Newbie caught the bug

[Jamesrl]

Errr, you don't have to weld steel pipe, you can still solder it.
 
Use old oil tins to make couplings out of.

The only problem I can see with exhaust is valves and how you'd connect them.

[staphoent]

Generally agree with Jules, but be guided to a certain extent by your pump connection sizes.  Many people use TAMs etc with  1" connections, so 22 mm will be OK, but with bigger pumps consider using 28mm at least for the suction.

The other reason for 22mm being a common choice is that benders for 22mm are readily available and easy to use.  Start trying to bend 28mm and you're looking at a serious bit of kit and muscle to bend it ... bent and swept bends being preferable to solder-on elbows.

If looking at steel pipe, have a think around car exhaust pipe.  I'm considering this for my long awaited processor rebuild.  For the pressures we use, you don't need a heavy schedule pipe.  Nice smooth bends can be bought at reasonable prices, many different diameters are available and you could even use stainless if you wish.  Down side is that all joints will need welding and you'll have to acquire flanges for points where the pipework will need dismantling.

Hmm interesting, thanks a lot, I will do a bit more thinking along the exhaust pipe line (excuse the pun ha).

[Jamesrl]

I was under the impression that wvo needed to be filtered down to 1 micron before reacting? Am I wrong?

Fraid so young  man, a flour sieve is ample. I filter at 200mic coz thats the size my free filter is.

You only need to get the big lumps out, fag ends, chips, dead rodents, bits of fingers etc etc.

[staphoent]

I was under the impression that wvo needed to be filtered down to 1 micron before reacting? Am I wrong?

Fraid so young  man, a flour sieve is ample. I filter at 200mic coz thats the size my free filter is.

You only need to get the big lumps out, fag ends, chips, dead rodents, bits of fingers etc etc.

Haha, not too much harm done yet, I have got three steel barrels and built a few stands. Surely filtering is necessary after reaction then?

[Jamesrl]

Hmm interesting, thanks a lot, I will do a bit more thinking along the exhaust pipe line (excuse the pun ha).

As it'll be your first plant don't make things difficult for yourself, stick with copper pipe. It's readily available and all the valves and fittings you'll need are off the shelf.

[Jamesrl]

Haha, not too much harm done yet, I have got three steel barrels and built a few stands. Surely filtering is necessary after reaction then?

Mmmmmmmmmm, that's a moot point as well, some go right over the top when finishing/polishing their bio but me, I just use a J-cloth.

The family all run Common rail engines without issue.

[Julian]

Ah, pre reaction filtering ... big differences of opinion here, and I seem to be in the minority.  However I'll state my case of which I'm certain as Frank would say.

I filter through mesh (a bit finer than a flour sieve) then through landscaping fabric and then settle for as long as possible prior to reacting.  The reason being I recon all the food particles and bits of crud harbour water.  You want clean, dry oil for the reaction.  Why, for very little effort in removing it, do you want to contaminate with food waste?

[staphoent]

Haha, not too much harm done yet, I have got three steel barrels and built a few stands. Surely filtering is necessary after reaction then?

Mmmmmmmmmm, that's a moot point as well, some go right over the top when finishing/polishing their bio but me, I just use a J-cloth.

The family all run Common rail engines without issue.

Hmm ok, I will have to do some more thinking. I am currently driving an Audi A3 2004 1.9TDi but selling soon. Going to by a 4x4 of some sort.

[staphoent]

Ah, pre reaction filtering ... big differences of opinion here, and I seem to be in the minority.  However I'll state my case of which I'm certain as Frank would say.

I filter through mesh (a bit finer than a flour sieve) then through landscaping fabric and then settle for as long as possible prior to reacting.  The reason being I recon all the food particles and bits of crud harbour water.  You want clean, dry oil for the reaction.  Why, for very little effort in removing it, do you want to contaminate with food waste?

