Biopowered - vegetable oil and biodiesel forum
General => Chatter => Topic started by: julianf on May 17, 2013, 10:05:10 AM
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I changed the filter on the landrover yesterday, due to cloud point issues (as mentioned in the other thread) and it made me think -
Can i get a straw poll of how often you change the filter on your motor, when running on bio? Im only interested in bio details, as i suspect veg is more down to care of filtering.
The real reason im asking is that i, pretty much, never change the filters. On the vw golf, i only ever changed them due to temperature screw-ups, and, on the disco, i changed them a couple of times when i first got it, but, since then, not done so until yesterday....
...but,
when i changed the filter, i noticed a touch of brown stuff around the metal rim, and that's given me the fear a bit, in light of Mark's IP findings.
Anyhow, i guess the poll should be -
- Miles between filter changes?
- Ever see deposits in the filter?
- Method of production (dry wash settling time / wet wash)?
Thank you.
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Anyhow, i guess the poll should be -
- Miles between filter changes?
- Ever see deposits in the filter?
- Method of production (dry wash settling time / wet wash)?
a. When ever I get round to it, could be as much as 20k.
b. Never seen anything apart from a colour change. (once had a waxing problem)
c. Finishing process, demeth, bubble and settle for a week usually before the first Bio is drawn off, J cloth filter in to Cubie.
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Used to change them regularly, but that was before I found out my IP was stuffed... even the slightest restriction would cause a problem for it.
Now it gets changed if it blocked in winter or yearly, whichever is soonest.
I used to regularly see red/brown gloop in the bottom of the filter on changing (and in the tank when removed to clean). But I think that was down to soap in my bio - thanks to Nigel's soap tests I've now knocked that on the head and my fuel is rather good in that respect.
Finishing process is now:
- air bubble freshly made bio until it froths, and then some (froth to me implies no more Methanol, and the additional bubbling after that is just for agitation - it really seems to help with the settling).
- stand for at least a week
- circulate the contents of the barrel (without removing the bio from the soap at the bottom) through a drywash tower for a couple of hours. The settled soaps stay at the bottom, this is not a problem.
- pump out for storage
- 1u filter from storage (top skimming) into drums to take to the car
What you could try is putting a 25l drum in the boot and drive it around for a week. You may well find a thin trace of red gloop in the bottom if it's not adequately soap-free, which is what I used to see when taking drums on long trips with me.
Now if I do that it remains perfect all the way through.
This is what gave me the idea of agitation during settling. I used to do this with a little circulation pump, but the bubbler is more energy efficient - at the moment I'm wiring up a VFD to a little three phase gear pump to see how much power that draws, expressly for the purpose of agitation during settling and after that, for pushing the liquid through the drywash tower.
I know my settle process sounds like a lot of work but believe me, I'm pretty lazy and it isn't ;)
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At every oil change (so at least twice a year) but also whenever I notice a downturn in power.
Two stage no titration using ASM. Then in processor glycerol prewash followed by in processor water washing (as per Marks method) then in spray drying in the processor.
Stored outside in an old central heating oil tank (plastic) and cold (well ambient temperature) filtered to 1 micro on the way to the filling nozzle
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Change my filters once a year but winter of 2011/12 had to change the Scudo filter because of waxing when it got very cold. At the same time never had any problem at all with filter on the Altea ???
Bio is ASM single stage water washed. Using wintron synergy when it gets cold (most of the year!)
Never noticed any odd or foreign matter in the filter when its changed and I do always look for anything unusual.
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I'll be looking at changing mine at 15K. Whoops... just looked at my records and should have changed it at 222K. The car turned over 228K yesterday so I'll be changing it next week. It's now done 21,000 miles. I pushed the last one to 20K where I experienced some issues.
The car is running great at the mo....even the turbo issue is not as frequent. It must be all those big runs to Hereford and Worcs recently.
I water wash following a 2 stage, ASM, no tit reaction.
HTH
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Changed mine last year due to limp mode issue after about 25000 miles on bio, wa a small amount of brown sludge in the bottom of the filter body. But I figured that is what the filter is for any way.
2 stage no tit. Recover meth usually nearly 4 l from 18 in 100 litre batch. Then spay hot bio into settling tank and re-circle through spray bar until cold then bubble for a few hours and settle for a week them through 1 mu into car.
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Usually do it on every 4th or 5th oil change or 12,000 -15,000 miles
two stage, no tit, wbd, air bubble over night then filter twice through doubled up sheet or t shirt or whatever looks good enough in me rag bag.
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Changed it last year on the Passat, before that it was done in 2009 with over 40k through it, only changed as it was about time not due to any running issues.
2 stage no Titration, water wash and dry.
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So...JulianF......what have you gained from the poll? Are you looking at changing your methods or your filters. Of course you don't have to answer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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I change mine twice a year, on both cars, 250 merc and 300td,also change oil twice a year.
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I change the filters when I notice a change in power.
I used to two stage, WBD, then settle, filter to one micron.
I now two stage then in processor water wash (without acid), final filter to one micron.
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The wifes Grand Voyager got a filter change after around 8000 miles of bio use (and 2 years of diesel use before that).
Only changed it as I thought I should.