Sandblaster for WMO Pump

I had an ah-ha moment last night while trying to get to sleep. What if instead of a hydraulic pump or re-purposed power steering pump to push WMO through filters, why couldn't I fill a pressurized sandblaster with WMO and then use air pressure to send it through a series of filters.

I would have to replace the end hose with a hydraulic hose, but the only disadvantage I could see would be the moisture added into the air by the compressor. This wouldn't deal with any moisture that was in the oil prior to filtering (I know a centrifuge is the best). I have the sandblaster which is a cheapy from HF.

Here are some questions I have:

1. Does this idea make sense or am I nuts?
2. Can you use stock deuce oil filters left over from a spin-on oil filter conversion for pre-filters? If so, is there some sort of base that you could buy off the shelf that would fit them?
3. How small will the stock oil filters filter to and what is the recommended final filter (3 micron)?

Well, I'm sure your not the only one to think of using air pressure to push fuel through filters. If it worked well, I'm sure more people would be doing it. By all means try it so you have the experiance under your belt.

I use air to push WMO through the filters.
Check ebay Item number:140342860851.
I made up a "pump" that works the same way. In the small hole in the barrel, I put an air pressure regulator with an air coupler.
In the large hole I made up a pipe that comes within 1.5" of the bottom, with a hose connection at the top.
Think of a spray can. Pressure inside forces the liquid up the internal tube.
Research showed that both plastic & steel drums are supposed to be able to withstand a minimum of 10 PSI. I've found that 1 to 3 PSI will lift WMO 3 feet up to & through my bag filter with no problem. At least at temps above 65 degrees.
Cooler weather would make a big difference I'm sure. And I haven't tried this setup with cartridge or cannister filters, because the bags are so much cheaper. I hang the bag over a clean drum with a funnel in it.
Takes about 1.5 hours, completely unattended, to transfer & filter 55 gallons.
Very little air is actually used.

I use drain tanks for my oil, they are set-up with a regulator and hose. These have a large drain pan funnel so less mess. I have a 10k car hoist in my shop so the drain tank is used mainly for oil changes done on the lift, but i do use it to process oil from vehicles that I can't put on the lift.

I checked out your Ebay auction. NICE rig you made up! Looks very professional. If I still had my Deuce I would buy it from you. I think you should post a picture of it in this thread. it is a work of art!!!!!

Goldneagle, "It wasn't me!" that made the one on ebay. I may have seen these in Northern's catalog or Harbor Freight too.
I made a similar setup out of stuff I had around. Mine doesn't look as nice but it works. And cost me nothing.
The commercial ones typically just go into the large bung in the drum. Air goes in around the drop pipe.
Any hookup you come up with to put some pressure into the drum, with a separate pipe that goes down near the bottom allowing the oil to come out the top will work.
You would be amazed at how simple it is. I used to use a hand pump.
I haven't gotten around to making my setup look nice. I "C" clamp the filter assembly to a step ladder & hook it up.
I currently filter in 3 stages. 100, 20, & 1 micron. So in reality it's about 5 hours to complete 55 gallons. But as I said, once you hook it up you can do something else while it runs.

Eric,

I am a little slow so please bear (or is it bare) with me.

I understand that you have positive pressure to get the oil from your primary tank to your final tank. Are you just using gravity to put the oil through the filter bags or is there the pressure from the primary tank?

Where do you get these filter socks/bags from? That might be easier than messing around with trying to find some sort of base for the stock deuce oil filters.

