is vege oil the way to go?

[wilely250]

been looking at the possibility of converting my 83 f250 6.9 over to running on vegetable oil. i live in canada so i need heated everything to get the consistancy of the vegetable oil up to that of diesel fuel. probably going to cost over 2000 to convert, not counting labor. now diesel fuel up here is 1.22 a liter, thats about 4.61 for a us gallon,ya taxes are a real killer. at 20 to 30k a year it probably wouldn't take too long to get my investment back. im wondering if this is a good idea? just looking for some insight. thanks

 

[hheynow]

I converted my '97 F-350 Powerstroke 7.3L in May '06. Best move I ever did. I have the Plant Drive kit. Without a steady source of good used oil you are nowhere. My suggestion is to have a 1/2" ID or 5/8" ID coolant loop hose for maximum heat.

 

[rubberfish]

i live in canada so i need heated everything

With remarks like that, it's a no wonder half
of the US population thinks we all live in igloo's
up here all year round.

Sorry.
Didn't mean to lead the thread to the gutter.

Getting the truck to run is one thing.
Used veggie oil is abundant until folks
find out what you're doing with it.
Then they want cold hard cash for it.

 

[wilely250]

hay, when my igloo gets cold i live in my truck. thats all we canadians need is a nice 3 room igloo and a warm truck. but speaking of taxes, does anyone know if the government expects road taxes on vege oil fuel?
"just for fun" i know,revenue canada, they tried to get me for road taxes on my dog sled but i pulled of the trans canada and they couldn't catch me. i would have been in real trouble if they had a ford. "end of fun"

 

[jimraelee]

Yea Im thinking I will do the same... buddy at work told me he drove from west Oregon to eastern and back on $22 and change... WOW... thats amazing... Im sourcing and researching now for my conversion and filtering system...

 

[hheynow]

Can lobsters pull a dog sled, eh?

 

[wilely250]

Can lobsters pull a dog sled, eh?

they can as long as there in water. tired it on land but they die in about an hour. then you have to pull the sled yourself, but at least you can do it on a full belly. this is a little off the subject of trucks but if you want to have some fun with live lobsters and a smart ass friend. here is what you do. if you notice a lobster has two claws a crusher usually big and blunt, and a cutter, usually smaller and sharp. you take up the lobster a put your finger in the cutter claw the lobster will close his claw,it won't hurt. then you hand the lobster to you "friend" give him the crusher claw, that will hurt. yes i use to be a fisherman and i do really have a dog sled but only one border collie, but i don't live in an igloo not yet anyway, but tonight we going to get a foot of snow,so you never know.

 

[Diesel JD]

Hey WVO is a good source of fuel...it has its drawbacks though you can read about it on this site in the alt. fuels section. You can also look over here http://biodiesel.infopop.cc Look under the SVO as fuel category. Main drawback is it might be ******* yoru DB2 pump...also what effect does all that free fatty acid in the WVO have on your engine and oil...honestly we really don't know yet. You could probably cobble together a cheaper homemade system if you are on the handy side. You only need to accomplish two things 1) WVO does NOT hit the pump and injectors until it is at least 120*F(really 140-160 would be better) and 2) The truck starts and stops on Diesel or Biodiesel. The rest is up to your imagination. Hose on hose, hose in hose...it doesn't matter. Oh and I should add, filter to 5 microns or finer before it ever sees the tanks. Good luck.

 

[hahn_rossman]

Alright full disclosure mode on- I helped Chris Goodwin with all the various welded aluminum bits when he was designing the http://www.frybrid.com kit.

Chris and i talked a lot about various ways to convert vehicles and I believe what he came up with is the best solution. It's not the cheapest to purchase initially. But so many folks have bought other systems or rolled their own, only to later buy one from Chris.
I have a fair amount of miles on my truck (see sig) in fairly cold conditions, mostly involving snowboarding. Trust me you want to heat everything. I have had many a chuckle at the hype coming from the single tank converters in LA. My advice is to check the various forums
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc
http://www.frybrid.com/forum and get a sense of what's out there and how people like it. Then I would buy or make your kit. Then give your self plenty of time to install it properly. It's great burning grease and both saving cash and not sending money to the wrong people. Good Luck!

 

[Agnem]

At over $3 a gallon, it pretty much doesn't matter how much it harms anything. You can keep throwing $800 used engines in it and still save money.

 

[anson]

free fatty acids are in the water. remove the water by gravity or centrifuge, because if you just evaporate it off by heat/vacuum it leaves them in the oil.
but yeah then it's not as big a deal

 

[hheynow]

Free fatty acids are not too much of a concern for WVOers but water soluble acids are. That's why many mist wash their oil to dilute the salts and have them drop out with the water.

 

[tnmtn]

after hearing that is getting harder to get waste oil in some areas i am curious what the options are for buying vegetable oil? going through sams or costco it seems the price for 35lb. jugs starts to get close to diesel prices. is there a better option for buying in a larger bulk that would bring the price down further. does it come in 55 gal. barrels? to get the price down below $3.00 a gallon would be great to suppliment any waste that could be picked up.

 

[RLDSL]

Some animal feed supplys carry bulk veg oil for mixing in with feed. I've been meaning to look into that myself. I bet it would be cheaper than the regular consumer fry oil.
It kind of depends on where you live as far as availability. If you live in a generally health concious area, it can be tough to get, but here in the cholesterol belt where everything is deep fried everywhere, it's not a problem yet.

-----Robert

 

[anson]

er yeah that's what i meant.
i live in santa cruz, lots of veggie cars and it's still not very hard to find oil.