GreaseDrive

I am currently looking into braised plate heat exchangers.   I am looking for a small one to put in just before my 12v vegtherm.   My system is heated really well and can even over-heat with my 12v in line and looped return.  But right now my drive short distances of no more than,  5-10 miles now.  I can never get up to temp unless I warm the car.  I removed all my hose insulation when I was in Nevada earlier this summer because of over heating but now I need to add it back and do something else to.   Another problem is that if you include all the hose and volume of wvo in my filter housing etc  Its at least 1.5 quarts of wvo that I have to burn ‘cold’.

I might get a faster heat-up if I unloop the return since I have hose in hose but that is a hassle.   If I leave the return looped the fuel flow will be very slow through the heat exchanger before the IP so the 12v heater can actually boost it above coolant temps almost instantly.  My veg therm is good for about 6-8F rise.  If I can get my veg temps to be 8F above the exact coolant temps almost instantly It might halve my diesel usage right now.  I have found some cheap exchangers on ebay like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/S-10-Plate-Brazed-Heat-Exchanger-SVO-Water-Therminator_W0QQitemZ250280466796QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item250280466796&_trkparms=72%3A552|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&timeout=1218627981832

But I am not sure if its performance,  I don’t need much… Since I run a looped return the wvo will move slowly through this exchanger letting me use a smaller one with a lower BTU output.

I will let you know how it all goes!

After parking the car yesterday after a hour long drive in the ’searing’ 90+ heatwave that has stricken most of the west I think I have a filter clogged or some type of heat related damage. (maybe the small clear filter warped?)  Ever since looping my return I have been able to sustain final temps of 160F+ about 10 minutes after car has reached full operating temp.  This means that for at least 10 minutes I am driving on cooler WVO than I should be, but it is unclear how much/any damage could be caused by fairly short amounts of time at lower temps.

I am going to work on the car shortly and try to figure out what the issue is.  I will keep you posted.  I suspect it is just the small clear filter getting clogged,  but I did not notice a lack of vacuum or any other signs of flow-loss.   Hmmmm…

*UPDATE*

I have the battery on a charger,  After changing the little filter wich had some gunk in it but was not clogged.  (how is gunk getting that far in the system?!!)  I seemed to have pulled a air-bubble into the IP and of course its air-bomed.   I ran the battery low trying to purge the bubble, but it is barely getting any fuel and I am not sure why.   I’m going to go and give it another go shortly.   I know that my diesel tank is heavily contaminated with WVO simply because I have not added more #2 in over 5,000 miles of driving and the tank is low.  That maybe part of the problem also.