90W Gear Oil

[Rtqii]

It's straight weight, no multi-viscosity additives... It has been used in slow speed industrial transmissions, not high speed engines. It should be cleaner, and burn cleaner, than used motor oil.

I may need to cut it with solvent, and of course it will have to be pre-heated in order to filter and inject...

But I have a steady supplier and the first pickup will be 440 gallons, plus 8 free 55 gallon drums. I figured fuel costs in getting this oil will run less than $80.

Thoughts?

[Doug]

Its realy thick especialy when cold your going to have to cut it with fuel oil and probably heat it and still it going to be hard to burn.

I work in a cracking plant and we used to have an awful time with heavy viscosity oils like this. Gear lube, synthetics and bunker would just sit in the bottom of the pot and mock the opperator until there was enough heat under it to warp the floor....

hypoids and heavy gear oils also smell realy bad.....

Doug

[mobile_bob]

the only thing i would probably want to check up on is the fact that the gear lube has a gl or extreme pressure additive.
i am not sure how this would affect injector or pump life, i just don't know. but i do know it is going to be smelly at least.
hard to pass up free fuel though, that stuff probably has nearly twice the btu value of diesel.

bob g

[fuddyduddy]

It's straight weight, no multi-viscosity additives... It has been used in slow speed industrial transmissions, not high speed engines. It should be cleaner, and burn cleaner, than used motor oil.

I may need to cut it with solvent, and of course it will have to be pre-heated in order to filter and inject...

But I have a steady supplier and the first pickup will be 440 gallons, plus 8 free 55 gallon drums. I figured fuel costs in getting this oil will run less than $80.

Thoughts?

OK,  A great question-
Use 20-30% pump gasoline as a diluent- in the quantities you are using you won't find a cheaper way to dilute.  MIX THOROUGHLY.

Yes, you can also go 50-50 with diesel, but it will not be as good.

 Also add  Power Service Diesel Kleen at double the recommended mix ratio, and Power Service arctic express antigel at the recommended ratio. You should add a little diesel 911 also as very cheap insurance; the Murphy Law is that ANY AND ALL USED OILS have some water in them.

Filter well after all that.

Then, heat using the cogen hot water from the engine to get it as close to 200 degrees as you can at the IP.  That will change the absolute viscosity to 1/4 to 1/3 of what it was.  (maybe ending up with 20-30 cSt?)  Am sure there is a chemical/mechanical engineer in the house who can calculate it far closer.

The 90WT gear oil is around 120 cSt viscosity, the gasoline is less than one (1/2?), and diesel generally runs 2-5 cSt.

That Ford engine should thrive on that fuel.  Should be dense, powerful, and clean burning.

How is that for a concise, quick answer?

[aqmxv]

You'll definitely need to thin it, as Doug said.  The good news:  The EP additives, if anything, will be good for the injector pump - as long as the viscosity is in the OK range (need lotsa heat on the lines and tank).  Also, great energy density - you're basically burning refined #6 bunker.

The bad news:

Lots of metallic fines - some of which won't be magnetic.  Some nonmetallic fines from synthetic clutch material.  Given the difficulty of working with the stuff because of its viscosity, I'd probably dilute it first, then filter the result after settling.  It's acidic, as a rule (at least GL-5 specifies acidic content to keep composite synchro clutches clean)  Also, it will likely smell pretty horrible when burning - most of these tend to have a lot of sulfur in them.  You might also get some mystery deposits in the chamber from it.  Keep the load and water jacket temp up when running on this stuff.  Remember, also, that the exhaust will be acidic as well, just like high-sulfur diesel.

[Rtqii]

Good points everybody!!!

It does not get very cold where I am setting up camp... I will set up a day tank in the engine room and preheat the entire fuel system from the day tank up to the injector nozzle. As long as it comes out of the bunkers to get into the day tank I am fine with it.

But I agree, this stuff will be a lot easier to work with if it is diluted and heated prior to prefiltering and transfer into the bunker.  Based on these oil supplies; and I lined up 640 gallons total from two locations without trying real hard in just a few hours; I popped for two bunkers: a 1000 gallon capacity tank and a 2000 gallon capacity tank... I got a pretty good deal on the tanks, and they both came with 3/4 inch heavy duty filter mounts for spin on filters, 110 volt oil pumps rated at 50 psi with overheat protection, and some plumbing... steel pipe & fittings, plus fuel hoses and nozzles. I checked the retail value of the two pumps, they go for over $400 each new, and one is brand new... Plus the free fuel and 55 gal tanks... It more than paid for the 1000 gal bunker.

I will definately figure out a way to clean the oil up with dilution, preheat, and process filtering before pumping into the a bunker and I will run both the generator and the truck from my bunkered fuel. Smell??? Oh well, the generator exhaust will be pretty hot and I can raise the exhaust pipe from the engine house up high enough to carry most of the smell off... And it will keep the tailgaters from drafting my rig when I am rolling out looking for more stinky burning fuel 

I will cut this gear oil down with a significant amount of WVO too (got 200 gallons lined up in addition to the gear oil), that should help reduce offensive odors as well.

Thanks for the input, and keep up the good work 

http://listerengine.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=103

^^^ Added link to the storage tanks I bought