[poor_rambler]

I recently purchased a centrifuge on Ebay. I got it cheap, not realizing how large it is. Its a COH I-1000. The Pabiodiesel site says it is capable of 16 GPM (1000 GPH). What pump and motor size would I need? Do I have to run it at full capacity to get the full cleaning benefit? I've been looking at an Oberdorfer 7000BR pedestal pump, an older version of this pump :http://www.oberdorfer-pumps.com/Spec_sheets/N7000lr.pdf. Will this pump work? What would the minimum motor size I could use? This forum has been a wealth of info for me. I have an almost unlimited supply of used oil from a large trucking company, so I'm on board for the long haul with W85.

 

[DR435rider]

These rotary gear pumps are great for pumping thick stuff. However, check for the ratings for veg oil. Thicker viscosity sucks up the horsepower. While the chart says it will handle the flow rate (with enough horsepower), you may look into dropping the rpm.

What did the Pabiodiesel folks say?

Another thing to consider is how to heat that much oil. Forget electrical heat unless you have a pretty large generator running on bio!

 

[F250Truckin]

PA Biodiesel site states that this centrifuge requires a 1 HP motor to run. You cannot lower the rpm on the centrifuge and expect it to work as it needs speed to spin out the contaminates. According to the site, this is a gear pump. Capacity for the centrifuge is rated at 16 GPM, but that is probably for one pass through the centrifuge and you will need many passes with a spinner type centrifuge to clean the solids. You would have a trip through a 55 gallon drum in a little over three minutes. An hours worth of processing would give you many passes through the centrifuge. This type of centrifuge is not well suited for removal of water.

How much oil are you planning on processing? If it is for normal driving, an insulated barrel should not cost that much to heat. How much fuel would you use a week? I am planning on doing some cross country driving, but even that requires less than 200 gallons at a time. Lucky you on the source. My biggest problem will soon be sources for oil.

Don't under power the centrifuge as it will not work well and will probably burn out the motor. You do need to run it at capacity to get proper cleaning. But, if you are circulating into a barrel, capacity is not a problem as you are just running the same oil through the centrifuge many times. That is OK, as that is how this type of centrifuge works to get the dirt out.

Check PA Biodiesel for prices on pumps and motors as they advertise that they are competitive. I don't know if they are or not, but it will give you a place to start for matching motor and pump for a complete system.

 

[Jeffrey S Brooks]

Since the centrifuge has a motor to drive it, then you could probably just gravity feed the waste oil into it.

 

[RT]

Is this the centrifuge you got? - x 1000 GPH WVO CENTRIFUGE / WMO CENTRIFUGE

That one does not have a motor and is pressure driven. If yours does have a motor, then Jeffrey is dead on - you can feed it as slow as you want up to the maximum rated flow rate with no ill effect.

The pressure driven pumps (like I have) achieve their RPM (and thus the G-Force) incremental to the pressure achieved. I run mine at 95 psi - unheated W85. I won't heat after I've mixed because it vaporizes my expensive component (RUG) and why would I want to do that?

The direct drive pumps achieve their RPM independent of what's going through them - you could do like Jeffrey said and just gravity feed, or get a variable speed motor on a gear pump so you could optimize your flow rate.

Could you post a link to the exact centrifuge you got?

 

[poor_rambler]

x 1000 GPH WVO CENTRIFUGE / WMO CENTRIFUGE. This is the centrifuge I have. I am going to be processing around 50+ gallons a week at first. I plan on switching an oil furnace I have over to WMO for my garage. I know that this centrifuge is overkill, but I thought I would take a chance for the price.(Ebay <$300.00)

I have access to many parts, heaters, motors, etc. wholesale (and free) at work. I actually have a single phase 5hp motor that I could use on the pump I mentioned in my first post, that is also from Ebay for $100.00. I hope to use it to transfer the oil from the underground tanks to my barrels/totes also. I'm going to call PABiodiesel tomorrow and talk to them, but usually if you're not buying, vendors are not that informative.

Thanks for the feedback.

 

[RT]

That pump does not have a motor in it - it is pressure driven. It is also not a single pass setup - just a giant version of what I have. What RPM is your motor? One downside of having such an oversized motor is the wasted electricity - you're going to be running this thing for hours per batch. You also have to figure out a clean mount and good connection between the motor and pump. You don't need a pressure relief valve in the pump itself, because you're going to be building that into the system. Lots of trips to Home Depot...

 

[F250Truckin]

You will find PA Biodiesel extremely easy to deal with and very helpful. Take a look at the kits on their website and see what items you have readily available (Home Depot, Lowes, Menards) and consider getting the rest from PA Biodiesel. That way you will have them for tech support and the right parts to get you started. Let us know how you make out.

 

[poor_rambler]

The motor is a 1740 RPM. I plan on using Lovejoy connectors or jackshafts and pulleys. If I moving 16gph, then I would turn the oil over approximately 20 time per hour using a 55g drum. The plus side being, I could use the pump to get the oil from the tanks.I will be using a band heater for the drum.

I do plan on buying some parts from PA Biodiesel. If you notice on the I1000, it has a band clamp that holds it together at the bottom. Does anyone have any ideas for something that will work. I e-mailed PABio and it costs $250.00. The nut on top holds it together.

 

[F250Truckin]

1740 rpm motors are usually heavy duty well built. Check and see if it is rated for continuous duty as that will determine the quality of the motor. That should be plenty to give you the psi you need to run that centrifuge (90) properly. I have a band heater that works well on my insulated drum. See if the motor can be set up for running on 220V. That will let it start easier and run better while pulling the load. I believe the pumps that PA Biodiesel sell use Lovejoy connections. You will be able to tell when you have run the centrifuge long enough when you get very little between cleanings. Since these centrifuges really don't work well with water, look at setting up an upflow system. They are ingenious and effective at leaving the water behind.

