kitchen oil powered car

[blackalbino]

does anyone own one of these or knows someone who does/ whats the pro's and cons?

[LCDMAN]

You must remember that you don't just go down your local chippy and chuck the used oil in your diesel powered car. It has to be cleaned, heated, filtered and mixed in the correct proportion with ethanol/methanol before you can do that!.

You need buy the "machine" to do this, along with a supply of ethanol/methanol and you can only make a set amount, for your own personal use, before you pay any tax/duty on it. As soon as you sell it to someone else then you pay duty on all that you produce! I believe it can work out as low as 40-50p per litre, depending on what you pay for your oil in the first place.

look at these sites for more info;

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/

http://www.vegoilmotoring.com/eng/

http://www.veggiepower.org.uk/page701.htm

http://www.veggiepower.org.uk/page208.htm

http://www.dieselveg.com/

[blackalbino]

cheers mate but according to this you can run it on straight cooking oil!


http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QEX1YFXYTdI

[LCDMAN]

Forgot to mention, you als need to add Lye (Sodium Hydroxide) in to the mix to reduce the fatty acid. This is a VERY nasty chemical and should be used with EXTREME caution!!

[puddicat]

yep it can be dangerous if not mixed properly

[blackalbino]

cheers folk!

[LCDMAN]

Ah, another good myth from Mythbusters!! Sorry, blackalbino, you can use filtered used oil or straight "clean - first use" veg oil from the shops without any processing but due to its chemical composition and content of fatty acids it WILL clog up your engine in a very short time.

"Vegetable oil will react very similarly to diesel fuel under the conditions inside a diesel engine; i.e. when it is highly compressed, it will heat up and ignite, causing the air in the cylinder to expand, and to push the pistons, in time. If you burned straight unprocessed vegetable oil, however, the fatty acids in the oil would start to congeal and harden (coke up) on the inside of your engine as well as in your fuel injectors, eventually leading to big, expensive engine problems.

Therefore, it is necessary to process your oil to remove the fatty acids-- making the oil more similar to diesel compositionally, or to otherwise devise a system to keep your engine clean of residues from unprocessed oil."

Have a really good read of those sites, mate, and you will get the true picture.

ONE MORE WARNING: To use 100% veg oil biodiesel for longer than 4 weeks straight will cause complications to any rubber components of the engine that the fuel might come into contact with-fuel pump, hoses, o-rings, etc. These can either be replaced with steel or heavy duty rubber or.. it is always recommended to use a percentage of diesel with your homemade fuel- at least 20%.

Lastly, NOT ALL DIESEL CARS CAN USE VEG OIL BIODIESEL! Certain fuel systems/injectors/pumps should NEVER be used with veg oil biodiesel - read the references I gave you and you will find lists of those cars NOT to try it on!!!

[dm1982]

what about the fact that deisel is designed to lubricate the fuel pump?? and any movable parts in the fuel system? not worth the hassle in my opinion, if you odnt like the price of fuel, dont drive