WVO or Bio Diesel?

[rathole]

I have started doing some reading and fact finding about what to do. I live in Arlington, TX so the climate isn't too cold and drive about 500 miles a week in my 300sd.

What is the popular choice, WVO or BioDiesel or both?

Im sure that I will have more questions after I finish reading but am interested in what others are doing and what problems they have encountered.

[coachgeo]

IMHO go WVO. