Can I run my Webasto on chip fat?

jerrytug

jerrytug

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Hello I was wondering if anyone has tried putting vege oil through a Webasto, since it apparently works in old school diesel engines. Could it clog up the burner or something, or would it be ok? Thanks in advance if you have tried and got free heat, or regretted it and had to do repairs afterwards!
It's an old 1970's HL3003.41, cheers Jerry
 
David2452 said:
In that case you have little to lose in trying.
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Thanks David, you are right. This is the PBO forum.

No computer/ECU to shut down.

No plastic to melt and burn.

No fault codes.

No built-in obselesence.

How far we have come, since we discovered fire 1,000,000 years ago! ;)

Thanks for your advice, have a nice one, Jerry.
 
Seriously, unless highly refined and probably pre heated too it wouldn't even get through the small bore tube let alone the dosing pump and burner nozzle into the evaporator.
 
A friend of mine converted an old G wagon to run on the stuff - bought a centrifuge and some cheap extra in line filters and didn't really have a problem for ages, even with smell (then again he was doing 40mph most of the time). It did gum up the fuel system once, so, this being a boat and the sea virtually guaranteeing that the one time it gums up will be horrible - think carefully.
 
That popular TV series "Doc Martin " did have a theme where a taxidriver was running his taxi on old cooking oil. According to the story he got bad headaches and was near death from fumes. I don't know if there is any truth in this story however?????? olewill
 
Well it seems a tricky subject to pin down the facts Olewill, there are people who say they did a million miles in their van running on beef dripping, and others who reckon they wrecked their engines after a week on clean vege oil. (car talk alert) I'm looking at the subject a bit, because I'm getting an old diesel Merc w123, and unfortunately vege oil is not cheap or free any more, in England, and there are definite risks, so probably won't bother for now.
They do smell a bit rancid, as well!
 
Swanrad2 said:
A friend of mine converted an old G wagon to run on the stuff - bought a centrifuge and some cheap extra in line filters and didn't really have a problem for ages, even with smell (then again he was doing 40mph most of the time). It did gum up the fuel system once, so, this being a boat and the sea virtually guaranteeing that the one time it gums up will be horrible - think carefully.
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It was actually his Webasto heater that the OP was thinking of running on veg oil. Hardly a matter of life and death.
 
Just read the 'Webasto' part of the title and realised we weren't talking about an engine - pricey bit of kit though to save a very small amount of money after buying the oil and centrifuge.
 
simonfraser said:
Why bother, diesel / paraffin is cheap enough for occasional boat heating.
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I live aboard about 10-11 months of the year, so might have different priorities.
If David says the stuff won't go through the pipes without heating to lower the viscosity, it's all a 'pipe dream' anyway, thanks for your helpful comment though.
 
There are articles on the web about chemically converting chip oil to biodiesel.
If you have a reliable source of used oil, it can be worth doing, but it does cost money for the other chemicals needed.
I suspect it would be possible to design a burner to use the chip oil directly, but it would involve complete re-design of an eberbasto.
 
William_H said:
That popular TV series "Doc Martin " did have a theme where a taxidriver was running his taxi on old cooking oil. According to the story he got bad headaches and was near death from fumes. I don't know if there is any truth in this story however?????? olewill
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Will
I did some research on this, basically if your prepump will pump it and your hi pressure pump doesnt have any vulnerable rubber in it then it works ok. The issue is not the burning in the cylinder but the getting it there. A cousin of mine has a P reg renault camper. He uses new cooking oil, when it is cheap in Lidl or Bookers, during the warm weather. He cuts it according to the temperature with road diesel. The viscosity matters.
My council did a trial, veg oil cut with diesel by a reputable company, we ended up using it in our gritters etc. It worked ok.
In the UK we can use up to 2500 litres per year tax free, the only issue is that the use of veg oil as fuel has shot the price up and at £1.20 plus a litre, unless it is on special offer, it aint worth the hassle. I knew a chap that used to buy used oil on Ebay, he used to let it settle, filtered it and then cut it with diesel. It worked ok. Euro diesel is cut with up to 5% veg oil as std.
Stu
 
skipper_stu said:
My local garage sells "kerosene" from a pump, basically 28 sec heating oil at 63p a litre. My Eber loves it, so do I!
Stu
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It will, the flash point and viscosity of paraffin is lower than diesel, however those with later more sophisticated heater using boost levels would be advised to steer clear of anything but diesel and it certainly should not be used in Wallas diesel heaters.
 
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