home brew question! - Diesel Forum

markrules444 · 08-18-2005, 07:24 PM

what are people paying for methanol???, some of the prices that i have been told make the process more expensive per litre than a gallon of diesel...or am i pricing the wrong stuff, im confused, any help will be greatly appreciated

thanks in advance

scottefontay · 08-18-2005, 07:34 PM

in sacramento i paid like $3.50/gal or so for the first barrel...refills will be around $2.80/gal. basically your cutting the methanol w/ 80% WVO, so 20% of that cost plus the NaOH or KOH cost. comes out to be less than diesel

TDISteve · 08-18-2005, 08:51 PM

You should be paying around $2.00 per gal in 55 gal barrels. Check local speed shop and racetracks.

a94cobra · 08-18-2005, 10:28 PM

$2.38 per gallon in a 55 gallon quanity. They said the next one will be cheaper.

Spencnaz · 08-19-2005, 12:10 AM

I buy mine here in the Seattle area in 5 gallon cans. It's more expensive at 5.28 a gallon but I dont have the means yet to manage a 55 gallon tank of methanol.

Since the methanol cans are metal they are perfect for mixing my methanol and lye.

markrules444 · 08-19-2005, 12:50 AM

thanks for the responses guys, i was makin calls around again earlier, it turns out that a place right here in my home town (eggens direct) sells methanol racing fuel. not sure if thats pure or not but i intend to go find out in the morning. anyway its 115 for 55 gallon drum

markrules444 · 08-19-2005, 02:40 PM

k

a94cobra · 08-20-2005, 12:35 AM

Good Price diesel man 2005.

The 55gal drums are not hard to manage. I thought they would be. But the guy who helped me showed me an easy way to unload it. He put a tire on the ground and laid the barrel over and just rolled it off the truck onto the tire. Perfect landing. Then dolly it around from there.

freds · 08-20-2005, 12:41 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Good Price diesel man 2005.

The 55gal drums are not hard to manage. I thought they would be. But the guy who helped me showed me an easy way to unload it. He put a tire on the ground and laid the barrel over and just rolled it off the truck onto the tire. Perfect landing. Then dolly it around from there.

[/ QUOTE ]

Just the raw tire, spare, etc?

girlmark · 08-20-2005, 03:02 AM

RAW TIRE, no rim! the tire acts as a cushion for dropping a barrel (I hate this practice by the way, totally scary! I just pump the barrel into anohter barrel or into carboys or 15-gallon barrels or somethign similar). IF you had a tire that's still on a rim, you might puncture the barrel when it hits the rim. People also have good luck with a pile of tires.

Try this with buddies around to direct the 400 pound load, it might be scary with just one person.

Mark

frobozz · 08-20-2005, 09:28 AM

I have a fridge-dolly style hand truck, with the strap and the "stair crawler" rollers on the back. I strap the barrel to the dolly while it's on the truck (including a second ratchet strap down low since the dolly strap is at the very top of the barrel and could allow the bottom to swing out.) Then I lay it down with the bottom at the back of the tailgate. It's simply a matter of pushing it out horizontally off the tailgate until the barrel's weight is getting to be too much for the two of us (my son holding up the free end, and me putting weight down on the dolly handles still on the truck.... then we slowly allow it to pivot down to a vertical direction.

The amount of dolly that is hanging over the end at that point is *not* enough to reach the ground, so the last bit of distance is more of a "controlled fall" but it's not anything like just shoving the barrel off the end of the truck!

I would not try this with the normal cheap hand truck. The fridge dolly is made for this kind of weight. Even still, the round barrel doesn't mesh well with the straight dolly tongue, so you have to be careful that things don't start going directions you didn't want them to. Strap that puppy on there tight!

