On Sun, 16 Dec 2007 20:12:59 -0600, "jusme" wrote:

Interesting, Dan.

I wonder what the prime of water was for, to keep it stable or a load on it?

I already settle the oil. I want a faster method and perhaps go portable,
too.

j/b
It's a complicated thing to understand, but the water stayed inside
the cylinder, like a sleeve. The oil, being lighter than water rode on
the surface of the water. Any water that was in the oil migrates into
the water sleeve.
We settled a tank of lube oil for a week or something like that. The
guys were running it through the purifier and into a storage tank.
After they were done, the oil looked like crap. It was cloudy and
milky.
Back to the settling tank it went for a few more days.
I finally decided to set up the purifier and get it running on the
settling tank. I primed it and opened the suction valve only a little.
The oil came out beautiful, crystal clear and shiny. I was putting it
in the storage tank.
See, with the suction valve open only a little, the oil spent a lot of
time under centrifugal force. I fed it oil real slow. On my 6 hr
watch, it cleaned about 1/4 of the 1000 gal tank.
The next watch came on and opened the suction valve all the way and
got it done in a hurry, 3 hours. Guess what the oil looked like?
Moral of the story is that the oil needs time in the centrifuge to
clean up. Nothing is fast, except to buy new oil. Also, the oil needs
to be heated to 160F before going into the centrifuge.
Again, I'll ask what your doing? You might be better off with a filter
or a clarifier. What are you trying to acomplish?
We've used a portable oil filter that takes filter that looks like a
roll of toilet paper, the big rolls, 12" dia. or something like that.
It had a 1/2hp motor on it and it filtered to 1 micron at 1 gallon per
minute.
I'll look for the information when I get back. I need to help my
Daughter with a homework assignment. We need to go to Dairy Queen and
do some research. :-)
Dan