Posted 2006-08-21 11:33 AM (#47058) Subject: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Now there's a subject line that'll catch your attn. on a trailering forum, eh!?! Yesterday a man contacted me about the possibility of buying and using a "homemade" diesel fuel alternative made with used V. oil (filtered to 2 microns) a percentage of regular Diesel, an additive to stabalize the V. oil, and a percentage of gasoline to thin it all to the proper viscosity! Said he has used it in his Cummins last winter and has a few other folks that are giving it a try. All he noticed was slightly lower R.P.M.'s at idle, but drove fine otherwise. Any one ever heard of this stuff or have thoughts!?! Can be sold for less than $2.00/gal. and has less exhaust pollutants than petro. Diesel, he tells me and natural lubricating qualities.
Posted 2006-08-21 11:43 AM (#47060 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 524 Location: Lone Oak, Tx
Personally I wouldn't use anything with gasoline in my diesel vehicle.
As far as using UVO (used vegetable oil), I'm fixing to start using this www.dieselsecret.com I know of others that use it and I have an unlimited supply of UVO. Finishing up my "still" as I call it and when we move to our new property, I'll say goodbye to the fuel pumps. Estimated cost of this for me is .51ยข a gal.
Posted 2006-08-21 1:27 PM (#47066 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Expert
Posts: 2689
It works.
No need for "stabilizing" additives, unless thats what they're making their profit on. The gasoline keeps the oil in solution, that and the normal sloshing around as you drive.
Posted 2006-08-21 4:31 PM (#47089 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Thanks for the replys. Can any one elaborate on the subject any farther? My concern is high mileage vehicle. I'm pushin' 300K on my Powerstroke. If this stuff sould happen to take out an injector or injector pump, I'd be S.O.L. as I don't have thousands of dollars sitting around looking for something to do, know what I mean. Wouldn't be such a big deal if ya had a spare engine sittin' around and plenty of time to swap it out, what the heck, give it a try and see what happens, but that scenario isVERY rare. I'd still be interested in finding more out about all this. The feller claims that when Mr. Diesel first invented his engine the first ones did run on V oil. I don't know!
Posted 2006-08-21 4:39 PM (#47090 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Location: Texas
Wonder what ratio he recommends blending? When I go up to Ft. Worth, I stop and fill up with bioWillie, Willie Nelson's blend of cookin oil and diesel. I think it is 20% cooking oil and 80% petroleum diesel. Seems to run fine, but I did have to change fuel filters pretty quick for the first couple of times.The cost at the pump was about the same as 100% diesel, so the filters set me back some. If you can make the blend work, I sure wouldn't be reluctant to use it for the kind of savings you are talking about. Maccwall, if you get your still up and running and can make enough, I'll send our ranch fuel truck up for a load and pay you a nice profit.
Posted 2006-08-21 6:29 PM (#47095 - in reply to #47090) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 524 Location: Lone Oak, Tx
Sounds like a plan. I have a friend who owns a few restaurants around town and has 500 gallon of UVO set aside. He said I have an unlimited supply. I figure in 2 weeks I'll let you know how well it runs.
Posted 2006-08-21 7:28 PM (#47096 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
You're using the "recipe" from that site that was in your other post, right? I went to it and read all about it, very intruiging concept, I'll be anxiously awaiting feed back from ya on how easy it was to make and how well it seems to run!! Meanwhile I'm gonna do a little more research and talk to that feller what called me yesterday and talk to him a bit more about his "recipe" and see what happens.
*percentage-- I believe he was talking like 80 some % V oil, 5% the additave,10% petro. Diesel and the rest the gasoline. He was giving me info. a little faster than I could take it all in and actually think about what he was saying.
Since THIS thread is about WVO & gasoline blending (now drifting towards bio-diesel), here is a pointer that may also be useful for anyone nervous about using gasoline (even in a conservative blend). http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_supply.html#heaterfilter
Straight WVO has been quite successful for quite a while, it requires warming of the oil in cold conditions, but avoids the issue of softening seals & O-rings (semi-soluble in bio-D).
Go up a level to read LOTS more on both Bio-D and WVO processing, vehicle conversion, etc.
For ME the biggest drawback would be having to set up and service a regular collection route to visit the kitchen back doors of several McGreasy Fries on a regular basis. I'm not averse to the physical work, I s'pose I could build up the contacts and/or start a waste disposal service for restaurants. Hmmm, how much could I charge to haul away their waste ?