 

[F250Truckin]

Ooops sorry. It is a carbonator mount and they show you how to hook it up on the web site.

 

[RT]

A lot of the pool filters use that type of clamp - here is one example:

Valve Band Clamp w/Knob+Nut

You would almost have to go into a well stocked pool supply with your measurements.

 

[Jeffrey S Brooks]

It is more cost effective to run a pressure driven centrifuge with pneumatic pumping. pneumatic pumping is accomplished by putting your waste oil into a pressure tank that can handle the operating pressures of the centrifuge, which are typically 100 PSI. An old compressor tank or propane tank will work fine for this. Just use a pressure regulator on an air compressor to pressurize the waste oil tank to 100 PSI, then open a valve at the bottom of the tank to move the oil through the centrifuge. That is it. A compressor is a lot cheaper than a gear pump, and even a small air compressor will meet your needs in this application.

 

[tweener]

I dont agree with Jeff on that one....

TO properly centerfuge your oil you need to do MULTI-PASS centerfuging....it is not practical to multi-pass the oil with a an air compressor tank.

My Centerfuge is a (D.C.) OC-20.......... Which flows about 1 gallon a minute with oil at 140* or hotter, and feed at 85psi. I have a 1/2 HP 3600 Rpm motor and I beleive a 2.1 GPM carbonator cast-iron pump. the pump is throttled back via a bypass or waste valve....I bought the pump and motor oversized, in case I wante to upgrade to the OC-50 centrafuge.....Which I might want to.....

If you bought a 16gpm centrafuge, I think you went overkill.....

I process about 35 gallons at a time, and I centrafuge for about 12 hours or better....that should mean the oil goes thru the fuge about 10 or more times.....

With that said, I have processed about 350 gallons of oil so far with my "refinery".......My next test is to blend before centrafuging, and settle for a week.....then centrafuge it cold.....to see if this method takes less time to polish up the oil.

 

[F250Truckin]

tweener - when you do that, please post your results as I am thinking along the same lines but am not sure when I will get at it. It would be better on our gear pumps because they would not be required to run the grit through the gears. If the results are the same using either method, then mixing and settling first would be the better method.

Gear pumps are reported to emulsify water if it is present in the oil and the grit in the WM is not good for them. Using air pressure to move oil solves that problem but I am not sure it is more efficient.

Spinner type centrifuges require many passes to get their work done and were originally designed to clean the oil on working engines so they were constantly cleaning the oil as the engine ran making countless passes. Centrifuge oil filters area available for Chevy Duramax and perhaps the Cummins engines right now. Our use for cleaning WM is simply an adaption for this type of centrifuge. It leaves us with the same question all the time, when is the oil clean? We need a working test to determine that and I don't know how to design one.

 

[Jeffrey S Brooks]

I dont agree with Jeff on that one....

TO properly centerfuge your oil you need to do MULTI-PASS centerfuging....it is not practical to multi-pass the oil with a an air compressor tank.

tweener is correct, if you are depending upon multiple passes through your centrifuge to clean up your waste oil, then pneumatic pumping is not for your process. However, blending first, then settling for at least an hour to 24 hours, then draining off the sludge, will mean that a single pass through the centrifuge is all that should be needed to clean up waste oil, so, in the case of blending first, pneumatic pumping is a simple and inexpensive solution.

 

[F250Truckin]

Jeff, I don't think with a spinner type of centrifuge you are ever going to get by with a single pass. The oil is only in the centrifuge for 2 seconds or so. It simply does not have time to catch everything on a single pass. If you think of it as time in the centrifuge, then it isn't the number of passes that you count, but time in the centrifuge. Our folks that are filtering are sort of doing the same thing with multiple passes through a set of filters or multiple filters.

 

[Jeffrey S Brooks]

Jerry, I am not doing multiple passes through a filter. I see no reason for it, if you blend, then settle for 24 hours or more before draining the sludge off. And, I doubt seriously if multiple passes through a centrifuge is needed if you blend, then settle for 24 hours or more before draining the sludge off, before sending it through the centrifuge. But, why centrifuge, when they cost hundreds of dollars?

If you recall, Doug Miller was promoting an elaborate filtration system, which he offered for sale for several hundred dollars, and people have been waiting more than 3 months and still have not gotten his delux filtration system. When they could have just blended, then settle for 24 hours or more before draining the sludge off and ordered a 20" 1-micron bag filter and canister for $150 and would have been able to fuel their rigs for more than three months by now. So, let us not make it too complicated. My system is simple and inexpensive, and I am not getting a dime for my design.

 

[F250Truckin]

I think the confusion here is over centrifuge design. The spinners are very small, powered by the pressure from a pump and actually were designed to function much like our by pass filters do. Only a fraction of the oil at a time in an engine was filtered. The open bowl centrifuges (Simple, USFiltermaxx and others) are powered by their own motor and the oil can be fed in as slowly as you want. They are perfectly capable of cleaning the oil in one pass.

I upflow my oil, run it through a 5 micron bag filter and can't believe what the centrifuge takes out. I have an absolute handful of black tar full of sand (particulate matter) I don't think the oil I started with was of the highest quality and I don't think a spinner type centrifuge could have cleaned it in one pass.

I also think we have differences here between WVO and WMO. I am encouraged by your recent experiments with WMO.

 

[Snowman269]

Here are 2 pictures of the sludge the Centrifuge removed at Jerry's. I will be making this investment after witnessing the superior filtering this unit is capable of.