Check out this processor - Diesel Forum

wfdbackdraft · 12-17-2005, 10:47 PM

I found this on eBay tonight, and it's what I have been thinking about building.

eBay reactor

The guy did an awsome job in building, and I was wondering if you guys thought so too? Are there any bad things that you can see? I can get the drums brand new for next to nothing. I would also wrap the reactor with insulation too. And, is it ok to use that type of plastic valves, or just stick with brass ones?

girlmark · 12-17-2005, 11:22 PM

good for him!(that's tim who's on the Vegenergy.com forum in Atlanta)

I'm surprised he gets away with the plastic valves, though, most other people who've used them switch to brass eventually because they're

a. hard to turn
b. the handles break off

Mark

biobenz · 12-18-2005, 01:41 PM

I had a couple of those valves on my old set up. Removed them as soon as I revamped the reactor in it's new home. They get really stiff to turn and one of the handles' stop pins broke. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/eek.gif[/img]
There has also been some question about the adhesive used being incompatible with biodiesel, although I don't know if this is rumour or fact. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shrug.gif[/img]

wfdbackdraft · 12-18-2005, 08:38 PM

girl_mark,
Do you need to coat the inside of the metal drums with something like he did, or will they last just fine with all of the oil being pumped through them? I've heard someone say to use that POR 15, but that it's expensive. Would high temp paint be ok?

girlmark · 12-19-2005, 01:07 AM

almost everything that you can coat drums with will be eaten off by the biodiesel process and it's six chemicals- lye, methanol, biodiesel, glycerol, soap, and vegetable oil all destroy something or another that's likely to be in a paint or coating.

There was a thread at infopop recently where someone said that he'd tried POR 15 and was not impressed- which possibly has somethign to do with how he did the surface prep, but I dont' really know.

I think the guy sellign the processor on eBay is using powder coat, and I have no experience with it to know how well it holds up. I think it's tough stuff in general.

Generally, when making your own processor out of a barrel, there's no real reason to paint the inside of it- they dont rust after you've added vegoil to them. The wash tank will rust slightly but you're filtering after the wash anyway, and there's no sign the rust ends up in the biodiesel fraction of the wash (which is a layer of water underneath a layer of biodiesel).

Mark