Biopowered - vegetable oil and biodiesel forum
General => Chatter => Topic started by: therecklessengineer on October 21, 2013, 05:12:13 PM
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Is everyone busy brewing?
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I was brewing yesterday, currently catching up with everything I should have been doing when I was in the shed :o
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I am waiting for delivery of 400 litres of methanol and 50Kg of KOH tomorrow (going back to KOH for the winter as liquid glyc will make glogs much easier).
Over the last two weeks I have been doing loads of building works in my outbuilding and rejigging the heating etc.
Loads of pics to follow once it is all tidy.
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jules did you find a new CHP? i still have that wilo one if you need it.
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I changed plan in the end and just used the two pumps not three Bob.
Thanks for the offer though
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I have thought it has been quiet for a while.
Brewed today, went well in the very wet conditions, especially the demeth at over 5L per hour. Why is it faster sometimes than others?
Dick
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Also been on a central heating project. Over 1000 litre thermal store, if that is what it can bee called. Needs more insulation, but that can come in time.
Going to have a WMO burner heating it, eventually. The way the weather is, it might be this week, because there is not much work I can do in this.
If I erect a bit of a canopy in the morning, to keep the rain off as I plumb it in, I might stand a chance of getting it fired up.
I somehow doubt it will be anywhere near as tidy a Jules' setup though.........
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It's been quiet for a while
I was brewing yesterday, second batch and went as well as the first.
Where's RM or whatever he calls him self now.
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i have been deep very deep, locked away watching humungus amounts of films and shutting the world out for abit...
;)
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Yep it's certainly been quiet for some time.
I've built a new defuser for drying my washed bio, it's basically the top of a stainless steel patio heater but I've been a bit cleaver with how the bio is introduced to it.
I've only dried one batch with it so far and had problems with the new thermostat in the heater not going over 55°,
but I'll be doing another batch this week so will take some pics when it's in use.
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How coincidental, I've been re-positioning my diffuser today.
It now generates a surface area in excess of 3, 700cm^2 in a single unbroken film of WVO.
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Been busy kitchen fitting and doing day trips with the kids - the poor shed is very neglected!
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i have been mainly spending all my money fixing the generator and charge controller. there goes the yurt insulation money for the next few months. still i have the cover done at least so it is is dryish in there now.
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Tonight I shall mainly be doin' some maintenance on me reactor.
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Chemicals arrived today so I have been brewing this evening. First stage is just settling as I type this.
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I've been busy sourcing and sorting out my new car..
I went to see Glycer-rides on Saturday to take delivery of a set of wheels for winter rubber and this coming Saturday I'm off to see Keith and Lorretta. Not seen them for ages...can't wait.
Not brewed for about a month now. Must get round to it soon....just to stay on top.
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i have been mainly spending all my money fixing the generator and charge controller.
This sounds interesting. Any more details?
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Just been contacted by the widow of someone i showed round a few years ago, she wants me to collect all his brewing paraphernalia, for the life of me i cant remember the guy :o
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I got a gly wash and first stage done tonight.
Also took my camera and took some pics of the new defuser, I'll start a new thread for that though.
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i have been mainly spending all my money fixing the generator and charge controller.
This sounds interesting. Any more details?
the genny is a chinese copy of a yanmar l100 with a4kw alternator on the end of it.
it first started when i inadvertently put some contaminated red diesel in. had some water in it. i hadn't used the genny for around 6 months. i only use to top up my battery bank. the solar panels have been keeping the panels on float all summer. 3 weeks of Cornish fog dragged them right down.
genny wouldn't start. fitted new pump. still no joy. checked the timing. adjusted by different sized shims. still no joy. took it to a mate as i am in a field and trying to fix it in the rain wasn't getting me anywhere but very wet. he took the head off reground the valves, still no joy. only thing left was the rings being gummed from using veg oil. took it all apart. not easy as we had to dismantle the alternator first. got the piston out. rings stuck to the piston. new rings honed bore. put it all back together. fired up straight away. with his bill plus the parts to worked out about the same as buying a new one. should have asked him for a quote first.
now the charge controller is broken as well. been putting the dump load straight across the batteries flattening them in a couple of hours. i now have them back up to something like a decent charge.
i could have done all myself but was panicking about killing the battery bank. would cost 2 grand to replace that. still done now. must run the genny a bit more to stop it happening again. for the times i use it i will stick to red from now on.
in hindsight spending £500 on more solar would have been better, but a bit late now. never mind its only money.
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What charge controller are you using, and what voltage does your battery bank run at?
I only ask as I'm in the middle of a very similar endeavour.
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What charge controller are you using, and what voltage does your battery bank run at?
I only ask as I'm in the middle of a very similar endeavour.
hi i am using a morningstar ts45. cant say i am that impressed as this is the second one to die in 5 years. they do come with a 5 year warranty though. the outback ones have a good reputation but are a lot more expensive. the dump load is some nichome wire wrapped around the elements of an old electric fire. it does howl a lot when the charge controller is dumping power, so keep it somewhere where you cant hear it.
the battery bank is 8 rolls s430 6 volt deep cycle batteries run in 2 banks of 4 for 24 volts 800 amp hours they are around £240 each from bardens. had them for around 5/6 years now. seem to be the best around for the price. the bank runs at 24 volts, mainly because that is a good compromise between wind and solar 48 would be better but the inverters get a lot more expensive. the charge controller will work at 48 volts.