
The main lesson I've learned is to not be stingy when tossing iffy oil in the cubies. Garbage in, garbage out is the rule. I kill weeds and a farmer feeds pigs with the iffy oil.
I burn WVO in a Toyotomi heater, a very old Jungers 'Truk' style pot burner (a 4 gallon water heater feeds this burner as I seldom keep the shop heated for more than a weekend) in the shop and the crusty 79 300 SD. The Toyotomie will get biodiesel this year as even 50% Kerosene / WVO still clogged the very small final fuel line.
I bulk store in free 275 gallon home heating oil tanks and 55 gallon drums on a stand.
In the Summer one 275 gallon tank is settling oil, one is bring drained for fuel and the other is filling. Letting Mother Nature and time reduce the water content is 'me friendly'. When Mother N. doesn't want to help, I can add BTU's to the chest freezers (yup, I doubled this system this year).
The 275 gallon tanks have a flap cut in the top so a automatic bilge pump and its pipe can be lowered into the tank. Pipe is marked at 10 gallons intervle so I can set it and leave. Oil is picked up off the upper 6" or so not the water lower level.
Last year I collected 3-4 cubies per week. Now I will have to increase collection to meet my fat diet!
This system meets my needs but I'm sure someone could simplify or improve on the very cheap design. I think I have $100 in the whole system, can now handle 8 - 10 cubies per week, filter to 5 or 1 micron and do the whole bio process in these freezers. If the freezers show signs of wear, I can take them to the recycler and pick up another!
While this system seems complicated and bukly, it is very flexable and has been proven in Wisconsin's Feb. weather.

We live in farm country so I got mine from the J.D. tractor dealer. It does contain biobor which I've heard a lot of guys talking about. I also use Startron which I got at a boat shop.

Cheers,

Bill

I just had a "brilliant"(?) idea - anyone want to give it a try?

WVO Filter funnel idea

I can not thank you all enough for all the great post and ideas that you have tried and are using. I just bought my MB 300sd tonight and I am ready to start my WVO collecting ASAP.
I plan to install a extra tank in my trunk and run it hot and not mix it with diesel. I have been reading and learning from other people and seeing what is the better way to use WVO. But as I read this post there are allot of ways to ues the WVO.
The one thing that I would like to see is way more pictures of how your filtering your WVO.
So from a newbie to the site, thank you all for your help.

Joe

Good luck on collecting wvo. All these "green" recycling companies have begun to milk the waste supply so dry around here, you damn near have to PAY to take someones waste away. My source was paying $200+ a month a year ago, now people are offering him money for it. BAH. Can the little guy ever get a break???

__________________
1996 E300 D
1992 300D
1990 Ford E-350 7.3 Diesel AKA "the Deep Fryer"