Biodiesel

[Mad Scientist]

Hi All! Just wanted to ask about anyone's use of biodiesel. I can get hold of the goodies to make it and heat it. I'd love to have a generator I could run the house on. Unfortunately, being rather petite, I think driving the sort of car that can be converted is going to be impossible. Tend to be 1.6 or 1.8. What are your thoughts? Thanks, happy prepping!

[ForgeCorvus]

I thought the whole point of Bio-Diesel is that you don't have to convert, as opposed to Waste Vegtable Oil that you do need to play silly buggers with.

Theres a big thread on here somewhere about old stationary engines, with a view to running genny sets off them

Also theres a lot of talk about Bio-Ethanol as a fuel


The only stupid questions are the ones that you don't ask


Looking forward to reading replies to this myself

[TopSod]

I'm in for the replies too

[jonb]

HI

Check out this linkhttp://www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk/approvals.htm



Older diesels ( not common rail / high pressure diesel ) can run on most oils if thinned.

Veg oil can be used if diluted , use in winter is tricky because the veg oil thickens and blocks the filter / injectors.

Some guys thin the veg oil with petrol to help stop thickening and carry spare filters.

[Mad Scientist]

Oops! Yes, I meant converting it from veg oil. Other people I have asked have said the first few uses of it blocks up the filter but it seems ok after that. There is a course in making biodiesel if anyone else wants to go ahead. Contact LILI (low impact living initiative) got some other really great courses about making rocket stoves, low impact housing etc. Will keep looking around.

[nickdutch]

Whether you are using SVO (straight vegetable oil) or made bio-diesel, you have to be careful in the winter as the fuel tends to congeal into a gel (so I hear) so its best for use in the spring, summer and autumn months rather then in the minus 20 Celsius winters that global warming seems to give us these days, unless you have technology that can melt the oil into a runny liquid first. If used in the winter, you have to dilute with regular diesel to make it palatable for the engine, however I am unaware of the ratios. There are some conversion kits that are on the market that use regular diesel run through the engine fro the first 10 minutes or so, and then switches to straight vegetable oil (SVO) so that the heat of the engine can keep the fuel lipid enough to make things work.

Also you have to think about the cost. When I first looked into the cost of straight vegetable oil from the supermarket, there was no real difference in terms of price per liter than the stuff at the pumps. So the only real economical use for the fuel is if you use waste oil that the local chippies and restaurants are going to chuck out, but that will require serious social / business networking (making tonnes of friends and more friends with contacts in the local area) to keep on top of the opportunities, which might be rather hard work.

If you do get yourself a bio-diesel making set from ebay etc, it might be worth while to do so after you have started to increase your social tentacles so that you can get the leads to the waste oil firstly. Its not really a SHTF fuel as the chippies would have to be running in the SHTF situation for you to get the waste oil.
You would IMHO also have to have a lifestyle sorted out so that you can use the fuel all the time to make the time, energy and money expenditure worth while.


Even for something as simple as fuel making, you have to think carefully about the logistics before going ahead. Sometimes all this "stuff" seems more like planning a business than just being prepared fro stuff to happen or to find ways of being less grid dependent.

[unsure]

making bio is not as easy as it sounds , you need to be very exact with how you do it . if you get it wrong you end up with a mess thats no good for anything and a car that won`t run and would be expensive to repair .older cars can run very happily on veg oil but only in the warmer weather , i`m just in the process of weaning my land rover off veg oil for the winter . i tend not to drive as much in winter as i don`t go to far from home .