Has anybody ever used the diaphragm pump that Dudadiesel sells? I was wondering if this pump is good enough to use in my 35 gallon reaction tank to do my mixing? I currently have a 1" clear water pump and since I will be trying to dry wash with Magnesol I understand my clear water pump wont work. Would the clear water pump work if I only mixed the magnesol for 5 to 10 minutes? I can always use my boat paddle to mix the Mag. but was trying to have more automation in my system. Thanks Maxx

 

that's the pump I use to pump from the Magnesol wash tank through the filters...

 

I was going to let Fabman answer this one but I will jump in there and he can follow up. You need to mix for at least 1 hour if you are using a mechanical mixer. I have a motor on top of a 55 gal drum with a paint mixer attached. I pour the Magnesol in the BD (wear a mask) and mechanically mix for 1 hour (be gentle). I then let settle minimum 24 hours then pump the fuel off the top as I posted before. Do not pump magnesol. I won't even pump it with a diaphram pump.
Tom

 

Thanks Guys...I tried a small batch over the weekend before the freezing temps get here. I mixed up a 15 gallon sample (experimenting). I did not demeth and added 1.5% magnesol in the tank and took my paddle and stirred for 10 minutes. Tom I know you stated stir for minimum 1 hour? Is this a neccessity or is this just a practice you use? I would get rather tired of hanbd mixing for an hour. I would definitely have to rig a motor up for that long a period. My second observation of the magnesol is the filtering. I used 2 sock filters, a 10m then a 1 mic using a sock adapter under pressure from a pump I hooked up. I notice the flow seriously slowed after 10 gallons. I was also experimenting with the filters. I may have to go to a 5 mic then a 1 mic. Which filter catches the brunt of the mag? I dont think the 10m did a lot of good. Think the 1 mic did most of the work and thus started clogging quicker than I expecting. I stored the filtered fuel in another tank and will run the filtering process again. I did take a sample and set it aside. Looks like it did a great job of cleaning the fuel though. Any advise on the filtering would be appreciated. Trying to keep this as simple as possible without getting into elaborate filtering system. Thanks Maxx

 

I was also wondering if I should heat the BD before filtering for added speed? The garage temp when I filtered was around 45 to 50. Next time was thinking of heating the mix up to ????.......100 degrees? maxx

 

It will flow and filter better. Last time that I pumped at 40 degrees, I thought my pump was dying. even 10 degrees makes a world of difference when you're working near the frost point of the bio.

 

I went through the whole sock filter mess and finally went with the settling method (thanks Fabman). Now the only filter I use is a 5 and a 1 to filter the separated fuel. I get many hundreds of gallons through them and only had to change them when I accidently let the dip tube hit the Magnesol while I was pumping the fuel out. As far as mixing for 1 hour, I recollect Fabman taught me that (correct me if I'm wrong, Don). I use the motor and paddle. As per his instructions "mix carefully". If you don't want to "butcher up" your cone tank, you could drain (or pump)the fuel into an open ended 55 gal drum and put your Magnesol in that. That would make it easy to mix with a motorized mixer. As I stated in a prior post, I leave the old Magnesol in the drum and add to it for about 5 times. I then scoop out the magnesol (after removing fuel) and discard. By leaving the mag in the drum to reuse, I am getting the full benefit of it before discarding. It does get pretty thick in the bottom of the drum so I take a paddle and break it loose. The temps you are working with, I would highly reccommend heating before washing with Magnesol.100 deg should be fine
I'm sure if I gave you any erroneous BS that Don will jump in there and straighten up my act. Everything I learned was from him and now I am just refining some of it with things I learn with each batch. I am lucky. I don't deal with cold temps like you guys (Central Florida)
Good luck and HAVE FUN
Tom

 

Thanks Tom. I too will get to a comfort zone on the washing. Nice to hear how others do it. Makes me think a little more. I was born and raised in Melbourne, Fla. lived there till I was 20 now live in the Memphis, Tn area. Expecting low 20's tonight. Wish I was in Melbourne right about now. Thanks for the advice guys.........Maxx

 

Tom is exactly right! LET IT SETTLE FIRST! After settling, suck it from the top, and run it through your filter, it will work much better!

 

Thanks Don!

 

Forgot to ask. From your experiance Which size micron filter collects the most magnesol? I used a 10 then 1 but the 10 looked fairly useless as the bulk of the magnesol appeared to go right thru it and into the 1 mic. Thinking of going 5 mic then 1 mic (several passes) trying to save the 1 mics as long as possible. Thanks again. Maxx

 

I use a 5 mic, then a 1 mic absolute. If you settle first you get very little Magnesol in the filters, and they last forever...........

 

Amazing. Thanks again for your help. I will go the 5 then 1 also and see it it goes on the next batch. I settled the magnesol 48 hours then actually drained the paste straight out the bottom of my cone tank until nothing but BD was exiting. It worked out pretty well I thought. Can I get by with 24 hour settle?

 

was -14 when I went to work this morning, won't be doing anything here until it warms up again (50's on Sat)

 

WOW! Thats a bit chilly....