I created a gallery with a few WVO conversion pics. Hope you can see what I did. Glad to help with any questions!

 

How warm does the Heat exchanger get the WVO? Do you run a two tank #2/WVO system?

 

It looks like your hot water flows through the heater core and then back to the heat exchanger? You know you can supply the water from the left head and not have to share with the cab heater.

 

Where is the gallery? I would like to see the pictures.

 

Click on his user name .. big blue letters and select gallery then go from there.

 

It gets it to the same temp as the coolant. Too hot to touch when I'm changing the fuel filter, at least...

I run B100 in one tank to get up to temp, and then switch to WVO.

I just cut the coolant line that runs over top of the engine and looped in the exchanger. It seemed like the most simple and logical method, and works great. I don't have any problems with heat... I did have to add some extra coolant, though. Your method might be better, though; can you elaborate?

 

that looks like a pretty simple set up, what do you have to do to the wvo just filter it and dump it in the tank?

 

Pretty much. my dad and I both use it, and we just collect it in drums, filter it with a screen type drum filter (ebay, or a plastics company), and pump it in. A goldenrod metal screen (cleanable) 30 micron filter works great inline, but we've found that finer filters (or water separators) will clog up in an instant, and that it's much more economical to have a cleanable filter. Just make sure you keep a spare fuel filter onhand at all times. She'll go very suddenly, and leave you stranded if you don't have a spare. We buy them in bulk on ebay, at $5-10 each.

We've found that it works great for us to use a settling tank, which we made by cutting the bottom off a 55 gal drum, and modifying the bung to include a 6" standpipe so that we're not drawing from the bottom of the barrel, which is flipped upside down so that the outlets are on the bottom. I'll put pics in my WVO gallery today of the settling tank and fueling setup.

BTW - the most important part is making sure that you have good, high quality oil. No shortening or grease! It should be translucent, and not milky. If they pour their washdown water in with the waste oil, then it will ruin it. Just give it the sniff test, it will either make you want to eat or puke... Bad oil is a surefire way to get stuck somewhere.

 

Do you do anything to dry the suspended water out of your oil? When I process my oil for BD it comes out of a stand pipe settling tank and then I dry it in my processor and get water out of my condenser. Do you do anything to get that water out?

 

we just settle it in the tank. we try not to put any water in there, but what little does go in, we drain out of the side with no standpipe. we bubble our biodiesel after mist-washing it, though

 

This looks like a nice economical setup. I've been considering a similar conversion for a while myself. I was considering the Dieselcraft centrifuge for cleaning/dewatering oil before use (Centrifuges - VO Wiki)

I do have some questions about your setup though:
1) How do you know when it's safe to switch over to WVO? Do you have a temperature gauge installed in your WVO tank?

2)How long does purging typically take? Do you just switch over a couple miles do you get home, or do you idle for a while to switch back?

3) I've heard you need an aluminum fuel tank for WVO to prevent polymerization in a steel tank. Have you found this to be the case, or are you running the stock tanks with no problems?

 

far as i understand, if you process the more watered down wvo you can get it to work. just takes longer.
personally i would run my good wvo and process the shortening and watered down wvo.
i want to make bio as more of a 50/50 additive then strait. just for commercial purposes. that might be offroad im mixing with. hehe =)
you could always seperate it back to veg with lye, but you might need something to replace the methanol you put in so the oil doesnt rebond to the glicerine.

ill probably build a centrafuge system as well.
oh the ideas and the fun to be had!
(money to spend that i dont have!)

 

Nice job on the system. I installed mine about 9 months ago and already have about 25000 on it. Thats a lot of $$$ saved at 4.30 a gallon!

A couple thoughts on those thinking of adding one to your truck. I bought a kit from Charlie at Golden Fuel systems. Although he's a nice guy, and makes some nice products I wouldn't do it again that way. Its way too expensive for what you get, and a resourceful person can make the same thing for 1/2 of the money. Between the internet and your autoparts store you can source everything you need.

If you live in colder climates you should seriously consider these additions to your system:
This is a phenomenal heat exchanger that bolts right to the frame rail, or can be mounted in the engine bay.
VEGPOWER.COM

Fuel tank heat exchanger/pickup
VEGPOWER.COM

A couple thoughts on settling:
I have the same basic system but add a step. I pre-heat my oil(to about 160) and then run it thru a 1 micron filter bag. This takes out ALL the crap. It then goes thru a Racor R120 fuel/water separator. Since the oil has already been filtered to 1 micron, the Racor lasts a LONG time. The added plus is that it takes out any residual water. This saves me from changing out my on board fuel filters more often. Definitely a cost savings over time.

I also have a heated filter wrap around the on-board filter. This keeps the filter warm and gives shorter change over times. The long and short of it all from what I've been learning is that the more heat you can give the fuel the bettter you'll be. I'm sure there are some diminishing returns at some point, but up here in Maine it gets damn cold in winter and getting stuck in the middle of nowhere due to gelled wvo sucks! So I've yet to find that point.

 

I just watch my stock temp gauge, and don't switch to oil until it's up to running temp. A temp gauge in my WVO tank would do no good, because the tank is not heated.

It takes a couple miles to purge the WVO, so I usually switch a few minutes before I get home.

I've don't believe I've had any problems with polymerization, but I haven't peeked inside or anything. If it could have gone unnoticed, it's possible, but then it wouldn't really be a problem. Three years so far, and no issues of that nature.

 

True, you can't go wrong with more heat. If I were that far north, I'd probably get a filter heater, too... I only have to change my filter every couple months or so, with filtering to 30 micron (unheated), which isn't too bad, I suppose. Filter bowl gets dirty pretty quick, though...