Filtering oil with old hot water heater

[350 long rod]

I made a filtering system like one of the other members using a 80 gal gas hot water heater and a whole house water filter with a 5 micron element.I was using 40 lbs of air pressure to push oil out of tank.I ran a pcs of 3/4 copper thru a compresion fitting and down the hot outlet to about 10 inchs off the bottom.I started filtering with cold oil but it cloged the filter with glycerin? it was a white solid stuff.cleaned off filter and heated oil up to 120 deg and it flowed thru great.But I have a little white layer on the bottom of my sample that I put in a jar to see what it would look like after a few days.Is this normal or do I need to let it setle longer.It was not there when it was hot.

[Ford_Forgotton]

The "white" could be FAT (like hamburger grease kinda fat) and heating it up just emulsifies it. Then when it cools it condenses into the white again.

Also, using 40psi to force that oil thru your filter might not be good. The more pressure, the larger the particles that can get shoved thru. Especially if its plugged.

I would let your oil settle somewhere kinda cool and siphon off the clear, non-condensed oil and filter THAT, otherwise that white layer is gonna plug something in your engine.

[xhead]

^^^^

What he said!

I settle my freshly collected oil for at least two weeks, then pump it into the water tank from the top of the barrel, and leave the last 4" in the barrel (draining it off elsewhere eventually). That 4" of bottom oil usually contains some "white stuff" that looks like solids. I don't think my source uses any animal fat at all.

Then I pressurize the water tank and I have found that only 10-20 PSI is plenty to push it thru. Even at that, if I don't watch it when it gets empty, the outlet hose in the barrel can get loose and really make a mess! I have yet to heat the oil in the tank, but its starting to get cold here, so probably my next filtration will have some heating involved.

Mike

[DazedNConfuzedV8]

You really need to let your oil settle well before you try and filter it. I have mine in black barrels that will sit outside in the sun, the oil on top is actually pretty darn clean at that point.

[350 long rod]

The oil I got looks like maple suryp and had no chunks in it I pulled it off the top of barrels.I filtered it thru pleated air filter material before putting it into the tank.But just to make sure I drained of some oil from the bottom of my tank and it came out with no white color and the oil had been sitting for a week now.Maybe it is just animal fat that is dropping out of the oil.