Anyways; for info purposes I will be getting a 200watt aquarium heater tomorrow and using it to heat my 55 gallon drum of 1st stage UCO. This will dewater easily and pump off the top into the stage 2 filtering pail.

(Also got a good reccommendation toady to use NapaKool additive to the coolant to prohibit cavitation.)

__________________
'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..."

I make 40 gallons at a time and i have always brought it to 220+ degrees to evaporate water. You guys sound like a bunch of little girls bickering. Let people do things their own way. Go ahead and suggest something else, but to say someone else is wrong, makes you wrong. i agree that only heating the oil to 130 degrees sounds better, but i know I'm not wrong for doing it my way, because it works fine. I'd search around on the internet, you might find a lot of people doing this , "the wrong way".

I would say skip the aquarium heater because the thermostat only goes up to 90 , not warm enough in my opinion. Plus with 200 watts it will take a long time to heat 30-40 gallons. Trust me I have a 250 aquarium heater and it just does not cut it. The next heater I bought came from ebay and was listed as a tank heater sold by ebay seller "greasecar svo" in the ebay store "Clean Grease". 1000 watts works great. I don't see any on there site currently but I think you should email them and ask about one. Unfortunately I gave the box away that mine came in so I dont know the brand name.

Do more reading please.

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/159605551/m/993105898/r/345106898#345106898

I heat 50 gallons of filtered WVO in a barrel heated with two 2000 watt heaters. I leave the top open with an air mixer running the prop fast enough to keep a two or three inch cavitation going. I also have a fan blowing across the top of the barrel to keep the water vapors from "refluxing" on the sides of the drum. It takes about two hours for it reach 230F and then the heater elements shut off while stirring continues until the temp drops to 140F. At this point I can add methoxide to make biodiesel or pump it into my storage tank to use it straight.

If you read through those threads you will find that others, like you, don't get the oil hot enough to boil off the water and some is left even after you drained the water off the bottom. The only way you will drive off ALL the water is by boiling it off, either at standard pressure or under a vacuum. Period.

Please don't plan any visits to the burn ward on my account. I do other dangerous things like fry my tempura at 360F.
If you are afraid of scalding yourself, improve your lab practices or just don't do it.

__________________
You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

I will stick to my methods after reading tirebiters response. It makes sense.

Read the dewatering threads in infopop listed avove. 120F will NOT remove ALL the water from your oil unless you are relying on magic.

Poster "Girl Mark" and "Neutral" both posted a nice test for water remaining in oil that was not brought up to the boiling point of water. Neutral used a centrifuge and Girl Mark weighed the oil, heated it to 300F, and weighed it again on an analytical balance accurate to one hundredth of a gram. Both found water.

Try it and get back to us, eh?

Okay I read all that . After reading reading that link you posted I would still stand by my method of dewatering as a viable method . Like dana says there is still some water in the bottom layer of the barrel , sounds fine since I dont pump from the bottom of the barrel I pump from the top. And yes I am magic!

How would this do?

http://store.yahoo.com/allpetvetsupply/equmali007.html

__________________
'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..."

Nevermind.

I called on these and they only go to 55 degrees.........

next

__________________
'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..."

good call, The heater I am using looks very similar to the one at the link you posted but shuts off at 120-130 degrees and goes back on at 90

Yeah but the one in the link I called the mftg. and they say it only gets as hot as 55 degrees.........so yours must be different.

I am strongly considering getting a used 40 + gallon hot water heater and adapting it to heat and dewater my oil....I saw one in the local classified for $75. ; I don't know if that's a good deal or not. I may look and try to find one cheaper or just compare what I should pay....

__________________
'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..."

used water heater for $75! I would think the same things sounds like alot of money but when you consider the time spent looking around for something else , well maybe its worth it . Free sounds like a good price for a used water heater to me . Should work from what I have read ,but I never tried one with my oil. grease for peace.out

I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. I've got over 25,000 miles on UCO and have never dewatered any of it.

__________________
1984 300Sd 210k

Former cars:
1984 300D 445k (!!) (Strider) Original (and not rebuilt) engine and transmission. Currently running on V80 ( 80% vegetable oil, 20% petroleum products). Actually not, taking a WVO break.
1993 300d 2.5 275k. Current 120/day commuter
1981 300SD 188k (Hans) Killed by a deer

If you are lucky, and learn to be picky about the used oil you pick up, you will have no water in your oil.

I have found that Japanese restaraunts, doughnut shops, and vegetarian restaraunts have been the best sources for me. They keep their oil at 350 - 360F and drain it back into the cubies when they are finished with it. A sealed cubie gathers no moisture. An open drum is much more prone to get some moisture in it.

__________________
You can get farther with a smile and a gun than you can with just a smile.

1984 300D
1985 300CD
1980 300SD
1993 SL500

*See thread on [How water gets in WVO]*

__________________
'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..."