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chrismc
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![[*]](./images/onepoint9/default_icon.gif) posted on 2-7-2008 at 01:47 PM |
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My Rig...
Just finished making a copy of a GL eco processor. As you can see I made it as compact as possible as it is living in the shed.
One problem I may have is that I made the condenser too small for the 3KW heater. It was only after I made it I read it was supposed to be 1m long.
Mine is half that. Have to see how I get on.....
To monitor temperature I have used a Meat thermometer. Seems pretty accurate and was cheap off Ebay (approx £5).
Any comments would be useful. Good or bad, I can take it
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dickjotec
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| posted on 2-7-2008 at 04:34 PM |
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Looks very impressive, well done.
It looks like the immersion heater cover is insulated? If so I should remove the insulation as they are not supposed to be.
Have you tested it yet? If not run it with water, including heating, to make sure there are no leaks etc.
Take care with the meth fumes -even if it is vented outside. GL has a good idea for clean air breathing on his site just to make sure.
D ick
Mitsubish Delica (shogun engine) 95k miles now on 100% bio 20000 miles and counting. Acetone at 1000 miles. Now stopped acetone as it did not seem to
make any difference.
CHP web site http://www.dpks.co.uk/CHP/main.htm |
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pjbennett1976
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 11:56 AM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by chrismc
One problem I may have is that I made the condenser too small for the 3KW heater. It was only after I made it I read it was supposed to be 1m long.
Mine is half that. Have to see how I get on.....
To monitor temperature I have used a Meat thermometer. Seems pretty accurate and was cheap off Ebay (approx £5).
Any comments would be useful. Good or bad, I can take it |
There was a chap on here who also did a compact design and he used a paralell condensor design using two condensing runs next to each other therefore
doubling the effective length of the condensor. Just a thought.
Love the thermometor....where do you process??? beef or pork?
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rellaw
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 12:55 PM |
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Great setup.
Can't wait to get the parts to build mine.
I was thinking of putting the condenser in a tub of water.
Enter in the top and have a coil in the container, then exiting out the bottom.
This would save on pumping water around and make it fit into a smaller footprint.
Any thoughts?
John
2000 Octavia TDi 90. Now 6000 miles on B100. No problems. Not had to change the cars filter yet.
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e3msb
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 01:01 PM |
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the condensor will just work at a slower rate. GL designed that length to make the most of the 3KW heater as the pipework of that type of condensor
works at best at 33cm per kilowatt of heat. as said, you could just make another one and couple it alongside.
e3msb[steve] 96 disco 300. bio 100. Cit ZX. wvo/mix. PUG405 wvo/mix. Vintage JCB3c GT. bio. home/cent heating,wvo/glyc-oil. Linde forklift 3cyl
Deutz WVO. Petter twin diesel 7kva generator, bio and wvo. Dennis fire engine 1971. 5.8 perkins T6354 historic vehicle, bio. IF YOU HAVE GAINED
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chrismc
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 04:21 PM |
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Thanks for the interest guys!
I reckon I will be dewatering at Chicken and processing at 10 below Cow.
I may double up the condenser after I have done my first batch. Have to see how slow it is...
Got my chemicals today and should have enough WVO to do a batch in a week or so.
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Frisp
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 08:06 PM |
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How did you fix the meat thermometer into the Pipework from memory they are not threaded?
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chrismc
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 09:47 PM |
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Basically I copied the way the thermostat is housed in the immersion heater.
The thermometer fits snuggly into 8mm copper pipe which is soldered into a 22mm blanking cap.
The 8mm pipe protrudes into the flow of oil and transferes its heat to the thermometer. Difficult to describe . Heres some pics....
I tested the processor with water and the meat thermometer was accurate +/- 2 C with my infrared thermo up to 90C.
Hope this helps
[Edited on 3-7-2008 by chrismc]
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e3msb
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 09:55 PM |
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your thermometer doesnt show goats or old mutton on the pictures, so I would be stumped with my kebab fat...
e3msb[steve] 96 disco 300. bio 100. Cit ZX. wvo/mix. PUG405 wvo/mix. Vintage JCB3c GT. bio. home/cent heating,wvo/glyc-oil. Linde forklift 3cyl
Deutz WVO. Petter twin diesel 7kva generator, bio and wvo. Dennis fire engine 1971. 5.8 perkins T6354 historic vehicle, bio. IF YOU HAVE GAINED
KNOWLEDGE OR BEEN AMUSED BY THE ANSWERS GIVEN PLEASE MAKE A SMALL DONATION TO THE FORUM
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chrismc
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| posted on 3-7-2008 at 10:07 PM |
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Just got 40L of semi solid Kebab juice myself. Smells like vomit
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Frisp
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| posted on 4-7-2008 at 08:20 AM |
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Ah I see, A good chaep sopution. I suppose a tank connector coudl be addapted in a simolar fashion to test the fluid in the reactor. I have considered
using one of these.
http://www.digital-meters.com/EStar-Digital-Meat-Thermometer-p-16525.html
What do Y'all think
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saabangerman
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| posted on 4-7-2008 at 08:53 AM |
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Just a suggestion chris mc -
A small amount of oil down the copper pipe where you insert your temperature probe, would mean that the heat transfer to the probe was quicker and
slightly more accurate.
Nice rig by the way!
VW Passat Mk4 AFN1.9tdi P reg 1997 276,000 miles - still on original clutch!!
