Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

How are you guys (WVO home brew systems) keeping your stored WVO from solidifying over the winter ?

Heated garage, blanket wrap for storage tank, etc... ?

I tossed a jar of the canola I get into the freezer and it was still liquid the next day, so I'm not too concerned about it...

Bacteria buildup ?

last winter my oil never hardened. it was a little slow to fill the jerry cans sometimes , but it always flowed. i put in anti-bacterial stuff for the bacteria

If it solidifies when cold I don't stick it in my tank. I'm able to pump my WVO all year round without heating it and I've got mine stored in an unheated/non-insulated shed. Now filtering is another story. I've been filtering cold lately after heating to 180F and letting it settle for a week. It is working OK now, but not sure how well it will work Feb. I seem to be having longer filter life with the cold filtering which I'm attributing to the week of settling. I was heating it up again to 140F for filtering, but I think this was recirculating some of the fine particulates that had already settled. Because my hot water heating element is at the bottom of the barrel there is a pretty big convection current rising from 3" from the bottom of the barrel to the top.

I did buy some biocide to add to my WVO to prevent a bacterial infection, but the health/environmental aspects of using it scares me. I'm thinking that the person that suggested the biocide might have overstated the threat of a bacterial infection, maybe because he also sells the biocide. The warning label on the bottle makes me nervous to even handle it, let alone burn it in my engine. Takes all the fun out of breathing in my WVO exhaust.

So what would be a good product to use if you're storing your WVO for a while (over 1 month?)...
Or how long can I store oil in a 55gallons drum (metal vs plastic) without risk of bacteria buildup?
And how can one tell if there's bacteria buildup?

David

Right now I'm not using anything to preserve/stabilize my filtered WVO. I keep it in a a coated (not sure if this is helpful, previously used for bulk grape juice) 55 Gal drum for a week then filter into a plastic tote.

I'm pretty curious about the signs of a bacterial infection myself. Some of the oil I've filtered is upwards of two years old and was stored in seal plastic buckets. About 10% looked really nasty and never made it into my filtering setup, but most of it did. What does a bacteria build up look like?

I have a customer who stores his oil in the 1000L totes, he uses a aquarium heater in his with the guard over it, makes it easier to filter, easier to use, but a 16oz bottle of boicide is only $30 , one ounce a month .... pretty good value.
the further north you are the more you will need to watch your temp.
Noel

Canola freezing point is -18c, and if you can see bacteria growth - there is a lot of bacteria.

Here's an interesting discussion on using RUG (reg unleaded gas) to control bacterial growth in WVO:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showth ... 325&page=2