How cloudy is cloudy?

[audiesel]

I'm kind of new to the WVO world. I bought an already converted car a little over a month ago (and have been slowly working on a fuel leak for the last week or so, but that's another story!).

So I'm working on finding & evaluating sources and building a filteration system. Some things that I've read have made me paranoid about water contamination. I've heard to never use WVO that looks cloudy.

So.... What does that mean? I know some stuff that looks good going through some 3/4in clear hose looks much more cloudy when filling a 2ltr pop bottle. Should it be clear like water? Is that even possible? Can tiny air bubble make it look cloudy when it's really not contaminated at all?

Any thought and experience you WVO veterans could share would be appreciated!

-Paul

ps - I hope it's not "cheating" that I ask this realted to my Mercedes since it's a general WVO question. My Audi wants to run on WVO. and may get there some day!

[dave300d]

Look at the box the oil comes in.If it says clear fry oil it is good. If it says shortning,use it for bio. Let it sit in the containers for a few weeks and let the water go to the bottom. When you pour the oil out ,leave the bottom 1-2 inches in the bottom and get rid of it. I use the top of the cubes for WVO and when I get to the dirty oil I use that for bio. 1 qt of gas to 5 gal of wvo works great.

[VW cat]

I like canola oil that has no cloudiness at 32 degrees F, should look like maple syrup and pour like motor oil. I use 2 very large tanks painted black out in the sun for storage.

[vano7]

use only liquid clear oil you need to filter with a 100 micron filter first then pump into your warming barrel then run it through a centerfuge at about 160 to 180 temp once you have cleaned the oil you are ready to blend it go to fryer to fuel .com & secret dieselenergy.com you will be able to get what you need there

[Fatmobile]

Let it sit for a week, with no sun shining on it to stir it up and see how cloudy it is.
Water and solidified oils should go to the bottom if settled long enough.

[girl mark]

Cloudy, in OIL, is not always a sign of water- all oil is cloudy to some extent. Cloudy can just be fats, whiich are OK if your system can handle them during filtration (filtration tries to remove particles, and if it gets clogged by solid fats, that's premature waste of your filter. However, heated systems make the fats liquid so they'll pass through the filter (the particulates don't) and that'll burn great at that point.

If it's clouudy biodiesel rather than oil, that's another story. BIodiesel should never be cloudy.