Fuel used per year, maybe ~1,500 gallons @ ~$3 currently = ~$4,500,
2/3 or so of that is probably bought outside my tanks' range from home, so maybe $1,500 would be subject to these savings. Deduct something for time, take out a bit for buying equipment, etc. Subjectively, it is not worth it to me at this time (-:
Posted 2006-08-22 8:56 AM (#47114 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Took a look at the site Reg, what are your thoughts, that the heaters may be hot enough to ignite the gasoline? Now the way that I understood it from some of the other sites that I read was that if using gasoline to bring viscosity to a desired level (which may change from winter to summer use) that eliminates the need for the heaters. In essence the heaters don't have to keep it in liquid form the gasoline does. Am I reading right or not quite? That's where the guys in the deep south have an advantage over us, they probabaly don't ever have to worry about temps that are cold enough to start the solidifying process. Any way something to ponder,
Posted 2006-08-22 9:33 AM (#47120 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Haven't heard or seen any actual ratings, only see where every one is saying that it is "very comperable" to petro. Diesel, The guy that contacted me said his truck ran and pulled "normally" just idled a bit lower (R.P.M.'s) than with the "regular" Diesel. One would think that the alcohol would tend to evaporate out of solution prematurely, but who knows, maybe no quicker than gas.
Fuel used per year, maybe ~1,500 gallons @ ~$3 currently = ~$4,500,
2/3 or so of that is probably bought outside my tanks' range from home, so maybe $1,500 would be subject to these savings. Deduct something for time, take out a bit for buying equipment, etc. Subjectively, it is not worth it to me at this time (-:
Perhaps a vegetable oil blend co-op? Get six people or so together, set up a still and everyone takes turns bringing oil & brewing.
Friday nights: Reg you bring the oil, I'll bring the beer, hounddog will bring a movie and we'll brew up some fuel for next week.
Posted 2006-08-22 1:32 PM (#47131 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Expert
Posts: 2689
Broken Bit,
My thought was for those who are nervous about using gasoline as a grease solvent. Folk have been running SVO (straight veg oil) for some time with various heaters; line, in tank, at filter, pre-filter, etc.
BTW search for Arctic Fox for other ideas on gel prevention, you could run on summer diesel all year long if you put enough changes on your truck (-:
Posted 2006-08-22 8:13 PM (#47168 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Yeah, I've checked out a lot of those heaters. I had a brother-in-law that lived in Alaska, he had Diesel rigs, boy some of the stories he had... and boy some of the stuff they did! NOT for this cowboy, that's for sure. I kinda like being able to feel my extremities and NOT have them turn blue. lol
I did not like the looks of the heater that goes down into your fuel tank and has heated coolant running through it, I'd be leary of that one.
Posted 2006-08-22 11:23 PM (#47175 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Member
Posts: 19
Location: Southern IN
Broken Bit
Our wonderful governor (Ditch Mitch - for our time zone screw up!) has passed legislation to enable/encourage the building of 10 Bio-diesel plants here in IN in the near future. I started looking into Bio-Willie, as someone else mentioned, but am still undecided. One of the drawbacks is that it is a solvent, hence, the fuel filter and fuel line problems some one else mentioned. As for UVO......hmmmmmm.......sounds like the same thing as Bio-Diesel to me ( both are 20/80)......more or less?
I checked the Dodge website(I have a Dodge Ram 3500 turbo diesel dually) and decided I need a Philadelphia lawyer to decipher their stance on Bio-Diesel/Bio-Willie. (At any rate, I'm well PAST any warrantee it'd violate, if I did decide to go with it.) I also learned that there are newer fuel filters and lines made to withstand the solvent properties of Bio-Diesel and that is one of the "minor adjustments" you have to make to use Bio-Diesel. You can check the National Bio-Diesel website at: www.biodiesel.org
Still not sure what I'm going to do, but I like the idea of helping our farmers and "sticking it to" (does 20% count?)the oil companies at the same time...hehehe! Plus, they "claim" Bio burns cleaner.........Now, if I could only determine what it will do to mpg and power( Or lack of?), I could figure it all out. Depending on which website you read, you get different answers on those issues..16
Posted 2006-08-23 7:19 AM (#47184 - in reply to #47058) Subject: RE: Vegetable Oil Blend?
Veteran
Posts: 246 Location: Northern IN.
Yup, I've heard all about the supposed Bio-Diesel plants that are coming, we'll wait and see just how far that realy goes. Once he's out of office that money will most likely get "re-routed" to some suits pocket! Any how, I think I'd be more inclined to try this V oil blend over the Bio-Diesel, if I had two pumps side by side and the choice was there for the making. They say that the lubricating qualities of the V oil blend surpasses all the other options, hands down, and NO mods have to be made to the rig. Also that you will notice your diesel running quieter, noticably quieter, BUT your exhaust will smell like a deep-fryer! lol can you say "welcome to McBroken Bits"-- It's true, but a funny thought never the less. Can you imagine pullin' into a big city stadium for the next show, grabin' your gear bag, headin' inside and between the calf-ropin' and saddle bronc ridin' you run out to the rig to grab a fresh can of Cope. to find 14 homeless people trying to eat your exhaust pipe!!! lol I guess gotta take the good with the bad!
Vegetable Oil Blend?
