First Run with my WMO Filter System - Steel Soldiers::Military Vehicles Supersite

Wildchild467 · 03-15-2011, 09:33

Well I got my WMO system in production last night. still need to make brackets to mount the filters on the drum, but thats just a cosmetic thing more than anything. i have 4 filtering stages, where first stage is a 60 mesh pickup screen then a (using Zinga filters) SE-25, then SE-10, then an SE-05. thats filtering 25 micron, 10 micron then 5 micron. the system is simple. pressureize the drum with 7psi of air and a pickup line goes almost to the bottom of the drum (so i dont pick up the crud). so the oil goes through the first 60 mesh screen, then 25 micron filter, 10 micron, and then 5. i would like to get a AC condenser from a car and use that as a heat exchanger with a small propane heater would help the flow and possibly have a higher quality filtration although i dont know if warmer oil will filter better our not. i say filter better as in take more particles out of the oil. i only push it 7psi to go easy on the filters. it takes a little while to filter the oil, but so far i made 25 gallons last night, not bad at all. i just pressureize the tank and walk away and just keep an eye on the 16 gallon drum i fill into so it dosent over fill. im guessing i might be filtering 1/3 a gallon per minute. Thats fine with me, I am in no hurry as long as it gets filtered good. The filters are rated at 30gpm i think. I would like to add another zinga filter that filters down to 3 micron, but i dont know if napa carrys that filter for this style base. I have more research to do on on that. Anyway let me know what you think!

Ferroequinologist · 03-15-2011, 09:46

Good Job! warm oil will definitly filter and flow better. You can buy a barrel heating band. Or, weld a bung in the side, and put a water heater element in it, just either put the pickup tube high enough that it leaves oil over the element at all times, or a float switch to shut it off before it gets too low over it.

Nice setup either way.

glcaines · 03-15-2011, 10:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ferroequinologist

Good Job! warm oil will definitly filter and flow better. You can buy a barrel heating band. Or, weld a bung in the side, and put a water heater element in it, just either put the pickup tube high enough that it leaves oil over the element at all times, or a float switch to shut it off before it gets too low over it.

Nice setup either way.

I think a barrel heating band is best, because you get a lot of good mixing in the barrel. If you place the band near the bottom, the heated oil near the barrel sides will flow upwards in the barrel following the walls and the cooler oil will fall down the middle. This will help heat the entire barrel contents more uniformly.

Wildchild467 · 03-15-2011, 11:21

i like the idea of heating the barrel just my one concern is that would that cause convection in the barrel and stir up the crud in the bottom? i dont know how "hard packed" the sludge would be in the bottom. again just a thought. how many watt are the band heaters and where would i get one? my thought with a propane heater and radiator would be similiar how the on demand hot water heaters are in houses. the on demand systems are more efficient because you are not trying to heat up all the water, only heat the water you use. with a propane heater and some sort of radiator, i would have more wasted heat going through the fins and into the shop. in the colder temps outside it wouldnt matter because we have to heat the shop anyway, so it wouldnt really be wasted then. i wonder how much my electric bill would go up with one of those barrel band heaters though? obviously only turn it on before i want to filter a batch. any ideas guys? thanks!

4x4 Forever · 03-15-2011, 12:25

Just off the top of my head, Graingers or McMaster Carr for a band heater. With a little more looking, you can probably find one cheaper.

glcaines · 03-15-2011, 12:34

The last barrel band heater I used was from McMaster Carr. This was years ago, so the price paid then is immaterial now. I was using it to heat chemicals and mix them by convection. To keep from moving the sludge in the bottom around, keep the heater up maybe 6 - 10 inches. I also had the band heater I used powered via a variable transformer so that I could get exactly the amount of heat I needed. I don't remember the wattage on the one I used. The mixing process due to convection is relatively slow so you would probably want to put the heat on it at a low setting for several hours instead of trying to rush it. You could probably get a thermal blanket designed for hot water heaters and insulate the drum and make it much more efficient.

Tlauden · 03-16-2011, 00:10

Cool setup, glad it's working for ya. Where did u find those filter bases at?

cjtroutt · 03-16-2011, 00:19

Great looking setup and very good post keep up in new up grades.

Seth_O · 03-16-2011, 00:55

I really like what I see in your setup; I like the graduated filtering and I really love the simplicity. Do you have part numbers for the bases? I am always struggling to pair bases with filters. I have a half-designed system in my head, but waiting to finish it until I have a steady supply of WMO.

PropDr · 03-16-2011, 02:41

I like it.