Parts Catalog Accessories Catalog How To Articles Tech Forums
Call Pelican Parts at 888-280-7799
Shopping Cart Cart | Project List | Order Status | Help



Go Back   PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum > Mercedes-Benz Tech Information and Support > Diesel Discussion

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 09-21-2006, 07:37 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Northern NY
Posts: 364
Veg Stuff

FWIW,
For the past year or so I have been "cold" filtering (room temp 65-75f) some of the nastiest "diner grease" imaginable. Grease is dumped through an old fashioned milk funnel/filter into a barrel then pumped through two in-line whole house water filters, 10 then 5 microns. Although its automated, and I don't have to babysit it too closely, it is a relatively slow process.

I recently acquired a new 50 gallon a week source (chinese) of wvo. The oil is fairly clean, eliminating the need for the initial "milk filter" step but I thought it might be advantageous to heat the oil for filtering. Put together a barrel heater and warmed oil up to about 120-130 before turning on the filter system; worked like a charm, took 10 minutes to filter a barrel as opposed to 2+ hours for the cold process. Did 150+ gallons last weekend in less time than it would have taken for 1/4 that amount with the cold method.

On the wvo side of the 190D's setup I have an inline prefilter and a heated Frybrid filter. After 25K+ miles the prefilter had to be changed and I changed the cannister on the Frybrid at the same time because it seemed like a good idea. Yesterday, for the first time, I filled the wvo tank with oil from the warm filtered process. Clocked just over 250 miles and the car began to miss and sputter; prefilter was plugged solid. Had a spare in the trunk, and they are only 2 bucks, but what a PITA. That new filter plugged today at just over 300 miles. I am thinking that perhaps the "warm filtering", although faster, is no where near as effective.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Jim

__________________
2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 09-21-2006, 08:01 PM
mobetta's Avatar
(Oo{-I-}oO)
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: minnesota,hey.
Posts: 1,841
you are on the right track- i never filter my grease warm, cold filtering will remove all the fats that will pass thru with warm filtering. if you really want to filter warm, you need to haet the oil to the same temp or higher before it hits your filters in the car- maybe electric heat? good luck....

look here for lots of veg info
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/groupee/forums
__________________
1984 123.193 372,xxx miles, room for Seven.

1999 Dodge Durango Cummins 4BTAA 47RE 5k lb 4x4 getting 25+mpgs, room for Seven.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 09-21-2006, 08:20 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Temecula CA
Posts: 70
hmmmm ..... could be that the newer, lighter, less viscous, cleaner 'chinese oil' has loosened up some of the existing depoists within the tank, much as a solvent would .... and moved them on down the line to the pre-filter ...
__________________
78 300d 158k driver
80 300d 200k fixer
80 300d parts car
98 Cherokee 240k

" I know for certain that someday while parking or un-parking my Jeep Cherokee, I'm gonna' either pull the headlight switch right outa' its dashboard OR stomp its hood release lever clean offa' the kick panel. It's just a matter of which will happen first."
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 09-21-2006, 08:57 PM
arcticathlon's Avatar
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Richmond, Tx
Posts: 1,129
when i was getting oil from chinese sources, i had to cold filter. the wvo had lots of chicken fat that was fried into the oil. cold filtering with a cloth took those fats out quick, and after that i hot filtered.
__________________

Grey '91 350SDL 214k Dad's car
Beige '81 240D 4 Speed 254k SOLD
Blue '82 300D 225k SOLD
White '95 E300D 46k SOLD
Blue '87 190D 2.5 Turbo 315k SOLD
Brown '80 240D 4 Speed 716k SOLD
Beige '80 300D N/A 119k SOLD
Blue '85 300D Model 186k T-Boned
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 09-21-2006, 09:05 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Northern NY
Posts: 364
I think perhaps

Wis3d may have the answer. Just went out and looked at the prefilter that I changed tonight and the media is black (no goopy stuff). The chinese oil doesn't "settle out" like the diner oil, it doesn't appear to have any animal fats, or very little, in it. After sitting for a week it is the same translucent amber color top to bottom (almost looks like bio) with a few scraps of breading sitting on the bottom. Diner oil is typically 1/4 to 1/2 cloudy, fatty sh-t on the bottom. Oil in the car is at about 130-140 degrees when it hits the filters, 180 at the IP.

