Common rail diesels.....No wonder

[dgs]

In a word no because if the KF needs reagents it is an accurate 'fall back' as I do a lot of testing. Have a look on the wiki, there is a description of how to make your own 'Sandy Brae style' of tester. It would need calibrating by using known bio samples, but I could help you with that, as indeed I could with a carbide manometer.

                                       http://www.biopowered.co.uk/wiki/Water_in_fuel_-_test_kit

[Bio-boy]

Do you test forum members samples?

New processor and wanting to understand if the process needs further honing.

[dgs]

Of course I do, thats why it says at the bottom of my posts FOC (free of charge) water testing for forum members. Just PM me and I'll send you my address.

[Bio-boy]

Does anyone supply soap testing kits similar to that seen here:

http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/soaptestkit.php

[Bio-boy]

It's OK I've found one on the bay.

[Head Womble]

Nigelb used to do soap test kits, not sure if he still has any.

dgs, what in your opinion is the best way of drying fuel ? I meant to ask you at the BBB but too much other stuff going on.

[Bio-boy]

I will post a photo of my set-up when I make my next batch. It takes me several hours but I am trying to dry a large quantity of bio at a time. I'm thinking I should add an additional heating element to retain consistent temps whilst drying.

[dgs]

Hi Mark,
This is just my opinion, there maybe are better ways but I've never come across any as yet. because I have tested dozens of peoples samples these figures are a good average.

Drying with air bubbling through bio at around 60degs  7 to 850ppm (very dependant on r/h)

Drying with a spraybar/sprayring device, bio temp- various 485ppm to 800ppm

Drying with the IMB turbo dryer (9 hour cycle) 150ppm (bio held at 55 to 60 degs for 4 hours)

The turbo dryer wins hands down over any other method. I'll put another link to the post I made a while ago.

The lower range tests I did with some sprayring dried samples were from Richard Kembrey, the guy who sells soap test kits on ebay. Over the years he seems to have 'fine tuned' his drying process by sending me lots of samples, so now they are all less than 500ppm Don't ask me exactly what he does cos I don't know.

                                http://www.biopowered.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,2538.msg32101.html#msg32101

                                Post No 4 has the drawing.

[Glycer-rides]

Keith (KH) has run a Mercedes cdi common rail for something like 7+? years, without problem.

[Julian]

Keith (KH) has run a Mercedes cdi common rail for something like 7+? years, without problem.

Surprising given the quality of the bio ... guess some people are just lucky.


Touché ... been waiting a long while for that!

[Bio-boy]

Drying with a spraybar/sprayring device, bio temp- various 485ppm to 800ppm

Drying with the IMB turbo dryer (9 hour cycle) 150ppm (bio held at 55 to 60 degs for 4 hours)

The turbo dryer wins hands down over any other method. I'll put another link to the post I made a while ago.

I have a combination of the 2 above. I have 2 spray bars with the moisture being drawn away with an extraction fan. My pump is powerful enough to also have the bio circulating via the 2 spray bars and an additional feed albeit not through a spray bar. All of which is at 60deg. It takes roughly 5-7hours but I'm drying quite a large volume.
Unsure of water content ppm but hopefully dgs can inform me of this following my next batch.

[Bio-boy]

Drying with a spraybar/sprayring device, bio temp- various 485ppm to 800ppm

Drying with the IMB turbo dryer (9 hour cycle) 150ppm (bio held at 55 to 60 degs for 4 hours)

The turbo dryer wins hands down over any other method. I'll put another link to the post I made a while ago.

I have a combination of the 2 above. I have 2 spray bars with the moisture being drawn away with an extraction fan. My pump is powerful enough to also have the bio circulating via the 2 spray bars and an additional feed albeit not through a spray bar. All of which is at 60deg. It takes roughly 5-7hours but I'm drying quite a large volume.
Unsure of water content ppm but hopefully dgs can inform me of this following my next batch.

Tests came back from dgs and soap content was 10ppm and water was 225ppm.

 

[Tony]

Nigelb used to do soap test kits, not sure if he still has any.

Still got my NigelB kit, only use it occasionally when I've got a head-scratch batch, it really helps remove the guesswork.

Most of the time I just guage soap content by how quickly air bubbles in the bio dissipate after it has been through the vane pump and 1u filter. If it's a few seconds then it's pretty clean otherwise time to get the kit out!