[Post18guy]

I just found this article by Steve Chastain; http://bestcentrifuge.com/running_on_waste_oil.pdf

Everything someone might want to know about preparing waste/used motor oil for use in a diesel engine.
I have been thinking about this for sometime. I even remember seeing an episode from "Doomsday Preppers" where a fellow was collecting used motor oil for use in his BOV/deuce-and-a-half. I would anticipate using it in a fixed diesel gen-set like a Lister type engine perhaps with a belt drive generator, or in farm vehicles.

The author does promote the idea of heating and centrifuging the oil and going here ;http://bestcentrifuge.com/shop
shows that your initial start-up using this process is going to be expensive.

As a layman i would have to weigh how much i am spending on fuel for my gas guzzler now and how much i would want to preserve the health/longevity of my vehicles especially in grid-down situation where parts and repair may not be available against that start up cost.

Has anyone here had experience with the author's process or another technique for using waste motor oil as a fuel?

 

[cj06]

Lots have been written about using old motor oil!
It serms to work best in older mechanical injected diesels
Some have had bad results with newwer diesels
buying a centrifuge is a major investment and not worth it to me!

 

[katzz1hee]

I have a friend who swears by mixing the used oil with water using a paint mixer, then letting it all settle, he claims it removes most of the particles from the oil.. Just a thougth!

 

[hotrodfeguy]

Just letting it settle out will get rid of the majority of your heavy metals and such. Try it once take your next drain/drop and put it in a milk jug. Let sit for a while. Then poor off the top portion leaving the bottom few ounces(say maybe about an inch) your good stuff is what you poured off. Now the stuff that's left is what I recycle. But if you want to see what kind of junk is there shake up your jug. Look at all the crap stick to the sides of the clear jug!!! Nasty stuff, that's your heavy metals and crap you do not want to go through your injectors.
Now the good container of oil I will put in my re-purposed heating oil tank. And that has a dual oil filter on it. So when I go to drain the oil off, it will get filtered and gets to settle again in the large tank. In the bulk talk I mix it with the Diesel roughly 50/50.
Then it should get filtered again going into whatever diesel engine you put it in :thumb:

 

[MichaelK]

I have a friend who swears by mixing the used oil with water using a paint mixer, then letting it all settle, he claims it removes most of the particles from the oil.. Just a thougth!

I read an interesting treatment option in Kemp's biodiesel preparation book, "Biodiesel, Basics and Beyond". After washing the raw biodiesel with water to remove the soaps, the wetted fuel was dehydrated by circulating over an open column of glass marbles positioned in the sun.

Basicly, a small pump pushes the oil up to the top of the marble column, and is allowed to drip downwards to the bottom, where it pools and gets pumped up again. As the oil drips down the warm marbles, the water evaporates much faster than the oil, dehydrating it over a several hour period. By the afternoon, the biodiesel is completely dry and ready for use.

I suppose if you rig up a small 12V DC pump, you could attach a 12V solar panel to it and pump automatically as long as the sun is shining. Your cleaned oil would then be water-free and a better fuel option. Viscosity though would still be an issue, but there are custom heat exchangers designed to heat vegetable oil to thin it enough to go through the injectors.

 

[panxerox]

Lister

I run my 1/6 lister on settled old oil all the time. No problem

 

[teenahlake]

Read about using 2 barrels one higher than the other and a natural fibre rope uses capillary/siphon action and leaves contaminant in the rope

 

[Post18guy]

interesting feedback, really like the capillary action (i have seen irrigation done this way in the eastern Oregon desert, curious if similar tubing would work for this purpose?
keep 'em coming folks!
thanks

 

[sandfantom]

I have done this using a 85% filtered WMO(waste motor oil) and 15% RUG(regular unleaded gas) mixture. I ran the fuel in a 2003 F250 7.3 Powerstroke. I probably ran 2 - 3 tank fulls through the truck with no ill effects other than it smoking more than normal.

If one does some searching, there are plenty of guys using this mixture in their diesel trucks. Most diesel forums have a "alternative fuel" section with lots of info.

I made a Upflow filter system using 3 30 gallon barrels, a whole house filter, a couple of fuel filters and a pump from northern tool. I have since moved and haven't had a chance to get it set back up yet. Using a centrifuge is really the way to go but the cost is a lot more.

Letting your oil settle is a must to get most all of the heavy junk and water separated from the good stuff. Mixing with water is a no-no. Water is death to diesel fuel injectors. I think some of the guys making WVO(waste veggie oil) use water mixed with some sort of catalyst to remove some of the bad guys. Really don't know how that works.

There are guys running this stuff full time with a lot of smoking problems. I don't know if I would want to run it all of the time, but you can mix it with regular diesel and it works just fine. In an emergency or SHTF situation at least I know I can get around as long as I can find used motor oil which really shouldn't be a problem.

I have a Military MEP002 generator that I want to try and make this work on as it is a mechanical injection system as opposed to the electronic system like my Powerstroke. I think this will work out great and pretty much give me a lot longer run time for my genny.

This isn't for everybody. It is time consuming, some what costly to get started and above all MESSY but it could get you out of a bad situation if you needed to get some where.

Hope this helps.

sandfantom

 

[Post18guy]

Read about using 2 barrels one higher than the other and a natural fibre rope uses capillary/siphon action and leaves contaminant in the rope

anyone have more information about this system for waste oil cleaning?
links, pics, personal experience?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Sweeper80]

I've been running my TD Suburban on WMO for a year now, only ill effects is the constant stink, but I don't really care, because the smell is behind me, lols, smells like I'm burning oil, because I am.

I don't centrifuge, just filter it well. I built a simple filter using a oil filter relocation kit and a diesel compatible 12v fuel pump. I buy the good small micron oil filters and get about 50 gallons of oil out of a filter before it gets too plugged, then I mix that 50 gallons with 5 gallons of unleaded gasoline. Pour it into my Suburban and drive at an average of 18mpg's in a four door station wagon that rides on 36" Military-OZ Hummer tires. :thumb:

 

[oddshot]

I've been running WMO in my daily driver for going on 3 years and over 20,000 miles.

Here is how I prepare it:

http://www.survivalistboards.com/showthread.php?t=212731