Going through hell moving WVO
 

Okay,
I scored a awesome deal on 1500 gallons of good quality WVO,it was only $0.10 a gallon,now the bad part is I can't get it out of the 275 gallon totes it's in to get it out of the U-Haul truck..
:(

The guy I got the oil from had a diaphragm pump that did great pumping the oil,but all I have is a 3" HF 6.5hp trash pump and from everything I've read online it should have worked GREAT. Everyone rants and raves about how good they are for WVO,and I've already burned up two of them.. I'm priming them as the instruction manual says and even running them on lower speeds yet each one did 1 tote or 1/2 a tote before giving up the ghost.. They just won't build up enough pressure to move the oil anymore..

Only thing is is all the posts I've read everyone has been using the 2" trash pumps but I figured the 3" one would be a little tougher!

Anyone got any advice? I'm paying $40 a day to keep the U-Haul truck but at this point I'm going to go back to HF tomorrow and return the 3" pump for a 2" one and buy all new PVC again.. Really frustrating,I've sunk alot of money into trying to get this to to work and no one within a 100 mile radius will let me rent a pump suitable for WVO..

I may just have to build myself a make-shift power steering pump hooked up to a 3/4hp motor..


Thanks in advance,any help appreciated..

I think I may be on to something..
I've looked on other forums and no one has used the 3" one anywhere that I can tell but HF's 3" and 2" pump share the same 6.5hp engine,which is fantastic news! It should be alot less load on the engine and less demanding on the 2" pump since the pump is less than half the size.. When the 3" one works it drained a entire 275 gallon tote in about 1 minute! It was insane,that is ALOT to ask for a pump so it's not real surprising it failed so quickly..

I will update this tomorrow with my findings.. fingers crossed!

Link for 3" pump: 6.5 HP 212cc 3 in. Gas Engine Full Trash Pump 264 GPM

2" pump: 6.5 HP 212cc 2 in. Gas Engine Clear Water Pump 9540 GPH

If it is on a truck bed, can you gravity transfer it. Much slower but depending on your setup it may work.

Pump
 

I've been using one of the for 5 years now and its still going strong. It does need a flooded suction however.
3/4 HP Clear Water Pump 650 GPH

I use a honda semi-trash pump for large amounts. It is 2" and I've moved somewhere near 5000 gallons with it since I got it (On ebay for $300 brand new :) ). Priming can be a pain but if you have the pump on the ground and open the valve on the tote it should prime automatically. If you're trying to suck out the top you'll have a little more of a challange to get it primed.

Guys,great news all the totes are now out of the U-Haul truck ;)
The 2" pump is fantastic but only under one condition: if no mesh screen is installed in the pick up PVC tube.

I had used a bit of screen door mesh as a bit of a prefilter on the end of the PVC pipe,and that was enough to bog down both the 3" and the 2" pump so much to where they were unable to flow any oil at all.

Another lesson learned the hard way,now to cleaning the truck lol.. but what a relief it is. :)

I am not very knowledgeable on wvo, but it seems like your "good quality oil" may not be as good as you think if it clogged a screen door mesh as a filter. Going to take some work to turn that into B100.

It didn't clog it at all. Just the resistance of the mesh was enough to stop the pump from doing it's job,it never was clogged.

you must have rented a semi if you had 1500 gallons at about 8 pounds per gallon! That's 6 tons!

LOL nope a 26ft U-haul truck did the job nicely.

Still got 8mpg on the way back loaded down. ;)

Managed to avoid the weigh stations as we drove back around midnight,worked out well.

I always connect to the bottom of the tote so it is then a flooded suction, also a lot less messy.

For moving WVO I use a ZOELLER submersible sump pump. I have been using the same pump for 14 years. Not sure if it will fit in the opening of the tote.

I have heard of creating a vacuum off the engine into a container and then opening the valve and sucking it into the container. Don't recall what kind of container. Maybe 55 gallon drum would work for that.