Basic Upflow

[cgoodwin]

I am diagramming a simple Ron Schroeder upflow filter system much as I daigrammed the Frybrid Still back in 04. My intention is to provide a complete guide to building both a small apartment size unit and a larger unit. Any input would be appreaciated and I have stuck the thread concerning Ron's work at http://www.frybrid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9630

[FrenchFry]

Chris, I have an apartment size unit using old 5 gallon Soy sauce pail in my garage. I dump the oil in a 5 gallon pail on the ground with a 400 mesh pail screen. A (very) small gear oil pump from McMaster is on a timer and goes on 15 minutes a day. It pumps the oil up to a small bucket that acts as a reservoir for the up flow system. The small bucket sits on top of the 5 gallon pail and via gravity feeds the up flow system with oil. No climbing on a latter to pour oil into the top of this set up.

I'll snap some photos, better to see it than describe it.

-FF

[cgoodwin]

Least mess possible, readily available materials & small is what I am shooting for.

[FrenchFry]

I read about people using the upflow system having to climb up on a latter with a cubie to pour the oil into the top of the upflow system. So....My input sits on the ground.

A used 5 gallon pail with a 600 or 400 mesh pail screen to pre-filter the big items.

A very small gear pump from mcMasters (Item# 8220K41) pumps the oil to the oil tank above. The pump self primes and uses very little energy. I connect it to an IKEA timer and it clicks on for 15 minutes each morning. I just clamp it to a shelf leg and I can easily move it up or down if I need to.

The oil is pumped up to the small pail on top which feeds oil into the 5 gallon pail below. The 5 gallon pail has a PVC pipe that goes to about 2" off the bottom.

The small tubing comes from the gear pump below and the large tube is an overflow tube that is plumbed into the 5 gallon pail below. During a pump cycle, once the upper tank is full the oil will just run back down the overflow tube so no chance for an overflow and a mess.

A shot between the 5 gallon pail and the small bucket above. The upflow exit on the left is a 3/8" tubing.

The 5 gallon pail has a drain cock. I have an old 1 gallon mason jar that I place under it and drain off the water that has settled to the bottom.

Once the oil leaves the upflow it travels down to the filter. Note the quick disconnect fitting to the right.

After the filter the oil drops into a 55 gallon drum. For an apartment system it could flow into a clean cubie.

Once this is all set up you just need to keep the container on the ground full of oil. I've filtered over 100 gallons so far and it's very low maintenance.

I personally use this system for oil that is very clean. I still use my prior Vacuum dewatering system for the really dirty wet oil.

Costs:
The pails were found behind some of the restaurants I service. The water filter was bought on eBay for less that $15. The pump was around $65. Plumbing fittings and hoses from a garden irrigation store. The system was probally $100 to $125 in materials. The big savings was in energy usage.

-FF

[WD8CDH]

A few random comments:

Size for a given output rate will depend mostly on whether you are using heated upflow or cold upflow. Heated upflow is much faster for a given size (or much smaller for a given rate)

Heated upflow will not remove fats or PHO but a good conversion (like the Frybrid) will work just fine on PHO and fat.

Heated upflow has much less waste to get rid of.

I managed to fit a 55 gallon upflow tank and a 5 gallon intake tank/large funnel in the smallest closet of a third floor apartment.

If you pour in less than 5 gallons at a time and filter the output directly into a 5 gallon jerry can, you don't need storage and the 5 gallon jerry can won't overflow when unattended with these 5 gallon batches.

5 gallons a day (overnight) has worked for me with a heated 15 gallon upflow settling drum but most of my heated upflow settling systems have used 55 gallon heated upflow settling drums.

Raw oil dumped in the system should be about the same temperature as the settling drum or cooler to prevent convection currents. I often put my buckets of used oil in a heated and insulated box to melt the fat if needed before pouring the oil into the system.

The intake drum/funnel should be no more than about 1/3 the capacity of the settling drum. Since I can pick up 3 - 5 gallon containers of oil every day, an intake drum/funnel made from a 15 gallon drum allows me to pour in all 3 containers, put a lid on it and walk away.

If the settling drum is in the basement, the intake can be on the first floor. I have used a bar sink in the kitchen counter with a hose leading to the basement as my intake. I covered it with a cutting board after dumping the oil in. I have also used a laundry sink on the first floor with a hose going to the basement as an intake.

More comments later.....

[FrenchFry]

Chris, found this shelf at Target. For $24...for use in an apartment. Steel so easy to wipe down and clean. You could forgo the pump in my set up all together. Put the upflow on the top shelf. Pour oil in the top container. Have two cubbies in the bottom for final filtered oil Middle shelf could store full cubies if slid in on their side. Cover the whole thing so if the landlord comes in for a looky loo they don't see it.

Other ideas: The oil and water that is removed from the bottom of the upflow can be placed on a pan on the stove and heated up to remove the water.

BTW, when the cubies are empty if you have a small vacuum pump you can suck the air out of the cubies to make them colapse to a small size. This means in an apt. setting you can dispose of them in the blue recycling container with less potential complaints from people that your hobby is taking up too much room.....



http://www.target.com/Mini-Metal-She...8&pf_rd_t=5101

[pdimmer]

I drew my upflow system in CAD as I was putting it all together. I should be able to put a parts list together for it fairly easily if you want me to. This would help the user pick up everything in one trip as opposed to three without having a pile of wrong parts to return.

[kirkharrod]

I have a "large" upflow setup. I use a 15 gallon plastic barrel inverted with a hole cut in the bottom as my "funnel". This allows me to use regular plumbing parts to connect the "top" of the 15 gallon barrel to a PVC pipe emptying at the bottom of 55 gallon barrel. A ball valve controls the rate of flow out of the 15 gallon funnel.

After it "upflows," I use an inline water heating element in a pipe to heat the oil to 90* before going through 3- Napa 4770 filter mounts with 10, 5, and 1 micron autozone filters. After filtration, it empties into a 30 gallon plastic barrel for final storage.

Passes the hot pan test with ZERO bubbles every time.

[pdimmer]

Upflow.pdf

Attached is the sketch I mentioned earlier. The sizes of the drains are up to the individual. I used 1.25" because I wanted a quicker drain flow. I wouldn't go larger than that because of the curvature of the barrels. Depending on the fittings used, I needed to grind off the lip of the fittings that I slid inside the barrel for the drains. I only cut the holes for the different connections. Everything was sent in through the bungs. I also used a sealant as a second line of defense by the drains.

[cgoodwin]

Lets have some photos folks!

I like the idea of building something on stainless shelves, I keep all my shop materials on the 6' version 4' wide with casters, they run about $70 at costco.

Pdimmer - Why two settling tanks?