Right, Well maybe creating a filter rig will give me some experience fitting piping, immersion heaters and pumps before I get a chance to visit some of the members set-ups and fit my reactor. Do you heat before settling?

[Tony]

I only roughly course filter, then settle in a 1100l tank before making my bio.  There is a water takeoff below the level that I use to pump into the processor.

[Jamesrl]

I did leave a chunk out of my pre reaction regime, the settling bit.

My feedstock sits for at least a month before filtering to 200u then in a storage tank for another month or so before it
goes into my drying/pre heat tank, by the time it's ready for reaction there's next to nothing by the way of BCBs.

[staphoent]

I did leave a chunk out of my pre reaction regime, the settling bit.

My feedstock sits for at least a month before filtering to 200u then in a storage tank for another month or so before it
goes into my drying/pre heat tank, by the time it's ready for reaction there's next to nothing by the way of BCBs.

Well that makes sense, when I get up and running I wont have that long to settle my oil as I am only processing in batches of about 60L (100L reactor capacity) so I am now thinking of having a barrel fitted with a 'barrel drum filter' of 200m (Ill pour my oil into this), letting it settle for a week, draining off the bottom and then pumping it through some cartridge filters and into the pre reactor tank. Does that worthwhile and reasonable?

[Julian]

I don't heat liquid oil before the start of processing ie final dewatering in the processor.  The only stuff I heat is whites which go into a separate heated tank (as seen on the wiki) for a preliminary dewater.  Good oil yielded is pumped off the top and when there's enough crud I'll process in one batch.

For longer settling, have two settling tanks.  Decant off the top of one into another.  Once both are full, the through put frequency will be the same, but double the settling time.

[Jamesrl]

Forget the cartridge filters, they're a Pita, use the j cloth system, much easier and far less messing about.

Tesco Daizy cloths are as good as 5u and if you're really fussy you can have a new filter every time.

I've just filtered 200ltr through one and it'll do another 200 and all for about 5p.

Like Julian says, all of my pre reaction filtering is done at ambient.

[Mickindashed]

You need to get the lumps out before you process or you'll block your pump. I settle my oil in a barrel which has a floating pick up (basically  hose pipe going from the bottom outlet up to a float off a toilet cistern valve). All the crud sinks to the bottom and the floating pick up draws from just under the top, so what I draw out is clean. I have a 200 micron filter between the settling tank and the processor, but it hasn't ever shown any sign of blocking so I assume the settling rather than the filter is doing the work. I have a different tap on the bottom of the barrel so that eventually I can drain off cruddy oil at the bottom and start again with a clean barrel.

The GL design is the best, but it's been improved in some ways by people on the forums and GL hasn't incorporated the best changes into his plans. Two changes that I think are important to make are 1.  GL shows the Venturi horizontally just before the top entrance to the reactor. That works sometimes but not reliably. The Venturi should be mounted vertically. 2. The plumbers delight condensor isn't much good. People put a multi plate still heat exchanger before the condensor using the return air from the bottom of the condensor for the "cold" side on the heat exchanger. I made that modification myself and it did wonders for the efficiency of the condensor.

I suspect that using a heat exchanger this way is putting a patch over what was a bad design in the first place, and that you could ditch the plumbers delight condensor altogether and just use the heat exchanger as a condensor with the cooling water going through the "cold" side of the condensor. I think someone on here uses two heat exchangers, one to reheat the return air in the vapour circuit and one as a condensor. Basically I don't think the plumbers delight condensor is up to the job so I'd recommend you research around how people have improved that side of things.

If you do decide to use a heat exchanger, find yourself one with threaded ports so that you can connect it to your pipe work with threaded to compression fittings (assuming you are using copper pipe).  Some Worcester Bosch units have threaded ports or failing that there used to be a German company on eBay who sold generic heat exchangers with threaded ports.

As a final point for a newbie, please take proper care with the chemicals. Methanol is nasty stuff. They're not kidding with the warnings they put on it. Same goes for Kaoh.