Are you thinking about winter yet?

[Rotary-Motion]

Maybe you could re-launch your winteriser offer Julian. Now seems like a good time

As you found out Nige, it is a real pain in the backside for no real gain or, if you do try to make a gain, you get slated for it.

I think I might just bite the bullet, by a 25litre drum for myself and then if a few friends want some then they can but I'm not sure I'll bother with trying to offer a bulk purchase again.

is there much difference in the price jules?

[nigelb]

is there much difference in the price jules?

Synergy prices as of today:
25lt-£189.95 + VAT +delivery
205lt-£1080 +VAT + delivery

[nigelb]

As you found out Nige, it is a real pain in the backside for no real gain or, if you do try to make a gain, you get slated for it.

...aint that the truth!!

[Rotary-Motion]

is there much difference in the price jules?

Synergy prices as of today:
25lt-£189.95 + VAT +delivery
205lt-£1080 +VAT + delivery

my life yeah thats massive...

[neisel]

I'm determined to be ready, i.e. not making any BD during the winter, this year.

http://www.biopowered.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1275.msg14450.html#msg14450

[Keef]

but i filter half way (2x bed sheets + dewatered + settled 1 week + 50m with j cloth + 20m) and leave it in my tanks, so it still has 2 sets of filters to go through before out into car and can settle more.

I used to mess about like that but I was inspired by you and Knighty to try something simpler.

At the time you were taking great care filtering your oil through multiple filters etc but your car filters were still blocking after only a couple of thousand miles.

Meanwhile I found out that Knighty was gravity filtering through a bed sheet and straight into his van and not having any trouble with blocked filters on his van.

This made me think that maybe pump filtering isn't all it's cracked up to be and maybe even course gravity filtering is better than fine pumped filtering.

So for over a year now (approx 20,000 miles) I've been gravity filtering the oil through four thicknesses of bed sheets in one go and then using it. It works for me and my car filters don't get blocked any more than usual.

The only downsides for me are that it's slow in winter and the more fuel you need, the more barrels you have to set up, although I manage fine with four.

[nigelb]

That sounds like a good system you've got there Keef. Keeping it simple is the way forward with most of what we do as veggers and BDers. Too many try to over complicate methods and become unstuck and/or waste their time. Sometimes even to the point of thinking they have a better end product.

[Julian]

but i filter half way (2x bed sheets + dewatered + settled 1 week + 50m with j cloth + 20m) and leave it in my tanks, so it still has 2 sets of filters to go through before out into car and can settle more.

I used to mess about like that but I was inspired by you and Knighty to try something simpler.

At the time you were taking great care filtering your oil through multiple filters etc but your car filters were still blocking after only a couple of thousand miles.

Meanwhile I found out that Knighty was gravity filtering through a bed sheet and straight into his van and not having any trouble with blocked filters on his van.

This made me think that maybe pump filtering isn't all it's cracked up to be and maybe even course gravity filtering is better than fine pumped filtering.

So for over a year now (approx 20,000 miles) I've been gravity filtering the oil through four thicknesses of bed sheets in one go and then using it. It works for me and my car filters don't get blocked any more than usual.

The only downsides for me are that it's slow in winter and the more fuel you need, the more barrels you have to set up, although I manage fine with four.

How do you guys use the bed sheets ... stretched across the top of a drum?  If so have you considered making a sock filter?  Far greater filter area and dead easy to make with a sewing machine ... I do it with landscaping fabric for course filtering     http://www.biopowered.co.uk/wiki/Tips_and_wrinkles_1#Homemade_sock_filters

[knighty]

I folded the sheets in half... then got my mother to sow them up with her sowing machine...

turned them into giant socks.. used to get close to 200litres in each one - the limit was probably the drums they were in and not the sheets themselves

I had 4 drums on-top of a pallet, on top of an IBC and the drums drained down into the IBC through short lengths of hose...

then a pump / filler nozzle on the bottom of the IBC and straight into my tank

worked great... could filter 1000litres overnight in the summer, took maybe a week in the winter... and I hardly ever washed the sheets either


worked great.... thing I really liked about it was that there was naff all hands on time... used to take me maybe 15min to fill the sheets up... then that was it, walk away and forget it... 1000litres done :-)

[Julian]

I folded the sheets in half... then got my mother to sow them up with her sowing machine...

turned them into giant socks.. used to get close to 200litres in each one - the limit was probably the drums they were in and not the sheets themselves

I had 4 drums on-top of a pallet, on top of an IBC and the drums drained down into the IBC through short lengths of hose...

then a pump / filler nozzle on the bottom of the IBC and straight into my tank

worked great... could filter 1000litres overnight in the summer, took maybe a week in the winter... and I hardly ever washed the sheets either


worked great.... thing I really liked about it was that there was naff all hands on time... used to take me maybe 15min to fill the sheets up... then that was it, walk away and forget it... 1000litres done :-)

Sounds very efficient, got any photos we can stick on the wiki ... the Veg section hasn't had any additions for quite some time.

[Keef]

No not stretched, more sort of draped. You want as large a capacity as you can get otherwise you spend all your time topping them up.

If you can get hold of king size duvet covers, they fold nicely to form about a 40 litre well in a 200litre barrel then you just fill up and walk away. Get four of them on the go and you can filter pretty quickly, until it all turns to frogspawn in the really cold weather!

I think knighty does one drum up high feeding into another beneath which means that if you can find big enough sheets, you can have nearly a 200 litre well.

[Rotary-Motion]

but i filter half way (2x bed sheets + dewatered + settled 1 week + 50m with j cloth + 20m) and leave it in my tanks, so it still has 2 sets of filters to go through before out into car and can settle more.

I used to mess about like that but I was inspired by you and Knighty to try something simpler.

At the time you were taking great care filtering your oil through multiple filters etc but your car filters were still blocking after only a couple of thousand miles.

Meanwhile I found out that Knighty was gravity filtering through a bed sheet and straight into his van and not having any trouble with blocked filters on his van.

This made me think that maybe pump filtering isn't all it's cracked up to be and maybe even course gravity filtering is better than fine pumped filtering.

So for over a year now (approx 20,000 miles) I've been gravity filtering the oil through four thicknesses of bed sheets in one go and then using it. It works for me and my car filters don't get blocked any more than usual.

The only downsides for me are that it's slow in winter and the more fuel you need, the more barrels you have to set up, although I manage fine with four.

i very much hear you there and yes if it works dont knock it....

what car are you useing the oil in and how many miles do you get on a filter keef?

cant rember what nightys vehicles were?

[Keef]

I'm running a Citroen Synergie with the turbo XUD.

I've only changed one filter in the last 12 months and that was because of some strange black stuff in the misfuel I was adding over winter.

In fact I bought three new filters when I started running Synergies three years ago and I've still got one left.

[Rotary-Motion]

so miles to a filter would be?

[Keef]

Dunno really, I've probably done about 60,000 miles in three different Synergies over 3 years and changed two fuel filters.

The first one needed a filter change a couple of thousand miles after I started putting veg in.

The second one had already been run on veg when I got it and only had one filter after the dodgy misfuel incident.

and the third one hasn't had a filter change yet. (but I've only had it a month and done 2,200 miles)

As you may have guessed, I don't repair cars much. If it dies, I just sell it and buy a replacement.