Duncan

freds · 08-20-2005, 12:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I have a fridge-dolly style hand truck, with the strap and the "stair crawler" rollers on the back. I strap the barrel to the dolly while it's on the truck (including a second ratchet strap down low since the dolly strap is at the very top of the barrel and could allow the bottom to swing out.) Then I lay it down with the bottom at the back of the tailgate. It's simply a matter of pushing it out horizontally off the tailgate until the barrel's weight is getting to be too much for the two of us (my son holding up the free end, and me putting weight down on the dolly handles still on the truck.... then we slowly allow it to pivot down to a vertical direction.

The amount of dolly that is hanging over the end at that point is *not* enough to reach the ground, so the last bit of distance is more of a "controlled fall" but it's not anything like just shoving the barrel off the end of the truck!

I would not try this with the normal cheap hand truck. The fridge dolly is made for this kind of weight. Even still, the round barrel doesn't mesh well with the straight dolly tongue, so you have to be careful that things don't start going directions you didn't want them to. Strap that puppy on there tight!

Duncan

[/ QUOTE ]

Ok sounds like a better plan would be needed, since we all have pickup trucks and where we buy the drums can load them aboard. The better plan would be to have a block and tackle somewhere to get it from bed height to the ground or a good size ramp. Just need some way to grip the drum and hold while you drive the truck out from underneath it before lowering it to the ground.

I have unloaded a couple of full size drums from my snowmobile trailer that were full of WVO for FN74's wife and he has a very nice hand truck for handling drums, but even still it was a wild ride with a good size run out area to the garage LOL!

OOPstroker · 08-20-2005, 01:49 PM

The tire method works good. Just get the barrell centered on the tire and let her fly, we used to do it all the time at the Cenex station I worked at. 2 or 3 tires high works good and the some big Ol Hoosiers even work better. The first time I saw this I stood back about 20 ft. after that it was like 2nd nature. JUST DON'T USE A TIRE WITH A RIM IN IT, PLEASE.

Another method I've seen is an electric winch attached to a hook in the ceiling, a 2" tow strap wrapped around the barrell and hooked to the winch, with the barrell standing up in the back of a pickup. Pull up the barrell and pull the truck out and lower the barrell.

girlmark · 08-20-2005, 09:36 PM

Harbor Freight and Northern Tool both sell a drum grabber thingie (can't remember the name of it) that you can attach to a block and tackle or a handy tree branch. It's about $40. ALso, a drum hand truck is really nice- I happen to be about 20 pounds too light to tip one of those upright easily- but most of you will find it works wonders to save your backs once you get the drum off of the truck.

Again, I just use a pump. I pull up to another barrel that's placed where I want it to go and I pump the material off. I really hate pumping methanol as the pumps should be pretty safely explosionproof, but for drums of oil, it seems safer to me than tossing them off the back of the truck. Bigger people's mileage may vary here, though.

Mark

ToddT · 08-21-2005, 09:16 AM

Hey Mark, I loved the imagery of you being catapulted through the air as the drum tips over the edge of the pickup tailgate. Fling!

The 'drum grabbers' probably work on closed head drums only so folks need to keep that in mind.

My father got into the chemical business a year before I was born and started his first company when I was five. I paid for my first motorcycle selling his old drums as burning barrels.

In the early days we had the chain hoist in the shop. And in the field Dad would put the tires on the ground and roll the drums off onto them.

As one who has probably tried just about every method around, or who has been warned by one who tried, my biggest concern is the sqwish factor. I don't want to see any veggie enthusiasts sqwished beneath a runaway drum. If you use any sort of loading ramp, stay uphill. If it gets away from you,let gravity take its course. You are more valuable than that drum... even with the high price of diesel.

Your idea of pumping it sounds like the best to me. I realize I'm spoiled in that I have a dock the same level as a pickup bed. My only suggestion there is to put cam/groove couplings on the hoses and the pump. That way you can remove the suction and discharge hoses for easier handling. The discharge hoses can be looped around to connect back to themselves to keep out dirt and junk.

On my 12v transfer pump I have cam/groove couplings on inlet and discharge. I made a short hose with the same type fittings to close the pump when not in use. It keeps junk out of the pump and eliminates drips.

Todd