Removing Water from Vegetable Oil Methods

[Banshee]

As above guys, whats the best way of removing water from veg oil at home efficiently and quickly

Answers on the back of a postcard lol

 

[solarman216]

let it stand for a period , water will settle to the bottom, oil being lighter, Rick

 

[96terrano]

You're not putting it in you're truck are you:doh

 

[supergnome]

How do you know there is water in it? and have you tested for it . How much do you have , 25 l or 500l, for the latter you can get a filter. Small amounts let it settle, decant then some heat, don't boil. David

 

[arcascomp]

If it's used cooking oil, then water will get in there from the food that was cooked in it. There are loads of right answers to this question, some just settle, some heat up in an old burco to about 60-70 degrees for an hour or so which then speeds the drop out, others use petrol to achieve the same result.

What I've been doing of late is, filter through an old sheet (takes ages at these temps) and then decant to 5L clear bottles, filling up to about 4.2L in each and then topping up with petrol. Put the lid on tightly and shake the bejesus out of it (not needed but makes me feel better) and then leave for a day or two to settle.

Pour the top 50-70% off through a funnel with a j cloth suspended over it into a jerry can and then pour that in the tank.

Petrol mixes with oil but hates water so you'll see almost a line of settling going down the bottle as it does it's stuff, it also strips out lacquers in the oil too. The above process will leave you with roughly 20% petrol, 80% waste oil, clean and clear for burning and before I forget, do all this at outside temps and be careful with the petrol! You need to filter it cold, just like they do beers.

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

all this seems a lot of bother, i currently pay 72p a litre for new clean rapeseed oil. No need to mess with it at all :thumb2

 

[arcascomp]

Plank me boy, where are you getting that golden nectar for such little dosh? Cheapest I've been getting recently is Asda for 83p a litre.

I don't collect enough to always run on 'free' oil, but it does feel good to fill the tank up for a total outlay of about £12 in petrol. Adding the petrol at abot 20% also makes the oil about as runny as pump diesel and stops it freezing until about -18 so helps reduce wear on the IP as well.

 

[supergnome]

72p . where from???????? There will be a queue. David.

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

at the moment Asda plus discount :augie

 

[supergnome]

How do you get this discount????

 

[R1cho]

can also buy it from tesco 2 x 5litre bottles for £10

 

[(RIP) PLANK]

How do you get this discount????

you need a friend on the inside :augie

 

[arcascomp]

Can your friend on the inside please organise a delivery from an Edinburgh based Asda?

That's a healthy discount, well worth it! Mighty jealous - still the normal 83p a litre price is still pretty good and you can get £5 off your next shop if you spend more than £40 so I guess that's getting close to your price.

 

[Banshee]

You're not putting it in you're truck are you:doh

No lol, I have been using various methods to remove the oil but I just want to know I'm removing it properly

How do you know there is water in it? and have you tested for it . How much do you have , 25 l or 500l, for the latter you can get a filter. Small amounts let it settle, decant then some heat, don't boil. David

I've been doing the frying pan test and listening to it to see if it crackles and I am getting a bit of crackling so I know there are traces of water in there

If it's used cooking oil, then water will get in there from the food that was cooked in it. There are loads of right answers to this question, some just settle, some heat up in an old burco to about 60-70 degrees for an hour or so which then speeds the drop out, others use petrol to achieve the same result.

Petrol mixes with oil but hates water so you'll see almost a line of settling going down the bottle as it does it's stuff, it also strips out lacquers in the oil too. The above process will leave you with roughly 20% petrol, 80% waste oil, clean and clear for burning and before I forget, do all this at outside temps and be careful with the petrol! You need to filter it cold, just like they do beers.

I use roughly the same method, filter it into one of those big blue plastic oil drums with ripped of sections of bedsheets pegged round the outside, pour it all in let it filter through, scrape all the bits and grease out and bin it and start again, usually when I've filtered the lot I whack about 10-15% of petrol in there depending on how much oil is there and shake it all about and then leave it for about 48 hours and then when filtering into the motor I try and leave the last couple of inches in the bottom.

I am interested in heating it up though but wondered what the best methods were for doing this?

Whats this "Burco" method you talk of? I've got near on 100 litres I need to extract water from before I can get it into the tank

I can get 20 litres of new Veg from M&T Cash and Carry in Walsall for £18 too which I just pour straight in

 

[arcascomp]

Banshee, get yourself over to http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/ there's tonnes of useful info there.

A Burco is a brand of hot water urn used by scout groups and any grouping of old ladies to make copious quantities of tea. I have a 205L oil drum with a standard immersion heater fitted to the side to heat mine up.

I've bought the 20L from cash and carries before too, can be darn tricksy to pour into the filler and the cheaper stuff is usually soya oil with anti foaming agents and I find its a bit thicker than rapeseed oil and doesn't run as well for me. Best bit using Tesco/Asda is getting your fuel delivered to the door!

 

[Banshee]

Banshee, get yourself over to http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/ there's tonnes of useful info there.

I have a 205L oil drum with a standard immersion heater fitted to the side to heat mine up.

I'm going to join up there I think as I'm always pointed to that forum

Have you got any pictures of your drum with the heater on it? And more importantly where can I get one of these immersion heaters from?

 

[arcascomp]

I've never taken any pictures, pretty nasty looking anyway! Immersion is a standard one from Screwfix, fitting I got from BES.

Technique for fitting seems to be, batter a bit of the side of the drum flatter to help it fit, sand back to bare steel and mark out the 2.25" hole needed. Tin all round that marking with solder (use plasticine to stop excess solder running all round the drum) and then cut the hole out with holesaw or the likes.

Tin the back of the brass immersion fitting and slot it in the hole, and then carefully sweat the two solder beds together. Tinning the drum before cutting the hole saves half a ton of solder dripping through to the inside.

 

[arcascomp]

They're an okay bunch over there, not a jolly as this lot though

 

[Banshee]

I've never taken any pictures, pretty nasty looking anyway! Immersion is a standard one from Screwfix, fitting I got from BES.

Technique for fitting seems to be, batter a bit of the side of the drum flatter to help it fit, sand back to bare steel and mark out the 2.25" hole needed. Tin all round that marking with solder (use plasticine to stop excess solder running all round the drum) and then cut the hole out with holesaw or the likes.

Tin the back of the brass immersion fitting and slot it in the hole, and then carefully sweat the two solder beds together. Tinning the drum before cutting the hole saves half a ton of solder dripping through to the inside.

Sounds like a right faff!!!! I'm wondering if I'd be alright just attaching a couple of these to the shed rood by some cord and dangling them in drum for a bit;

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Home-Port...arden_Hearing_Cooling_Air&hash=item3f0c92f64a

They're an okay bunch over there, not a jolly as this lot though

Haha, I'll soon find out

 

[arcascomp]

Those would probably do it well enough, I'm doing my best to learn slowly what works best without investing too much money, I think I want to produce my own Bio eventually.