Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

ive seen a few people post about different ways to filter their oil

we all know that some people use things like
old jeans, tshirts and coffee filters to filter their oil

and we all know that nothing beats a TRUE dedicated (micron) filter


but Im curious as to what micron it all comes down to?

example: ive read that the common coffee filter typically filters at 20 microns.

what about a tshirt?
what about jeans?
anything else?




im sure different fabric blends make a difference but this is just to get a round estimate.

cheers!

[zigparacingtadpole Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close zigparacingtadpole]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

Run some searches, this has been discussed at great length here over recent months. There are several threads that will answer your questions in a detailed fashion. Enjoy the reading, you'll learn heaps.

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

link?

everytime I search for something like "jeans" it turns up TONS of threads
(but it never says the micron equivilant/estimation)

so if someone could point me towards viable info

please do!

[Strawb Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close Strawb]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

You can buy of Ebay 5 micron bag filters.You then use a tracy leg as a prefilter inside the bag filter.Rember to seal of one end.Makes cleaning of the 5 micron bag filter a lot easier too.I have used a old pillow case cut about in half.That works a treat too.
Cheers Strawb

[Captain Echidna Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captain Echidna]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

My gut feeling would be as follows.
Jeans. About 0.5 micron. Using them in my 5 micron filter, the 5 micron did not ever look like blocking up. Mind you it could have been because it was so slow, there was no appriciable oil flow to block anything?
T shirt cotton, about 5, good flow rate, the 5 mincron lasts for ages.
T shirt, nylon coarse weave, probably a bit greater than 5, but quicker.

If you passed oil through the jeans I would be confident of it being OK for a diesel engine, the only possible problem being how worn they are. I would imagine new would be finer than old.

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

My gut feeling would be as follows.
Jeans. About 0.5 micron. Using them in my 5 micron filter, the 5 micron did not ever look like blocking up. Mind you it could have been because it was so slow, there was no appriciable oil flow to block anything?
T shirt cotton, about 5, good flow rate, the 5 mincron lasts for ages.
T shirt, nylon coarse weave, probably a bit greater than 5, but quicker.

If you passed oil through the jeans I would be confident of it being OK for a diesel engine, the only possible problem being how worn they are. I would imagine new would be finer than old.

thats pretty much what i was thinking

since i do some charity work on the side, old jeans and
shirts are easier to come by (plus much more cost effective)

can anyone else shed some light to the topic?

what about coffee filters? (20 microns?)

[Guest Close David]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

If your oil was well settled so you knew it had no/ Minimal fats or you were running a heated system, Heating the oil would improve the flow rate dramatically. The big plus with jeans is being mostly cotton, they would not be affected by heat and open up like the weave in synthetic materials may do.

Not exactly filtering materials but this is unconventional filtering if nothing else
Simple Centrifuge

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

this is what we got so far...

Jeans: .5 micron
T shirt: 5 micron
Coffee Filter: 20 micron


can anyone else confirm or share their findings/experience?

[W123 x 2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W123 x 2]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

Hi,

40-50 microns is the limit of visibility for the unaided eye I believe. I have used the coffee filter and waste oil paper filter and both leave visible sediment after settling. Not scientific but I therefore suspect that the paper coffee filter is >20 micron. Can't comment on the T-shirt but good (thick) jeans leave no visible sediment therefore <40-50 micron.

The jeans filter leaves no residue on my 20 micron cartridge filter and a small amount on the 5 micron cartridge filter (the 20 and 5 are run in series). So I would suggest that my jeans filter is running at <20 and >5 micron. Certainly not 0.5micron.

Cheers, Michael

[Alga Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alga]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

Hi, I've been thinking about centrifuges and ways of filtering. Up till now I've been using t-shirts folded over a number of times in a big funnel and they have worked well and recently a 5 micron filter sock, it just takes a lot of time to do it. I've been away for the last few days so had time to think and yesterday when I got back I decided to try a new idea.

