Ninehigh
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 08:12 AM |
|
|
Alternative fuels... ish
Just noticed that Morrisons own brand vegetable oil is £1.23 per litre, and I'm sure other places like Costco would do larger quantities
cheaper.
Now it surprises me that nobody's started a "can my tintop run on any old sh**e" thread..
I know a diesel engine can technically run on other oils like above, has anyone tried it?
|
|
|
|
|
Daddylonglegs
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 08:19 AM |
|
|
Not sure what he used exactly, but a guy who bought a shed of me last year had a LWB Defender which he had converted to run off discarded cookinig
oil! Used to buy it from a chip shop for about 60p litre and all he had was a thicker feed pipe from the tank (the oil is quite thick when cool) and
then to a heater which thinned it down enough to run the engine. Also a couple of filters of course but he said it ran great, and he hardly noticed
any difference in power.
Must have been like following a bag of chips though!! 
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
|
|
|
Peteff
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 08:37 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by DaddylonglegsMust have been like following a bag of chips though!!
Bloke down the road used to go into the local supermarket and buy vegetable oil and go outside into the car park and pour it into his Frontera. It
smelt like a donut stall on the Sunday market.
yours, Pete
I went into the RSPCA office the other day. It was so small you could hardly swing a cat in there.
|
|
|
jossey
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:05 AM |
|
|
I ran my BMW e60 on it for over 100k miles. Although BMW said it would die after 5k
I actually used biodiesel then veg oil 50% in winter and 80% in summer.
It depends on the fuel pump. I got told I needed to change fuel pump and a larger filter and heater in tank. I have tried used veg oil but new veg oil
in 25ltr barrels was 86p a litre :-)
Anywho most old cars run on it ok. I was lucky with my bimmer but I did have to change the filter every month.
Saved me £2500 a year though :-)
Thanks
David Johnson
Building my tiger avon slowly but surely.
|
|
|
balidey
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:06 AM |
|
|
Where my dad works, they once had the old BRM / Rover turbine car. They said it would run on anything. Old engine oil was often used aparantly.
Anyone tempted to run a turbine in a seven? May have to widen the tunnel a touch.
Dutch bears have terrible skin due to their clogged paws
|
|
|
NigeEss
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:07 AM |
|
|
My Land Rover (200Tdi) will happily run on straight cooking oil. And yes, it does smell like a chippy !
On really cold days it's a bit sluggish for the first mile or so though.
Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.................Douglas Adams.
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:17 AM |
|
|
The main problems I know of are
1: It MAY knacker your fuel pump, but I think most will take a high percent of veg oil - some countries in europe have up to 20% in their normal
diesel and I don't know of any warning if driving round europe.
2. It will flush the crap out of your fuel tank initially, so have a couple of fuel filters and the tools on standby.
3. It will probably need some pre-heating in cold weather if you want to run on 100% veg oil. At the agricultural shows I have seen various electrical
heater tape types to wrap round your fuel lines/filter/pump and plate/plate ones which you plumb into the fuel line one side and engine hot water on
the other (obviously you need to get started first...) I think most people just use 50/50diesel/veg oil in the winter and ignore the problem
Regards
Hugh
|
|
|
balidey
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:17 AM |
|
|
Remember, whatever you use, you HAVE to tell the taxman and give him duty on it if its being used as a fuel.
Dutch bears have terrible skin due to their clogged paws
|
|
|
Daddylonglegs
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:18 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by Peteff
It smelt like a donut stall on the Sunday market.
MMmmmmmmmmmm! Dohnuts...........
It looks like the Midget is winning at the moment......
|
|
|
hughpinder
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:19 AM |
|
|
I think (but I'm not certain) there is a tax break that you can PRODUCE up to 5000l/year biodiesel at home tax free, but I'm not sure that
pouring it out of a bottle from the supermarket counts as producing it!
Regards
Hugh
|
|
|
steve m
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:35 AM |
|
|
"Bloke down the road used to go into the local supermarket and buy vegetable oil and go outside into the car park and pour it into his Frontera.
It smelt like a donut stall on the Sunday market. "
I saw exactly that in Asda's a couple of years ago, and sure that was a fronterea as well, he just poured it neat into the tank
personly i would of filtered it first!
I belive that you can not use it on common rail engines,
|
|
|
coyoteboy
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:53 AM |
|
|
Done this no problem in a mechanical injection engine, it'll run on it neat and it runs nicer too, but tend to stick to a mix. The problem is
it's almost as pricey as D and for the effort of collecting it in huge quantities it's just not worth it. Not overly green either really,
lots of veg oil is grown in places where they slash and burn rainforests to get enough quantity for demand apprarently.
