Can old diesels run on chip oil?

trouville

trouville

N/A
Joined
10 Jun 2004
Messages
2,839
Location
crusing with an Arpège
Visit site
About 6 weeks ago while in Elba a tourist resturant was getting ready for the new season.He had almost filled a 1000liter container with old frying oil.

I asked him what he did with it he said it would be taken away adding "would i like to have it" i dont think he was serious but just then there had been talk of running diesel cars on it and the question was it legal would it work etc.

I have no intention of trying it in my tanks!As this boat is ment for my children and ive already broken one of there boats!!

But could it be used? I have a pair of Volvo TMD 6 cylinder 130HPs which are by now old design the person i was haveing lunch with has a "new" boat which has a "common rail" diesel?? he said my engins would run on anything??? but his would only run on clean fresh diesel?

Dose anyone know,can "old" diesels run on chip or sunflower oil?Why then cant a "commonrail" diesel??? Is a commonrail much more efficent than mine??
 
Even a modern deisel with a common rail will run on spent chip-oil, however it must be filtered to get the crunchy bits out. I believe the addition of a little Benzine is recommended. I can't remember the proportions....age and alcohol do that to the brain...but I'm sure a Google search would turn up the information. I'm not convined thre's not been a fairly recent post here, come to that.
 
I think new ones can as well. I like the idea of it - not least because Daryll Hannah used to drive a Jeep on chip diesel - but you have to remember to get the bits of batter out though, or it all clags up.
 
Ill look through the posts later as im in a cafe by a French canal and my laptop battery is very low!

At the moment my engin is a 6hp Jhonson 2 stroke!!! One thing i forgot was mentioned was that chip oil sunflower and rapes oil etc would not lubricate the injector pump??

None of us knew what we were talking about but repeating things we had heard!!And clearly weve neever tried it nor know anyone else that has!

If chip oil etc can be used then i will buy an old peugeot 205 diesel for next winter and see what happens!!I was also told a diesel wont start on chip oil,but will run it once walm?????

Ive "heard" so many things about diesel and chip oil but know nothing for sure!
 
You can run a diesel engine on "old chip oil" but you have to ask yourself "how long do you want the engine to last?" Repeated heating and cooling of veg oil during the cooking part of its life cycle creates a polymer which will form a hard deposit on the injector tip of your engine (having dug this out by the bucket load from distilation columns I know only too well). Many people have used veg oil las an "extender" by blending it into diesel, again perfectly possible but only delays the onset of engine problems.

One final problem - if you use veg oil to substitute diesel or extend it by blending our dear friend Gordon will want the full fuel duty on every litre. In order to gain the 20p road fuel duty break you have to convert it into biodiesel. The cost of manufacture of biodiesel cannot compete with red diesel.
 
It's oil. If it passes through the pump and injectors it'll lubricate them. If you use the chip-oil in your Peugot in the UK you'll be liable for the fuel duty anyway (in theory). I think it works out as around 11p per litre. I think the benzine improves the flow characteristics and reduces the droplet size for easier combustion but Topgear ran an old Volvo Deisel on filtered chip-oil straight from the vat
 
Problems stem from the thicker consistency of different oils. Filters block in colder weather and fuel pumps are similarly affected. Diesel engines have been run on heavier fuel oils for decades with the oil heated to make it flow more easily. It is possible to run diesels on vegetable oil straight from your local supermarket. Mr Brown would like some tax from you if you do that however. The Lucas pumps are less tolerant of the heavier oils than the Bosch ones.

German site contains list of converted vehicles with 10 years experience

There are lots of sites giving advice and this week a television programme took old chip oil and ran an old Land Rover on it.

From the German site translated by Babelfish problems experienced with a sticking valve - 'I found the reason for sticking in one of the McDonald barrels. From the 50 litres contents 10 litres were a mixture from salad, wischwasser Coco Cola and Pisse.'

Quality control problems he experienced with some used 'oil' from McDonalds.

They cite numerous examples of running coaches on vegetable oil with mileages over 200,000kms.
 
I would have thought the engine would fairly quickly become battered.

Expect to replace filters more often.

Is it a saving, or is it penny pinching?
 
As I posted earlier 'chip oil' from the chippy up the road is palm oil. This is a solid oil in its raw state as it melts at 44 degrees. To use this would require some form of element in the tank. It costs about £7-£8 for 12.5 kilos depending on the quality.
 
We run the boatyard crane on old chip oil straight from the local chippies starts from cold ok but when running smells like a deep fat fryer /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Short answer is yes....

Longer version is...

It needs filtering before bunkering to save your boat filters, gravity fitration is fine but you might need to warm it up to get it flowing.

There are various web pages which will advise on chemical modification to improve the stuff slightly up to producing full blown bio-diesel from it.

Try 'diesel from cooking oil' on Google.

Generally, older designs are more tollerant.

Not sure about the duty situation in the UK. If you use it in a DERV you are liable to pay road fuel duty and VAT. If you use it in a boat, p'raps you should pay whatever rate of duty / VAT is applicable for red diesel.

Plenty of punters buy chip oil from thesupermarket and shove it straight into the tank, in various proportions of 10 - 90% mixd with diesel.

Try adding 'ASDA Swansea' to the above Google search.
 
Re: Short answer is yes....

A friend of mine used to run a restaurant, he spent a small fortune on disposing of old frying oil.

Set himself up to convert to diesel - quite a complex process - notsure exactly what involved, but produced some form of soap as a by-product.

Mainly used it for central heating but his Mitzi ran ok on it, as did a JCB. To use it on the road legally he would have had to pay duty and VAT - He checked with C&E.

Local farmers wouldn't put it in their tractors in case it invalidated maintenance warranty.

Stopped doing it when he sold the restaurant.
 
Re: Short answer is yes....

One can buy a conversion kit that basically gives you a little tank of "real" diesel to start up and to stop with, and a heater to warm the cooking oil, and you switch over after starting and switch back a couple of minutes before stopping.

I know someone else who runs a van very successfully on a 50/50 mix. He is registered with C&E as a self administered fuel supplier and pays Gordon his whack each month. At the moment he's buying a Tesco not having yet fixed up his filtration system.
 
Prob best not to fill up direct from the chip pan?

Owner of a local taxi company near us had to pay me /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifto strip all the radio and data stuff out of one of his cars when an enterprising member of his staff elected to save a few bob by adding what we assume was used veggy oil to the tank of a Vectra.Not just a bit of labour to fix, the car was beyond economical repair.
 
Re: Prob best not to fill up direct from the chip pan?

Thats not reassuring? In Sweden bio diesel is sold which is 80% rape oil being a baltic state the saving to the consumers about 10%

(they also doubled the port prices between 04&05 thinking the euro would be introduced!!Interesting,i wonder what the price increes will be this season?

There "bio cars" are sold that will start and run on it,i wonder whats modified?
 
I know of several people - including my son - who run their vehicles on COOKING OIL - direct from supermarkets - as they say 'why buy dirty oil when new is so cheap compared with diesel at pump prices?'
Has no one noticed the smell - similar to a chip shop - when some vehicles have passed?
Remember when the diesel engine was invented it was designed to run on oil, not highly refined diesel oils of today.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

O
“The Dog that Didn’t Bark:” Yanmar. 4L HASTE.
Replies
2
Views
276
oldgit
O

Share this page

Top