Thrust bearing wowing though!
Running 100%Bio
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chrismc
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| posted on 4-7-2008 at 09:19 AM |
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| Quote: | Originally posted by saabangerman
Just a suggestion chris mc -
A small amount of oil down the copper pipe where you insert your temperature probe, would mean that the heat transfer to the probe was quicker and
slightly more accurate.
Nice rig by the way! |
Thanks saabangerman.
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chrismc
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| posted on 4-7-2008 at 09:21 AM |
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Don't see why this wouldnt work. Would look pretty flash too
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Frisp
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| posted on 4-7-2008 at 09:46 AM |
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Hmm My tfoughts exactly re the Flashness...... Me likes.... me buys
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chrismc
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| posted on 10-7-2008 at 06:31 PM |
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Cyberman inspecting the reactor
Picking up some more kebab fat tomorrow so hope to be doing my first batch over the weekend
GULP!!!
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NigelB
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| posted on 10-7-2008 at 08:14 PM |
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Hi Chris,
nice rig...clean and tidy with a small footprint. Love the thermometer...very clever, very simple. Thanks for sharing.
Nige
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e3msb
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| posted on 10-7-2008 at 08:19 PM |
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I really need a cyberman to help me.....price and availabity please.
e3msb[steve] 96 disco 300. bio 100. Cit ZX. wvo/mix. PUG405 wvo/mix. Vintage JCB3c GT. bio. home/cent heating,wvo/glyc-oil. Linde forklift 3cyl
Deutz WVO. Petter twin diesel 7kva generator, bio and wvo. Dennis fire engine 1971. 5.8 perkins T6354 historic vehicle, bio. IF YOU HAVE GAINED
KNOWLEDGE OR BEEN AMUSED BY THE ANSWERS GIVEN PLEASE MAKE A SMALL DONATION TO THE FORUM
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JIM.M
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| posted on 10-7-2008 at 08:38 PM |
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I like the height of the pump to keep it clear of the gliserol, what you have made for the thermometer is called a thermometer pocket and you can buy
them at plumbers merchants, they come with a blank end and usually 3/8 BSP thread
JIM.M
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chrismc
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| posted on 29-7-2008 at 04:13 PM |
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Results of first batch.....
Put my first batch through a couple of weeks ago and it highlighted a few minor issues.
I used semi solid kebab fat which really did honk! I heated it in the collection tank prior to pumping it into the processor to make it fully
liquid.
I started at 8am and gave myself a day to process approx 55 litres.
Once in the processor i heated up the oil to 90C and turned my feeble condenser on. After about half an hour I had approx a cup full of water.
Great! Not much water in this oil.
Waited until the oil cooled to below 60C (2pm).
Tritrated at 3.5. Very happy.
Turned on the venturi and nothing happened. No sucky.
This had been tested before and worked well...Typical!
Ended up introducing the Methoxide by gravity feed which seemed to work well.
Did the 5% prewash.
Recovered approx 2 litres of methanol.
Drained some glycerol but noticed no colour change.
Pumped out a soapy mess and went to bed shattered at 11pm!
Observed creamy substance for a week and noticed no change.
I took sample in a pop bottle and washed it a la 'Dr Pepper'
method. This eventually produced clear soap free Bio.
It failed the 27/3 test having a drop out of 1ml.
I washed the bulk of the remaining Bio and left to settle. It too cleared.
I ended up with approx 25L of clear but poor quality Bio.
After a bottle of Rioja I deciced to stick it in the car any way.
(200 tdi). It has all been used now and I was lucky I had no problems.
I am determined to produce better Quality Bio next time
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chrismc
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| posted on 29-7-2008 at 04:20 PM |
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I think one of the problems I had was I was trying to rush the process and the condensor was hoplessly inefficient.
I think the oil had water in it but my condenser didnt deal with it. Hence the soapy result
I doubled up the condeser, like this, and have added a bigger reservoir for it to draw from:
Cheers Chris
[Edited on 29-7-2008 by chrismc]
[Edited on 31-7-2008 by chrismc]
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GSMGuy
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| posted on 29-7-2008 at 09:38 PM |
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Chris, from your deskription, you appear to have recovered the meth BEFORE draining the Glyc.. This could well be the reason your batch failed..
Glyc should be drained BEFORE meth recovery..... and obviously after prewash..
Speaking of which, I need to go drain Glyc myself
Mike
Making my annual 2499L of Bio....
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chrismc
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| posted on 29-7-2008 at 10:29 PM |
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Thanks Mike.
Sorry my mistake. I did drain the glycerol before distilling the Methanol.
I reckon a combination of wet oil and not waiting for the reaction to complete was were i went wrong.
Next time I will do the 3/27 test immediately after i think the reaction is complete to make sure!
Less haste etc....
Thanks for your help,
Chris
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BioTim
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| posted on 30-7-2008 at 10:00 PM |
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Just heat a small batch of oil up really hot on your cooker and listen for crackling. If it's crackles like mad your condenser is failing, could maybe
make it longer and add ice to the reservoir.
As for the Thermometer did no compression fittings match its size?
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chrismc
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| posted on 31-7-2008 at 05:41 PM |
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Hi Tim, I have now made the condenser longer and increased the size if the coolant drum it uses.
I didn't think of fitting the thermometer using a compression fitting. I think its about 6-7mm diameter.
I quite like the fact the thermometer can be removed and used else were when needed.
Thanks Chris
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