Geoff, My pleasure. Your approach is very thorough and we're mining the same vein - singletank WVO that's bulletproof and can be driven like an "ordinary diesel."
My answers to your question are below: [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > Hi Craig, > Thanks for the info.....I have spoke with you once on the phone > briefly before the Christmas holiday.....I especially appreciate > your feedback on the choices for Webb HotSTK and hose on hose for > reliability and minimizing the downside risk......This is my first > attempt at converting a diesel to run primarily on WVO and I'm going > to go overboard which is my nature.....Rather than start with > a "bare bones" approach I'm opting to go with the latest technology > available, create what I can't find and hopefully attain my goal of > a nearly "on demand" "fill up, turn the key, pause for the glow > plugs and drive" vehicle running on WVO. > > Questions on the Vormax which I will cheerfully purchase from your > company. > > 1. Can you get more than one heating element in it....Such as 12V > heat, coolant heat and 120V heat all in the same unit?.....I'd at > least like to have 12v and coolant together and preferably all 3 > options bundled together. Yes, the Vormax comes standard with provision for fluid heat exchange (coolant or return fuel, with coolant producing higher fuel temps) and 12V/180W heat and 120V heat > > 2. Are you letting your WVO settle before pouring it in the tank or > do you use any WVO that you can pump from a dumpster?.....I'd like > to believe that a Vormax could handle these, however I had planned > to build or buy a pumping and filtering system for collection and > purifying. We (Ed Beggs and I, aka Neoteric Biofuels, let our restaurant oil settle in the jugs (we persuade them to give us their oil in the jugs in came in - for portability, so we don't have to dumpster dive, so we don't run the risk of getting water or other funky stuff that might find it's way into the dumpster, and so we can see what kind of oil they're buying - so we can avoid partially-hydrogenated oil, for instance) then we use the 12V FillRite diesel transfer pump we sell, with a 70 micron stainless mesh filter on the end of the suction hose - actually, it's inside a PVC "wand" we're going to start selling - with holes in the bottom of an airtight tube and the filter at the top of the tube. With this setup, we pump settled WVO right into our fuel tanks - and I have conversion customers (we do conversions in my Berkeley workshop) who do the same. The Vormax, with it's pre-filter, takes care of the rest of the filtering. You could use the same setup for dumpster diving, by placing the end of the wand just below the top surface of the oil - avoiding the (hopefully) settled food and/or water. I'd consider doing this on the road if I'd run out of pre-filtered and settled WVO. (I can fit 16 - 5 gallon carboys of settled and pre-filtered WVO in the rear of my '87 Mercedes wagon, and that 80 gallons plus my stock tank's (I'm running singletank) 18 gallons is enough for me to do a free roadtrip of about 2450 miles before I have to start thinking about scoring some more WVO. With your Cummins, you could carry a lot more WVO, of course. > > 3. What is the average life of the filter you use on the Vormax and > what do you recommend?.....Is it a cellulose type filter?.....I > thought I had read that VO causes the fibers to swell and can ruin > them quickly....Have you heard of this? No one I know has had any problems with standard spin-on or cartridge-type fuel filters on WVO. When Ed first installed a Vormax on his '91 Jetta, he put 6000 miles on the original Fleetguard cartridge on the Vormax, and the vacuum gauge that indicates filter restriction never moved out of the green "safe zone." He drained a bit of visible food bits out of the clear Lexan prefilter bowl twice in that 6000 miles. I've got about 5000 miles on my original cartridge. And they're only $11 at my local Ford Truck dealer - and about that at your Dodge dealer, and most CAT, Freightliner, Kenworth, Peterbuilt, etc. big truck dealers stock them - as well as truck stops on the highway. > > I have many more questions, but will limit them to these for now. > > Thanks in advance for your assistance, > Geoff My pleasure. Keep up the good thinking! Craig > > > > > --- In biofuel@yahoogroups.com, Craig Reece <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Geoff, > > > > You wrote: > > > > > Has anyone installed an Espar, Webasto or other diesel fired > water > > > heater in their WVO system to pre-heat the cooling system and > thus > > > the WVO?......My question is if these will work burning WVO..... > > > > > > I've installed a Webasto diesel-fired coolant heater/pump in my > Tdi Land > > Rover, plumbed into the cooling system (obviously) and will use it > to > > preheat the coolant in my radiator, engine, heatercore, Webb > HotSTK > > (now Racor HotSTK, since they bought Webb in December) in my WVO > tank, > > and in my Vormax fuel pre-filter/filter, which has a heat exchange > > function. (The Webb HotSTK is the only way that we - Neoteric > Biofuels > > www.biofuels.ca recommend as a means to introduce coolant into a > fuel > > tank - we don't feel like taking on the potential liability we'd > incur > > if a customer had a catastrophic loss of coolant into their fuel > from a > > copper loop or transmission oil cooler. Which has happened, BTW - > with > > diesel engines being turned into boat anchors in a few minutes of > > operation without coolant.) > > > > So, fire up the Webasto or Espar, (and they both offer a keychain > remote > > feature) and after some amount of time, which of course varies > depending > > on ambient air temps, you've got hot coolant being circulated (by > the > > 12V pump) through all of the above components, so you've got: a > hot > > engine, hot (or at least warm) fuel in your injection pump and > > injectors, hot fuel in your tank, hot fuel in your fuel filter, > and hot > > coolant in your heatercore - so everything, including your > passenger > > compartment, is hot prior to starting the car. For campers or > RV's, you > > can plumb a hot water heat exchanger into the loop, and use the > Webasto > > or Espar to provide you with domestic hot water. If your fuel > lines are > > bundled next to your coolant lines (HOH or hose-on-hose, as > opposed to > > HIH or hose-in-hose, which scares us (see above - can you say > > "catastrophic loss of coolant") with the whole bundle insulated > with > > foam pipe insulation) you've also got a heated fuel path from tank > to > > engine. > > > > As far as running an Espar or Webasto on WVO: Alexander Noack, the > > senior engineer at Elsbett, who's in charge of the SVO kit side of > their > > business, (and Elsbett installs Espar heaters as a cold-weather > option > > on conversions they do at their workshop in Germany) told me that > Espar > > claims you can run *biodiesel* (not SVO or WVO) in their heaters, > but > > that you need to run them on diesel periodically. Whether pre- > heated > > biodiesel would eliminate this need, I don't know. And it's > possible > > that pre-heated WVO would also combust properly. I'd of course > suggest > > our Vegtherm 12V inline fuel heater for this purpose. My Land > Rover > > isn't quite on the road yet, but when it is, I'll be experimenting > with > > the Webasto, to see if it will run on pre-heated biodiesel, and > I'm sure > > I'll try it on pre-heated WVO at some point. With a bit of > plumbing one > > could of course do a two-tank system for the Webasto or Espar and > start > > it on bioD or dinoD, run it on WVO, then shut down on dinoD or > bioD. > > > > I'll keep the group informed of the outcome of my experiments. > > > > Craig Reece > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=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] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of > Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=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/
