Vegetable oil

TiggerToo

TiggerToo

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So how many have ACTUALLY tried using vegetable oil (perhaps recycled after a fry-up) to pour down their diesel tanks? I have heard the theoretical arguments, but has once actually done it?
 
If yopu want to gum up the works especially as winter approaches ... and temp's fall.

Just to illustrate ... Take a small amount of rapeseed oil and leave it outside in the shade away from sun ... few days later ... go have a look at it ... don't shake ... but carefully turn bottle upside down .. preferably first thing in morning before days warmed it up. Would you like that in your tank ?

QED .....

Oh and remember that YOU don't know if ULSD (you call it Road or White Diesel) has any BioD in it ... cause it's allowed to add up to 5% anyway .. so if you start adding chip-pan stuff - I wish you luck ....
 
Don't go adding vegetable oil to your diesel, it has to be processed into biodiesel first. This involves adding a mixture of a couple of chemicals, heating the lot and this causes the glycerine to seperate and allow it to be removed. It isn't a difficult process and not very expensive to buy the kit to do it, but the economics are extremely marginal.
This is from memory, but a quick google should give you lots of information.
 
Clarkson drove hundreds of miles in a clapped out Volvo on pure cooking oil from a chip shop. No way would I put it in a boat engine though.No hard shoulder to pull over onto at sea.
 
if I remember rightly - the Volvo was owned by a gent up north ... Clarkson didn't believe it and another drove the car ... BUT the guy added an alcohol to the oil first to break up the esters ....
 
I cant remember the exact details of the Top Gear stunt ,interesting that they used an old banger not a shiny new one?

.Anyone considering it should imagine how they would feel crossing the shipping lanes in no wind or even fog hoping your recycled chip oil will keep the engine running. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
 
Mate used 3 tanks of bio chip oil from local supplier, then had to scrap the car. They had not filtered it properly, bocked up the fuel system, in the end the repair would be more than the value of the car.
Should recycled chip oil be supplied with re-cycled tights ??

Brian
 
[ QUOTE ]
Should recycled chip oil be supplied with re-cycled tights ??

[/ QUOTE ]

If thats what you like to wear when driving its a free country... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
was a cynic a few years ago, same thoughts as sbc, did some research, filter oil, add caustic and methanol, siphon off diesel much as we know it, (ok nitpickers heat etc)
Other way is to mix filtered veg oil with diesel, as sbc says much of euro diesel has 5% already. DCC local authority has done a test on our trucks over the last year including this past winter on the gritter wagons. the supplier mixes it at 30% and adds a secret cocktail to prevent waxing etc. we have had no probs and the Welsh assembly government is interested in the results so that other authorities can go down the same route as us.
Stu
 
If it's properly made there is no problem with bio diesel - the entire Tesco fleet has switched over to it. The problem is initially that it cleans out the pipes too well and then clogs the injectors, so you have to change filters very frequently until the gunge is out of the system. Thereafter, bio burns very clean. However, this doesn't mean you can tip used chip fat into your diesel tank and expect to go anywhere!
 
I agree with js48. Bio diesel beats ordinary diesel if you can get it. I was using it in my fishing vessel and it definitely burns cleaner, has more lubricity and more economic. The problem here is the government has taxes it so its actually dearer than ordinary diesel.

The only thing that was a bit of a problem was the fish and chip shop smell when your working on the back deck. Pensioners hanging around the wharf fishing complained it made them hungry.
 
I had a Peugeot 405 diesel which I regularly ran on fresh vegetable oil. I worked on a rough ratio of 60:40 diesel to oil and never had the slightest problem. From time to time I added some mineral oil, anything from multigrade engine oil to machine oil. I went thousands of miles like this, often taking pleasure in filling my car up in the supermarket car park with veg oil. All I would say is this: HDI engines will NOT run on veg oil. Do NOT use used chip oil without filtering (tights are fine, preferably doubled) and separate the water before use; potatoes are wet when they are put in the fryer and not all the water boils off during cooking. The real killer in using too much cooking oil is that the lift pump goes unlubricated and there is a glazing problem with the cylinders with prolonged cooking oil only use. I have been known to add a nip of petrol if I have thought the cooking oil-diesel mix has got a bit rich, or if there is a sudden cold snap, just to pep the mixture up a bit. I once, accidently, ran the engine on a 33% petrol/diesel mix. It is amazing what an old style diesel without a cat will run on.
There is no way I would run my boat engine on cooking oil. Bio diesel fine, but not cooking oil. As previously stated, there is no hard shoulder off a lee shore.
Nicki Crutchfield
 
I forgot to say that there is a 2500 litre per annum (I think, check!) personal consumption limit for homemade biodiesel (in UK) which is tax free. My understanding is that, by filtering and removing the water from used chip oil, the finished price works out at about 40p per litre.
Nicki
 
FAME ... Fatty Acid Methyl Ester .. is the processed product that you call BioDiesel ... added to ordinary diesel at up to 5% it has no effect on normal diesel machines. It has a characteristic that aids lubricity of the fuel - usually reducing the need to add lubricity additives. But it has the action of altering the winterisation caharacteristics. The FAME makes it more difficult to attain full winter spec - as it inhibits CFPP additives that are not blended specifically for it.

Running a modern diesel on pure veg oil - rather you than me ... As to older engines ... I have a 40yr old Perkins in my boat ... I shall stay with normal diesel albeit with 5% FAME added ....

People claim it runs cleaner ... interesting ... cause usually the FAME spiked diesel has a higher percentage of kerosine !! to bring density and distillation back into specification etc. It also improves Cloud point and CFPP ...

You see the blends are not as simple as some posts here might suggest ... we spend hours on lab bench mixing .. testing ... coming up with the blend that meets various market specs ...

Last little note : EU spec on Diesel is EN590 ... very shortly to change again in some states - such as UK... Sulphur content reducing to 10ppm from the 50ppm of present. BUT the EN590 spec is not applied as is in all states ... UK has a peculiar hiccup in it that drives labs like mine nuts ... and is very difficult to meet. There is absolutely no physical or logical reason for it ... it is a point in the distialltion curve that no-one else requires - it upsets the smooth distillation curve ...

But enough about that ...

The point is ... Diesel is not what you think it is ... same with gasoline ... they are all blends to meet particular requirements ..
 
My next door neighbour has converted his car (an old Astra Estate) to run off reclaimed and processed veg oil. He had to add all sorts of pre-heaters and clever stuff. It works by starting and shutting down the engine on pure diesel, but once the engine is hot enough switching over to pure vegetable oil. He says that there's been no change in the performance of the car, just a change in the smell it produces /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Cost of the fuel is about the 40p/litre mark, but sourcing the fuel is proving more difficult - yes, he's also stood in Tescos' car park emptying catering packs of cooking oil into his car.

Regards,
Jeff.
 
Luckily over here even full tax road diesel is only about 65p a litre ... so I'm not about to worry about converting !!

We don't have diesel for boats as UK used to have ... only heating oil (gasoil) that has to have a licence issued to buy and then you are allocated a set amount based on sq.m of your home / consumption ....... then its about 40p a litre. They only deliver to address on licence AND seal the tank after delivery. OK - you could filch via run off lines to boiler etc. - but who wants to be cold in winter here ! cause you cannot get a top up without another licence !
 
a mechanic friend runs his Toyota pickup (200k miles) on plain veg oil from Makros. Only issue is in winter when he has to add diesel to keep above 30mph! oh and the chip shop smell as he pulls away. he won't run his newer car on it though............
 
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