Think that I'll buy a bagful of the prefilters and see how things develop over the next few thousand miles.

Appreciate the input,

Jim
__________________
2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 09-22-2006, 12:04 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: W. WI
Posts: 307
Why not heat the oil to 150*F, settle for a week holding 100*F, filtering to 5 micornm and draw off the oil from the top, not the bottom of your bulk tank. Oils differ, but my oil held water ... even drawing off 20 gallons in a 275 HHO tank still had some water. Now my oil is fine & once a year I chuck the stuff on the bottom of the tank.
Black crud is algae which grow in diesel or WVO with some water.
Spending more time and $ to remove the water is insurance.
Last spring forgot to purge an old turk style heater in the shop. I knew the oil had some water but in a turk who cares? Well, new 4' fuel line, cleaned the metering valves, pot had 1/2" of tar. This crud was thick, smelly and would not budge with compressed air. 5 minute purge truned into 3 hour !##!#@!$.
Settle, use water additives and biocide.
WVO is not a solvent. Biodiesel is.
If you can't find biocide, call a diesel dealer or marina. This is very common in rich kids boats with crapy dock fuel.
Just be glad you learned now instead of Feb.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 09-22-2006, 02:23 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 311
WVO does seem to clean out long-time crud in tank and lines. I went through plenty of pre-filters clogged with black junk that I know wasn't in the fuel I put in the tank, sometimes within 200 miles. I learned to dump out most of the junk and re-use the filters several times. It has finally cleared up. I always fill the new or cleaned-out filter with fresh oil; then I can start right up without any pumping or priming. Steve
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 09-22-2006, 09:28 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Flagstaff, AZ
Posts: 242
While certainly some heat is beneficial, and often absolutely necessary, I think it is best to keep down around 100 degrees. If you filter at 100, there is no way that any fats that won't be liquid by the time they hit your filter will be liquid as well (with HIH which I am assuming you have). Bump it up, especially to 130-150 and you have less leeway, it also just plain takes a lot of energy to get oil that hot and is slightly above my "comfort range" for large barrels of somewhat flammable material in my house. Just my $0.02
__________________
1985 300D, 237k.
1994 F-350, 6.9 diesel, 5 spd manual, Banks Turbo. 261k.
Sold: 1985 300CD- 267K
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 09-22-2006, 09:38 AM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: NY
Posts: 710
Personally, I heat my oil to 120 and hold it there to get any water to settle out. I take the oil from the top and gravity filter it still hot to my storage tank which I can also heat to keep the fat melted in the clean oil untill I put it in the car. My vehicle runs fine on oil that still has fat in it.
__________________
Ron Schroeder
'85 300 Turbo Diesel 2 tank WVO
'83 300 Turbo Diesel 2 tank WVO
Some former WVO vehicles since ~1980:
'83 Mercedes 240D
'80 Audi 4000D
'83 ISUZU Pup
'70 SAAB 99 with Kubota diesel
'76 Honda Civic with Kubota diesel
'86 Golf
Several diesel generators
All with 2 tank WVO conversion
LI NY
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 09-22-2006, 05:18 PM
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Northern NY
Posts: 364
Duh!

Appears that I wasn't thinking this through very clearly (work stress). Perhaps this problem is not oil specific. I buy biocide, isopropyl alcohol and Power Service additive all by the case at the local farm equipment dealer. I keep a quart of each in both road vehicles and next to the farm storage tank. A dose of each goes in the tank with every fillup, auto or tractor. I ran out of biocide about a month ago and haven't had an opportunity to pick up any more. Compound the problem with the fact that I have been driving my "back-up" 85 190D for a couple of weeks, allowing an untreated half tank of veg to sit in my daily driver, without biocide in the tank, growing algea. Normally, at 1000 miles or so a week, the fuel turnover would almost preclude the alge having an opportunity to get established, biocide or no. Live and learn.

Thanks for all the thoughts, ideas, and suggestions.
Jim

__________________
2005 C240 4matic wagon (daily driver)
87 190D - 225K (on loan)
85 190D - 312K (on loan)
2011 Subaru Legacy AWD (Wife's)
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On




All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:54 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0
Copyright 2024 Pelican Parts, LLC - Posts may be archived for display on the Peach Parts or Pelican Parts Website -    DMCA Registered Agent Contact Page