Drying WVO

[WesleyB Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close WesleyB]

Re: Drying WVO

Relative to solar heating, I started common writing paper on fire using a glass magnifying glass here with sunlight. There's a lot of potential in heating with sunlight the more light concentrated on an area, the more calories incident on your copper heat exchanger. I assumed you might be using 20 , 1 meter by one meter glass mirrors or something along those lines. I saw a design for solar heating (on paper) where someone had figured out an automated mechanical system to turn multiple mirrors as the sun moved across the sky, that kept the mirrors in a correct orientation to get maximum amount of sunlight onto a target area.

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

Re: Drying WVO

Years ago when I was working out west (near the Poepal corner or however you spell it) near the Qld/ SA border, I ran across a funny installation used to heat water. Im not sure why it was heatign water, and looking back at it I cant seem to find a logical reason. it was explained to me that the curved stainless mirrors would constantly follow the movement of teh sun by heating / cooling a gas (I think?). it would return to face the east when the whole thing cooled down overnight. as the sun warmed part of teh gas filled frame it would move. seemed pretty space age to me but there it was in the middle of absolute nowhere doing its thing.

I know what I have said is pretty useless as it has no real context, but I do know there are designs out there based on this principal.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Drying WVO

Wesley,
Harvey is using the KISS principle. Simple design uses the minimum number of moving parts. In this case one (the pump rotor). It is powered by the sun and there is no urgency or reason for rapid heating, the use of simple black polythene thermal absorbers is adequate.
Many years ago we had a home with a swimming pool. To permit it's use in winter, we installed 10sqM of black pipe on our house roof. On a sunny winters day, the pool was uncomfortably hot (>28°C). In summer the heater was only used rarely (separate circulation pump).
To heat 200L of cooking oil using solar thermal absorbers is not a big ask.

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

Re: Drying WVO

Good idea in the summer - but are you planning (and have a good enough oil source) - to do all your oil processing when it is hot over summer and then store it through the winter - othwerwise you will then need an alternative heat source in the winter to achieve the same results. I guess being in Brisbane you might be able to get enough sunlight 8 or so months of the year to use hot water - make sure you have an open system so the pressure does not build - it is very easy to blow out that thin polypipe.

If i was going to do this i would probably use the much thick black poly they use on farms etc - although i have noticed recently that the stuff Bunnings sells seems to be getting thinner and lighter as well

Craig

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

Re: Drying WVO

I have been using solar hot water panels for about 8 years now to heat my oil. I have altered things a little over the years now have one solar panel per 200 l metal drum. I use the 20mm irrigation pipe wrapped around the outside of the drum in a rising spiral. It works but could be better. Trouble is the pipe gets soft and sags so has to be supported in at least 3 places per wrap of the drum. It also expands a lot so tends to move away from the drum when hot and tighten up when cold. It does last a couple of years though and is cheap. I initially insulated the drums but rodents made it their home so had to bin it all.
I do tend to filter a lot of oil in summer and do less in winter. During winter it defaults to a cold filtering system. In really hot weather 35 + I filter thicker oil which goes solid in cold weather. I have been caught with cold snaps causing the up flow system to clag up. Some of my filtered cubbies have several litres of oil in the bottom which is like thick cream. The gear pump struggles a little pumping it into my car but once in the tank all is ok.
The ideal setup would be a mouse proof shed with insulated tanks and copper pipe (20mm minimum) wrapped around each drum.
BTW I use a smal header tank to keep each loop of pipe filled with water. Pipe from tank to bottom tube of panel then have a vent pipe at highest point going back in the top of the header tank. Steam and boiling water frequently blasts back into the tank. This is because the poly pipe can't transfer enough heat away. Yet the oil still gets up to 45 deg. It would get higher when the drums were insulated but 40 to 45 is enough I've found.
After a few days of heat the oil settles well and I can tap off any traces of water from the bottom of my 2 conical drums. Most of the time the finished oil passes the hot pan test, once or twice in cold wet weather I hasn't so I just leave it sit for a few weeks or a few sunny days and it is good again. These times I just use oil from my filtered cubies.

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

Re: Drying WVO

I let oil I get in drums sit until it settles or when I need to use it which can be up to a year. I decant the good stuff off the top of the drums and put the dregs crumbs and chips in another drum outside, this drum is a black gas tank and gets hot in the sun. When it gets full I take the good oil off the top and add it to the up flow system. The stuff from the bottom contains most of the water and specs of burnt food. I strain oil into this drum and sometimes put 2 litres of crumbs and chips in the compost bin from a single drum.

Back to the uplflow system I pour the oil into a 24 l funnel on top of the first drum. Oil is regulated by a screw in the bottom of the funnel and takes about 2- 3 hours to flow out. The oil goes into a dipper tube which takes it down 3/4 the depth of the drum. The funnel has a filter made from material used in bridal veils I think. It is a very fine mesh and is synthetic so lasts for ages. First to second drum is another tube from top to bottom of the drum. The oil enters the third drum through a bag filter suspended in the drum. Same for the 4th and last drum. Now and again the filters clag up with fat so need hot oil pumped through them to clear them.
Finally from the 4th drum I pump through a house 10" filter to cubies or 200 l plastic drums. I never change this filter as it doesn't get anything in it. If I néed extra oil for a trip I pump from the 3rd drum as well. Any questions?