Collecting fuel on the move

[Bueff Biofuel Enthusiast Find all posts View Profile Close Bueff]

As Christmas is the traveling time and we are exploring the south end of the country, I was wondering how you guys find restaurants to collect oil from while traveling through?

I think it would be a great thread if you guys could share your experiences and also your methods of cleaning the oil while on the move.

My setup consists of a blue square water container with a bung on the bottom and a big opening on top. Purchased from the big green warehouse. A large green bag purchased from the same warehouse is sitting inside it and as we can put a lid on the lot, it keeps the mess at bay and the better half happy.
From the pre filter the oil goes via a 12v gear pump through a water filter housing with a 5 micron spun cotton filter into either the rear fuel tank or the additional custom made storage tank on the roof racks.

I see whether I can get some pics uploaded.


looking forward to hear your stories!

Jens

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

I have different methods when travelling, my car has a range of 3000klms, so just buy a green shopping bag in case need to filter oil and haven't yet. When travelling in the bus, used to carry a filter bag and brewing barrel, then filtered where ever we stopped and got oil. The bus has a range of 3500klm+ so we only filtered occasionally. When the band is travelling in the bus, we tow a huge trailer which has band gear, electric bikes, and a centrifuge in it and that makes a few hundred lt a day easily. Last trip we covered over 8000klms so filtered a few times and arrived home with the fuel tanks almost full.

Most of the venues we play at have oil, so we never have any trouble getting supplies as we organise the oil when booking and they are happy to keep it for us until we arrive. Then they stand round watching as we filter, they are pretty amazed to find a centrifuge in the trailer and always want to know all about it. But have found over the years, even though have shown people how to do it and offered to help them set their vehicle up, they all do nothing but think about it. In my opinion just to lazy and not into the small amount of work involved.

You can pick up a centrifuge for less than $2000 and if you travel a bit, you get that money back in the first year and from there, it's free. Especially being able to bring my flushing of the fuel system down to 1lt, but re-plumbing the system to make it more efficient.

[Bueff Biofuel Enthusiast Find all posts View Profile Close Bueff]

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

Thanks Alga,

I have been thinking about the centrifuge in a trailer idea for a while. My main concern was to damage it while the trailer is bouncing around. I guess your trailer wouldn't bounce too much with all the equipment in it.
My idea was to get a ex army trailer with 750kg loading capacity and install my 400ltr freightliner tank in it. If I can install a header tank just above it, the oil would just gravity feed the centrifuge.
As we are currently nursing the idea of doing a lot more traveling or even to do the big loop, that might be a good solution.
Are you using the WVO-design style centrifuge? I used to have one and they are absolutely brilliant. However, they are very chunky.
The range in the Troopy is currently about 2500km and with the 2 additional tanks plus camping gear, room is getting a bit sparse.

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

Have done trips to Darwin, Cape York, The Kimberleys The Pilbara and Lorella Springs on the Gulf collecting oil along the way. All these trips were about 7000 to 85000ks. I have a 12v gear pump which I use to pump oil through a 10" house filter with a 5micron wound filter cartridge. The whole thing fits in an 18 litre plastic crate. Tricks I have learnt, I have my pump set up with a clear suction hose and an instant reverse switch so if I see the color of the oil change, bits in the oil, or the pump changes note I can reverse the flow and stop unwanted crap hitting the filter. Also I choose only containers which have lids. Steel 200 l drums which have sat full in the subtropics with a lid on usually yield very clean oil. Just don't get too greedy and keep your suction at the top. With 20 litre drums I pump from them without moving them and only take half to 2/3 of the drum. Sometimes I'll test the oil by sucking it into a clear hose from near the bottom of the drum to see what it looks like. We picked up so much good oil at a servo on the Barkly Highway once that it took us the full 1850km to home. We didn't have a trailer or roof rack either and had all our camping gear on board.

[fattima Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fattima]

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

Interesting topic. I plan a big trip next year, I've made a small centrifuge from an old vegetable juicer but I'm yet to try it on the road.
What gear pumps are people using?

Happy New Year all!

Bruce

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

This is the type I use for transferring fuel.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12v-Fuel...gAAOSwUxJdX8i8

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

This is the type I use for transferring fuel.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12v-Fuel...gAAOSwUxJdX8i8

Yep that's the pump to get. Go to Pirtek or similar shop and buy some 13mm hose barbs as the ones supplied are too small for common hose like garden hose.

