Hello jimbull >Mr Shea, I saw your message and I also was wondering about a >seperate "processor" for incoming raw if you will, wvo. I came up >with a poly drum that I had with two 4500 watt water heater >elements.
A lot of people don't like the combination of poly drums and heating elements, and indeed there have been reports of fires with such processors. I'm not so sure about it, I think it can be done well and safely, but that would be for a processor, not a dewatering tank, especially not the way you're going about it. Two 4500 watt water heater elements! 225 degree plus. Wow. Two things about that. Don't you find that those elements burn the oil unless you stir it? List member Matt Pozzi, also in Oz I think - oh, sorry, you're in Tazzie? :-) Anyway Matt gave us a number: "Make a rough estimate of the element's area of contact with the oil (length*pi*diameter) and make sure the output will be around or less than 3W/sq cm, this will ensure no burning of the oil whilst heating. Elsewise you will need to stir while heating." Our 1.5 watt element comes out with around 10W/sq cm, and does burn the oil unless we stir it. But that's just for processing, at max 130 deg F, not boiling off water at 225. I definitely wouldn't attempt that in a poly drum. By the way, you shouldn't need to heat it that much anyway to remove water content. Please see my current message to Kevin Shea, "Re: [biofuel] Heating tank to boil water/fatty acids to WVO before processing 10 gal batches". >If you go with a thermostate, you won't get them hot >enough, least mine didn't, so I went w/o it and set them on a >reostate (a30amp one is strong enough) and I can get 225 degree plus >out of it. My barrel has sides strong enough to run the elements >into and they tap threads themselves (metal vs plastic) however, I >do not trust just that so I put a generous layer of metal set around >the element and that will stict to anything and it holds very well. >I have a 30gal fumeless processor built on the plans from the web >site at journey to forever. I made some additions to it, as I have >it set up to draw wvo in, circutlate in the hot water heater, draw >the meth in and then transfer to the was tank and finally pump it >out all using the same pump. I used pex tubing and valves on all >the set up and it works great. I do 25 gals at a time and thats 5 >gal of meth/lye mix at a time and get around 22 gal or so back. >runs great in my johndeer 4020....hope this helps a little, as the >forum is getting more political then helpfull to people like >us...jimbull Well, the number political posts, whatever that means (matter of opinion), rises and falls, but the how-to stuff carries on anyway, and I don't understand why some people think the one interferes with the other. If anything they're complementary (as many think), or it just doesn't matter. The list does what its members tell it to. It's not a TV set - if people lurk then they should expect whatever comes their way, but anybody can take an active role and post messages on whatever interests them. As you've just done. No sense in complaining about other people's messages - if they don't interest you then don't read them. Best wishes Keith ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