I got an old twin tub hoover washing machine and lined the spin drier with fly wire, then a t-shirt and then fly wire on the inside. I filled it with 10lt of settled oil and turned it on. Sadly it wasn't balance and flopped around so I put some wooden wedges around the top and tried again. It worked and spun the oil out and then pump pumped it into my drum, but the wedges slowed it down until it became balanced, so it will need a better form of balance for the top.

The main problem was it becoming unbalanced easily, so it needs better support at the top and the other problem was the old pump struggled pumping it and I doubt it will last very long. But it showed it could be done and with a bit of refining may save lots of time as it filtered the 10litres in about 1 minute, leaving sludge on the insides which comes out easily when you lift out the filtering materials. Plus I doubt the spin motor will last as it was struggling. Has anyone done this, I intend trying to refine it and I'll get a couple more from the tips as they throw them out when the washer tub stops. If it actually works long term, I will post some photos of it once it's set up properly. It could solve a few problems we all have, without spending lots of money. You may even be able to feed the oil in slowly and constantly once the spinner is up to speed, that way it wouldn't strain the motor to much and would keep a reasonable balance as all the weight would be down the bottom most of the time and only the spinning oil around the sides with no bulk in the middle. The pump would handle it easier as well.

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

thanks to all for the info

Ill update the list


Jeans:
one person says: "Jeans. About 0.5 micron. Using them in my 5 micron filter, the 5 micron did not ever look like blocking up. Mind you it could have been because it was so slow, there was no appriciable oil flow to block anything?"
another person says "The jeans filter leaves no residue on my 20 micron cartridge filter and a small amount on the 5 micron cartridge filter (the 20 and 5 are run in series). So I would suggest that my jeans filter is running at <20 and >5 micron. Certainly not 0.5micron."

T shirt: 5 micron
Coffee Filter: 20 micron


can anyone else confirm or share their findings/experience?
great stuff all

[W123 x 2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W123 x 2]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

Hi Gen-Erix,
I know you wanted a rough guide but to ask for a rating on any used material that comes in different thickness's and does not wear uniformly is going to be meaningless. Jeans, T-shirts, pillow slips and old sock are all the same and will have an individual user specific micron rating.
So all I can say is test your own, as a consensus will yield nothing but an extremely rough guide that can't be relied upon.

Alga, love the twin tub idea and I'm off to play with one myself.

Cheers, Michael

[Captain Echidna Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captain Echidna]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

The jeans I used were quite good condition (they were torn, not worn) and I had only used the section below the knee. If they were so fine they didnt pass veggie oil in meaninful quantities. Ok so 0.5 might be an exageration, but they were below 5, but painfully slow If you used the knees or other high wear areas, or the jeans are worn, thin material etc, you could easily get above 5.

If you were to modify a wheel rim for a centrifuge, could you get it balanced at a wheel balancing place? perhaps you could use the hub as the axle, as it would have heavy duty bearings?

[W123 x 2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W123 x 2]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

Hi Chris,

Your jeans filter may well be running at 0.5 micron, but I'm sure mine wasn't and that's the point, variability. Even if yours were only at 1 micron and mine at 10 micron, that is a significant difference in % terms. This variability will apply to all home made filters of used fabrics.
I suspect winter weight moleskins would be the ultimate low micron filter and I can pick these up at the op shops for ten bucks = $5 a filter. I'd be waiting forever for my oil if cold filtering though. May get a pair and try hot filtering and report back.

cheers, Michael

[Gen-Erix Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gen-Erix]

Re: Unconventional/Unorthodox WVO filter materials

naturally all these methods are not "scientifically proven"

but a general estimation is allowed as no one should
really use this system as their ONLY method of filtering

although I might adopt this as a pre-filtering method

filter 1:
take an old shirt and secure it over the top of a bucket. roughly 5 micron

filter 2:
do the same with jeans. roughly under 5 micron

filter 3:
pass it through an actual "dedicated" filter. CONFIRMED 1-5 micron


sounds like a plan
(once i get it going, I will no doubt have pictures)