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

Thanks Alga,

I have been thinking about the centrifuge in a trailer idea for a while. My main concern was to damage it while the trailer is bouncing around. I guess your trailer wouldn't bounce too much with all the equipment in it.
My idea was to get a ex army trailer with 750kg loading capacity and install my 400ltr freightliner tank in it. If I can install a header tank just above it, the oil would just gravity feed the centrifuge.
As we are currently nursing the idea of doing a lot more traveling or even to do the big loop, that might be a good solution.
Are you using the WVO-design style centrifuge? I used to have one and they are absolutely brilliant. However, they are very chunky.
The range in the Troopy is currently about 2500km and with the 2 additional tanks plus camping gear, room is getting a bit sparse.

Carrying a fuge, is a great idea, makes life so much easier. You can do a thousand lt a day with one, which we got close to once when we arrived at small town and asked about any old cooking oil in the town, got directed to the waste transfer station, where we came across a pile of hundreds of oil drums just sitting there. Came back the next morning early and filled the bus with just under 900lt and still a huge pile left.

Have found the best type of trailer to use when travelling, is a dual axle. The dual wheels and spring setup seems to smooth out bumps etc and my trailer is an aluminum bodied closed in ex furniture moving trailer and big. The centrifuge sits in the front of the trailer and feeds a 600lt ex oil heater tank, which then transfers the oil to the bus tanks. Have 1kw of solar on the trailer roof, feeds a 120ah lifepo4 battery pack used for running the fuge, backing up the 480ah lifepo4 in the bus, through a 2kw inverter and motor control box, as the fuge is 3 phase.

Used to have a 8x5 single axle, which did tend to turn the trailer contents into a jumbled mess, especially on dirt roads. But in the dual axle, everything stays in its place and we no longer carry the band gear in the bus, which has made life much easier for all and the single axle trailer is now the farm trailer.

Have a header tank in the trailer (25lt cubie with hose attached to the tap up near the roof), which is fed by one of pumps linked in this thread. Have a few of those pumps and they do a great job. The one in the trailer can be switched to feed the header, or fill the oil tank, works a treat. Pumps the oil from the 20lt drums to the header through a water trap and a small filter on the pickup hose end. I use metal mosquito wire screen held on by a hose clamp for easy changing, stops lumps getting into the pump. Bought a square metre of it, cut it into pieces which sit in the trailer toolbox, works so much better than plastic wire screen and you can wash the screens out. I chuck them into boiling water, pull them out and blow them out using the bus compressor, leave them in the sun for a day or so and they come clean. Only do that when get home, that's why a carry a few, just switch them over can clean at home.

[Bueff Biofuel Enthusiast Find all posts View Profile Close Bueff]

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

This is the type I use for transferring fuel.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/12v-Fuel...gAAOSwUxJdX8i8

Yep same style pump l am currently using, had it for a number of years and is still going strong.

thanks so much for all the insides so far,

Carrying a fuge would be ace, however I guess carting a round a dual axle trailer just for that reason is a bit over kill unless I can convince the other half that wee need a custom home build dual axle camper trailer which houses a centrifuge I might see where I can hide another tank in the Troopy and do the green bag and 5 micron filter setup for a bit longer.

We have managed to round up enough fairly clean oil so far to come down from NSW to Melbourne do a week of traveling around VIC and head back up north.

Another er question is what do you guys do with the drums/containers from the restaurants? Do you leave them there? Or are you taking them to the tip?

Have a good night! And thanks again for sharing your experience

[fattima Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fattima]

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

Thanks Tony, I'll grab one of those pumps.
My fuge is only small and work a treat, old Braun juicer that cost $20.

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

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

I do what the place wants me to do with the empty drums, most t say to leave them.

Love your fuge Fattima, excellent. Never thought of a juicer. May look around and see what can find in that way and take it on the road, would leave heaps of space in the trailer and could carry it in the boot of the bus as well.

[fattima Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close fattima]

Re: Collecting fuel on the move

I do what the place wants me to do with the empty drums, most t say to leave them.

Love your fuge Fattima, excellent. Never thought of a juicer. May look around and see what can find in that way and take it on the road, would leave heaps of space in the trailer and could carry it in the boot of the bus as well.

Hardest part was blocking the holes in the basket, they are designed to separate large particles. I tried epoxy with mixed results but ended up using a large piece of heat shrink.