Does smell nice.
Pretty much guaranteed to total a commonrail engine in minutes though. I believe Peugeot/Citroen have claimed it's fine up to 30% but at £500 a
pop for the pump and the fact that the injectors generally get mashed in the process I'm not going to risk it for a hundred quid a year in
fuel.
[Edited on 1/5/12 by coyoteboy]
|
|
|
splitrivet
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 09:57 AM |
|
|
VOSA (I think) quite often run fuel spot checks round here wonder how you'd get on if they found veggie oil in your tank.
Cheers,
Bob
I used to be a Werewolf but I'm alright nowwoooooooooooooo
|
|
|
coyoteboy
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:04 AM |
|
|
quote:
VOSA (I think) quite often run fuel spot checks round here wonder how you'd get on if they found veggie oil in your tank.
Cheers,
Bob
No problem, providing you keep logs of what you buy and use and pay the related duty (which makes the cost higher than D)
|
|
|
Mr Whippy
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:07 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by splitrivet
VOSA (I think) quite often run fuel spot checks round here wonder how you'd get on if they found veggie oil in your tank.
Cheers,
Bob
two fuel tanks?
|
|
|
coyoteboy
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:15 AM |
|
|
yeah, cos customs folks aren't used to spotting fraudsters. So much so they haven't developed specially formulated fuel additives they
can trace by "DNA" like fingerprints.
|
|
|
swanny
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:25 AM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by coyoteboy
quote:
VOSA (I think) quite often run fuel spot checks round here wonder how you'd get on if they found veggie oil in your tank.
Cheers,
Bob
No problem, providing you keep logs of what you buy and use and pay the related duty (which makes the cost higher than D)
not neccesarily.
send them the duty on one tanks worth a month/every two months
if you ever get stopped you have records to prove that you paid duty.
it would just be unlucky that they stopped you in your 'vegetable oil week'
if they stopped you a dozen times they might get suspicious.
|
|
|
UncleFista
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:40 AM |
|
|
There's a place near me that sells biodiesel for £1.05 per litre, it's sold as heating oil so no duty, and made to diesel road fuel
spec.
I don't use it because it would be illegal to use on the road.. but I know of someone who's been running his common rail on it for over a
year with no ill effects.
I don't know why anyone would use veg oil when bio is cheaper, especially in a CR diesel.
Tony Bond / UncleFista
Love is like a snowmobile, speeding across the frozen tundra.
Which suddenly flips, pinning you underneath.
At night the ice-weasels come...
|
|
|
PSpirine
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 11:59 AM |
|
|
I can offer some first-hand experience on this as I run my Passat TDi on veg oil!
1) No duty required - you're allowed to produce/use 2500l per year of vegetable oil or biodiesel as road fuel without paying anything. A receipt
for purchasing the vegetable oil is sufficient (in theory you're supposed to keep receipts for all purchases but it's only a problem if
you are suspected of using tens of thousands of litres)
2) At £1.23 I wouldn't even consider using vegetable oil. I buy it when it's below £1 a litre. Costco's latest I believe is approx
£19 for 20 litres. I just fill from tesco 5l plastic bottles using a funnel.
3) Don't use any oil blends in a common rail or modern diesel. Whether your older one is OK or not depends on the injection pump. Check the
BioMotors website for more details for specific engines (1-tank means you're okay)
4) Heat exchangers are preferable, twin tanking (start on diesel to warm up) better still, but not required on the likes of Peugeot Bosch Pumps, TDi
bosch pumps and old mercedes Bosch Pumps.
5) You lose approx 5-10% efficiency/mpg due to the lower calorific value
|
|
|
Ninehigh
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 12:07 PM |
|
|
I've seen a twin tank conversion thing, you run on diesel until it's warmed up, then switch to oil for the bulk of the journey, then back
to diesel to clear out the oil for the cold start..
I figure if you spotted the vosa people you'd flick the switch sharpish and "Yeah I bung a litre or so in per tankful"
|
|
|
jossey
|
| posted on 1/5/12 at 12:30 PM |
|
|
quote:
Originally posted by UncleFista
There's a place near me that sells biodiesel for £1.05 per litre, it's sold as heating oil so no duty, and made to diesel road fuel
spec.
I don't use it because it would be illegal to use on the road.. but I know of someone who's been running his common rail on it for over a
year with no ill effects.
I don't know why anyone would use veg oil when bio is cheaper, especially in a CR diesel.
@@@@@
That's red diesel and is different to normal bio diesel.
Thanks
David Johnson
Building my tiger avon slowly but surely.
|
|
|
