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Stewart Corman
28th November 2008, 19:09
I told Rob that I would start a new thread as my project proceeded.

I am in the process of converting a HHO furnace "gun" into a siphon feed WVO furnace by mounting the gun to the door of my firewood furnace.

Have a buddy who uses WVO mixed 50/50 w/diesel for summertime use ...he donated to me several 5 gal containers of the fryer oil for me to experiment.

The first stumbling block was the means to filter the french fries out ( just kidding), but there is particulate matter that could gum up the works.

Most I have contacted, prefilter their goo by hand pouring the container slowly over a bed of cheese cloth ( or a T shirt ) placed in a funnel of some sort ...the bigger the better.
BUT, as the sediment accumulates, the gravity feed process slows down to a trickle and the cheese cloth needs to be dispensed with and replaced. Not my style!

In an effort to automate the process, I obtained a self priming low volume vane pump for $10. It has an integral 100 mesh screen filter which plugs quite easily and after several attempts with small dimension prefilters, I came up with a bigger answer.
A 55gal clear poly drum was donated by another enthusiast, and I purchased a slightly used 12v transfer pump and a cartridge filter was scavenged at the salvage yard for $5 (have a supply of cartridges)

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The concept was to use inexpensive PVC plumbing fittings, but maximize the filtering area.
Turns out that 6 inch PVC fittings are prohibitively expensive, so 4 inch PVC were chosen:

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Primary componets are a 4inch standard pipe coupling and a 4inch PVC waste/drain cap. I had a 3->4" reducer and an 3/4->3" reducer for the bottom section, but a second waste cap would be sufficient. I mounted a 3/8"tubing connector to the top, cut a round SS filter mesh for the bottom and stretched a square of cloth for the top fine filter medium.
When the cap smushes the cloth down, it becomes drum tight and seals at the same time. A short piece of 3/4" PVC pipe is the dip stick. The whole assembly functions in vacuum mode, so any leaks simply injects air bubbles into the stream.


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the cloth is inserted as follows:

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the final assembly is either slip fit or sealed with hot glue as is the screen mesh inside :

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note that the unit sits on top of a 5 gal veg oil container and the dipstick goes to within a inch of the bottom, whereby crud plugging the filter can drain back down when the container is finished and pump is turned off ...to enhance the clearing operation, a tire valve is mounted at the pump, so when the pump is off, a blast of air back flushes the filter. Pump runs at about 10 psi, and if the cloth filter plugs, the pressure would drop to near zero, requiring back flush.

Was able to run five 5 gal containers, and the filter never plugged ...if the cloth ever ruptured, the pump inlet screen would immediately plug. Need to settle another 6 containers and start filling up that 55gal storage barrel. The 10um cartridge filter is probably overkill, but I had it anyway (needed for diesel engine use).

Other photos of the furnace project are posted at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/stewcorman/WVOBurner#

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

Ralph Day
29th November 2008, 11:26
Stewart,
Your project sounds yummy! If ever you have a fitting fail, or a line rupture your work area won't have that sulphurous diesel stink, just whatever Ma's diner was cooking most of.

How much power will be required to run the burner? Is this a permanent addition to the furnace or is it a quick change over from wood to WVO? I'll check out the link for sure.

Ralph

Ric Murphy
29th November 2008, 14:16
Hi Stewart,
Check out this site ......
http://www.plantdrive.ca/html/about_us.html
I have considered getting a used diesel engine, converting to run on WVO to run a 24V alternator for use as a generator. I came across this site earlier this year while researching and found a lot of good info on the subject. Somewhere on the site I thought there was a lot of info on the filtration subject but couldn't seem to find it today (didn't spend that much time looking though). I used to know the company founder (Ed Beggs) before he moved out west to go to school. I found his thesis interesting. Maybe thats where the filtration info is. After he finished school he started this company.
HTH
Ric

Stewart Corman
29th November 2008, 14:51
Ralph,

Is this a permanent addition to the furnace or is it a quick change over from wood to WVO? This WVO burner fits thru a replacement panel (used to be glass) on one of the doors of my wood fireplace/furnace. Took about 3 minutes to unbolt the gun and remove the panel entirely.
Could be even faster if I simply had a round blank plate to cover the burner port.
Since I had to clean/adjust/modify the new design anyway, I went back to wood fired to clear out the excess dripped WVO and the stack temp pegged the temp gauge at over 900F ...don't think there is any coating on the clay flue anymore

How much power will be required to run the burner? A siphon feed unit is supposed to economical ....does NOT use the associated large motor nor the gear pump which delivers 140psi HHO, nor does it require the large squirrel cage blower ...the original runs at 700watts on my oil furnace now, and when the house calls for heat during the mid of winter, that HHO gun is a major electric energy hog hour after hour. A circ pump is required to maintain sump WVO preheat temp and a 1/20hp Taco only consumes about 60watts ...the only sticking point is a 10psi air supply that doesn't use a piston compressor (inefficient and wears out), but rather a vane or diaphram pump which runs at about 130watts.