Nick

I'll try to get a couple of pictures.
I use sock or bag-type filters because they're cheap & last a long time. Just using gravity to get the oil through the filters was way too slow. Took 8 days for 55 gallons to drip through, with me pumping the oil up into the filter whenever I got the chance.
Filter bags are on ebay a lot, along with "mounts". I got some filters locally at MSC Supply.
Back to work..........

cbvet said:

Goldneagle, "It wasn't me!" that made the one on ebay. I may have seen these in Northern's catalog or Harbor Freight too.
I made a similar setup out of stuff I had around. Mine doesn't look as nice but it works. And cost me nothing.
The commercial ones typically just go into the large bung in the drum. Air goes in around the drop pipe.
Any hookup you come up with to put some pressure into the drum, with a separate pipe that goes down near the bottom allowing the oil to come out the top will work.
You would be amazed at how simple it is. I used to use a hand pump.
I haven't gotten around to making my setup look nice. I "C" clamp the filter assembly to a step ladder & hook it up.
I currently filter in 3 stages. 100, 20, & 1 micron. So in reality it's about 5 hours to complete 55 gallons. But as I said, once you hook it up you can do something else while it runs.

Click to expand...

Would you mind going into more detail? Maybe a tutorial "Waste Motor Oil Filtration For Dummies" with pictures?

I'm really interested in doing this and I have a line on WMO. Just need to figure out the particulars on filtration.

Any help you could give us would be very much appreciated.

Okay, here are some pics.
Ask any questions, but be patient please. I've really got to get some WORK done!

Do you pump through one sock, then change micron size, then through another, repeat? Or is all 3 bags in that one bundle? How often does it clog up and rupture?

I currently filter through 1 sock at a time. That way if a filter should split or rupture, I'll know to rerun that batch. It's never happened to me, but I feel safer this way.

I could make a mount to use all three filters at once, but probably won't as stated above.

I've used a couple different diameter filters because they were given to me.
I bought some 7" diameter by about 2' long that work out really well.

Most of the oil I get is pretty decent, as it was used in LP forklifts. Some I've gotten was too nasty to bother with.

I haven't kept track of what I've used, but I can guesstimate.
A 100 micron 7" X 24" bag is good for around 400-500 gallons.
A 20 micron, same size is good for around 300-400 gallons.
A 1 micron, same size, will filter about 150-250 gallons.
I'm told you can wash them & reuse them once they're plugged, but I've never bothered.
I figure it costs about 10 cents a gallon to filter this way.

I try to do the first (100 micron) from barrels that have been sitting undisturbed for at least a month. And I leave about 2" in the bottom of that barrel.
Just makes the filters last longer. And I'm getting so much oil, that I can throw some away.

I recently got 2 barrels of used hydraulic oil. Very clean & very thin. Dip a piece of cardboard in it, light it & it crackles! I will probably make up a few barrels with 25 percent hydraulic oil as a thinner for colder weather use.
Of course now & then I dump in some stale gasoline, or kerosene I've washed parts in.

I can't remember where it was posted, Freighttrain knew but he's been banned , but on one of our Ford idi sites a guy used a Ford 460 oil pump and welded a socket extension between a starter motor and the 460 oil pump. He mounted it all on an old pressure washer frame along with a battery. He said it could empty a 55 gal drum of very cold thick oil in less than a minute. He'd have to hold the outlet hose because it had so much force it would do the out of control fire hose thing

Would probably be great for just transferring oil from one container to another,
but no so good for filtering oil for use as fuel.
Pressures developed would split a bag/sock filter, & they're the cheapest.

He ran it though a either a centrifuge or a pair of huge CAT filter housings with large screw on 20 and 2 micron filters, IIRC.

Do you know how much pressure those bags can take before they rupture? For that matter what about normal oil filter cartridges?

I have no idea how much pressure filters can take. I don"t really care, as I'm not in that much of a hurry.

cbvet said:

I got some filters locally at MSC Supply.

Click to expand...

I buy from MSC. Do you have the Item Numbers?

Thanks!

Here is one that I am gonna use from HF and it is only $50 bucks....has 3/4 pipe fitting at top and could screw a filter or too from tractor supply on it to get it out of 55gal drum.

I thought I had seen those.
The "pump" would probably work just fine, I'm just not sure about the can-type filters.
I wonder if you can safely put enough pressure in a common barrel to push oil through those filters, and how long would the filters last?