daveyjones
Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience of vegetable oil or biodiesel as a fuel for diesel engines? It seems like a cheap option, but I wonder what the pitfalls are.
Running a diesel on vegetable oil
- Thread starter daveyjones
- Start date
izewbik
Member
Exhaust smells like a chip shop.
In cold weather some systems don't like it. Bosch pumps handle it alright. Lucas can be destroyed in cold weather when oil thickens. Keep out of Arctic and Antarctic.
In cold weather some systems don't like it. Bosch pumps handle it alright. Lucas can be destroyed in cold weather when oil thickens. Keep out of Arctic and Antarctic.
daveyjones
Well-Known Member
A chip shop smell might be quite homely on a cold January night in the Thames Estuary! Seriously though, your comments back up what I have read, but if the engineering is put in place, is it worth the trouble to do it, and is there a cost saving?
supermalc
Well-Known Member
A web aquaintance does it.
Put this info together on a page
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/biodiesel.html
There is also a link on my site
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/
Sorry for popups but small price for free hosting.
If you can get waste chip shop oil, and boat diesel is taxed as road diesel next year it may be worth doing, but otherwise no saving, other than more enviromentally friendly.
Put this info together on a page
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/biodiesel.html
There is also a link on my site
http://www.angelfire.com/rnb/malcsworld/
Sorry for popups but small price for free hosting.
If you can get waste chip shop oil, and boat diesel is taxed as road diesel next year it may be worth doing, but otherwise no saving, other than more enviromentally friendly.
aidancoughlan
Well-Known Member
Top gear did a review of this a couple of years ago.... they filled an old Volvo estate up with used vegetable oil from the local Indian curry house, and drove it round a test track for hours with no discernable ill-effects.
If I recall correctly, they used an additive supplied by some company to make it run better, and seemed quite impressed with the results.
If I recall correctly, they used an additive supplied by some company to make it run better, and seemed quite impressed with the results.
Lakesailor
Well-Known Member
Scraps with that please.
ditchcrawler
Well-Known Member
I add biodiesel to my car at 5% mixture & garages around here (Suffolk/Norfolk) sell biodiesel already diluted to 5% through the pump.This is the dilution which accords with the British Standards.Several bodies,buses etc are trying various mixes from 20% upwards.100% is not recommended for cars although it will work with diesels in general.
izewbik
Member
Worth while ?
Greener than mineral oil. Sustainable. CO2 neutral.
Commonly done but illegal on the roads as it deprives the government of some tax. Apparently an Asda in south Wales were selling rather a lot of cooking oil at one point.
It does put a cap on what the government can do regarding red diesel.
Greener than mineral oil. Sustainable. CO2 neutral.
Commonly done but illegal on the roads as it deprives the government of some tax. Apparently an Asda in south Wales were selling rather a lot of cooking oil at one point.
It does put a cap on what the government can do regarding red diesel.
Bergman
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine has a restaurant and used his old chip oil. Apparently the process is not simple involves adding some chemical or other and produces some kind of soap as a by product.
Worked fine in a Mitsubishi engine but the main use was for central heating.
Obviously economics were different for him as the stuff actually cost quite a bit to dispose of.
Local farmers were reluctant to use in their machines for fear of invalidating warranty.
Apparently legal as a road fuel if you pay the appropriate tax - which rather defeats the point.
Worked fine in a Mitsubishi engine but the main use was for central heating.
Obviously economics were different for him as the stuff actually cost quite a bit to dispose of.
Local farmers were reluctant to use in their machines for fear of invalidating warranty.
Apparently legal as a road fuel if you pay the appropriate tax - which rather defeats the point.
bdsweeting
Well-Known Member
Have a read of http://www.dieselveg.com/ regarding conversions and costs.
martinb
Well-Known Member
Top gear added 1% white spirit to correct the viscosity. I know of people who have tried it with no apparent harm, although illegal unless you register with C&A and cough up your dues, about 35p per litre last time I looked, but was some time ago.
Martin
Martin
andrewbarker
Well-Known Member
It's not illegal - but you are supposed to pay duty on fuel you use. Filtration is the main issue - a great deal of water and other solid waste needs to be removed from recycled oil. the best article I've seen on the subject was in "Car Mechanics" magazine a couple of months ago (if you buy a copy it'll tell you which back copy) & it went into which types of engine/pump etc were suitable.
I have also heard rumours of unscrupulous peeps buying cooking oil from Lidl at 45p/litre, adding 5% white spirit & forgetting to tell anyone about it.
I have also heard rumours of unscrupulous peeps buying cooking oil from Lidl at 45p/litre, adding 5% white spirit & forgetting to tell anyone about it.