Although many on the altfuelfurnace board run in "auto" mode with thermostat, I prefer to ignite and let it run continously until the sump runs dry or I manually flip the ball valve if house reaches desired temp. A 0.7gal/hr nozzle delivers about 80,000 BTU/hr but runs continuously.

I will be documenting my burner project here when it is completed, but in the mean time I am posting on the altfuelfurnace board where there is a lot of expertise for me to gleen. My dad used to say "Anyone can learn from trial and error, but a truly smart person learns from other people's errors" :idea:

Ralph, the filter assembly the way I show would be ideal for you to run that diesel Lister on WVO, but you'd have to work out the preheat more seriously ie like a conversion car in winter, start up on diesel, block heat for WVO and then switch over

BTW, there is a design developed by Brookhaven labs, which does NOT use compressed air but functions at 0.5psi from just a single small blower ...I couldn't find any commercial source for the nozzle assembly:

http://www.osti.gov/bridge/servlets/purl/827995-udTt41/native/827995.pdf

last paragraph states 65watts consumption!
Stew

Joe Blake
29th November 2008, 19:47
How 'bout getting an old washing machine, lining the spin drier with mesh and centrifuging the oil through the mesh?

Or even an old hand powered milk separator?

Joe

http://www.bikudo.com/photo_stock/786490.jpg
http://www.bikudo.com/buy/details/155272/manual_hand_operated_milk_cream_separators_machine .html

Martin Gray
29th November 2008, 19:55
Hi stewart, Here is a picture of my centrifuge filter system I built to filter WVO for my car and work truck.

It consists of -- a small centrifuge, ($300) on the top of the tank.
-- an old 200 lb. propane tank.
--motor & hydraulic pump (lower left).
--two 120v hot water elements (inside vertical pipe,left side)
(very efficent heater)
-- pressure & temp gauges
--and a pressure relief valve

You just turn it on. It circulates through the heater, centrifuge, into the tank, then back up again. Leave it for three to four hours, then it's all done.
It even de-waters the oil.
I can filter about 50 gallons at one time. Then pump the clean oil to the storage tank above for gravity feed to the cars.

Not the best picture, but it might help with the description.
568
Just thought you might want to see a different system.
Martin.

Rob Beckers
30th November 2008, 07:43
Stew, I'm curious about the siphon feed you're using. Can you post a bit more about that (picture, description)? You still have to pump it up to pressure to atomize it, right? Or is this like a giant old fashioned carburetor (hard to imagine since the oil doesn't vaporize well)?

-RoB-

Stewart Corman
1st December 2008, 14:21
Rob,
This link says it all:

http://www.delavaninc.com/pdf/siphon_catalog_New.pdf

You still have to pump it up to pressure to atomize it, right?nope ...whereas a standard burner gun uses a gear pump and 140psi to shoot the HHO through a tiny orifice, which can plug very easily....these siphon feeders have a large non-clogging exit port and the air does the trick ...I got mine to fire with basement temp cold WVO and 7psi air pressure ...warming it supposed to make it flow better ...I'll report my findings in a new thread when the burner is reinstalled

Stew

Rob Beckers
2nd December 2008, 07:25
Interesting! Thanks for that link Stew.
What do you use for the air flow into the siphon? Compressor?

-RoB-

Stewart Corman
2nd December 2008, 08:32
Rob,
You hit the major sticking point of the whole process:

What do you use for the air flow into the siphon? Compressor?

The inefficiency of a piston air compressor ala a Sears home unit, is unacceptable ...first of all they aren't made for continuous duty (reads: burn out) and are very noisy. If you have a commercial unit and a 50 gal holding tank @ 125psi..that would work ...you need 8psi at 2cuft/min

A vane or diaphram air pump is the best choice and they are frequently sold as oil-less vacuum/compressor units at 1/10hp and have a max 10psi ..which is ideal ..trick is to get a used one for < $50

Stew