Cenrtifuge question(s)

[dfnder]

I am thinking of going the centrifuge route for treating my WVO, for those that already have centrifuges do you normally also filter/polish?

I'm leaning more towards a Raw Power with the possibility of the Simple or the Absolute brands.

Specifically I am wondering about pre-filtering a little prior to centrifuging, 100 or 150 micron screen. From what I have seen of the process, excess amounts of crude overflows into the filtered oil. Is this actually likely? I will probably processing 30-50G at a time, I guess one could stop the centrifuge at set intervals to automatically drain off the liquid crude. I tend to overanalyze at times but that is where I am at :)

Do you also trust the centrifuge to remove all water or do you heat as well to ensure purity? I think until I decide on my long term route I will try bag filtering, I have a couple large 10micron bags but I'm thinking they will prolly plug quickly as I dont have a housing for them to be used under pressure. Anyone have comments about using a bag filter?

Peter

[Luna-Sea]

for those that already have centrifuges do you normally also filter/polish?

I let it settle and cool, pump off the almost top through a goldenrod (princess auto) that I had lying around.A bit Anal
but I want to know its good when I share or sell it.Its really not too much crud but
I figure keep it out of my onboard filter if I can.(I found a little very fine crud at
the bottom)

I am wondering about pre-filtering a little prior to centrifuging, 100 or 150 micron screen. From what I have seen of the process, excess amounts of crude overflows into the filtered oil. Is this actually likely?

Depends on how clean your WVO is and the ambient temp,I don't heat when I screen
the oil, In the winter(west coast B.C 3 to 10celcius)its hard to screen it to 100microns,
now in July(25c) it flows really nice.I have actually just been using a 400micron lately to catch
the big stuff that would get caught in line,valves and pumps. Goes into a totes where it
settles and get quite clean doing that.


At this point I pump it off the top into my centrifuge (Raw Power) barrel and it gets
spun. I have been stopping the fuge about every hour to drain it and wipe out the crud.

Also note that after the initial settling part(before my fuge step) some folks use a pump with a filter wand inline and they are done,pumping off the top area and leaving settled crud behind.

Do you also trust the centrifuge to remove all water or do you heat as well to ensure purity?

I heat but I am sometimes getting some condensation so for now it goes into a insulated and heated barrel to just make sure any water is evaporated off.Then back up to your first question with
the goldenrod filter.
Actually just crossed my mind typing to try a summer-time cold spin and see what happens,
definitely would not work for the diesecraft-styl centrufuges but might be ok with the
Raw power,so thanks!


The bag filters will work better if you support them in a mesh housing to help them keep their shape,does not have to be fancy just support it.
If you run "settled top oil" through the bags you will have way better results otherwise
they will clog pretty quick.
These are the type of strainers I use,to give you an idea.Washable
http://www.dudadiesel.com/filters.php
http://www.thecarycompany.com/container ... iners.html


Hope that helps you some,After Oil should chime in at some point too Raw Power dude
that he is.

You can Pm if you get stuck on anything.

And Don't forget the kitty litter,seriously!

Right ON!

[after oil]

i pour from the cubies through a 600 micron barrel screen filter. that then gets pumped into a 1000l heating oil tank for settling. them pumped off the top into my gravity feed 500l heating tank. it feeds through the heater that came with the raw power centrifuge and into the 'fuge. i just added a 10 micron water capturing filter between the 'fuge and the final tote, b/c someone told me that when i pump through my polishing filter, i am likely pumping crud through it (if there is any!). i run my 'fuge for hours or even days without cleaning it, but just becuase i do it dont make it right. upon reading this, i might get in the habit of draining the fuge once in a while...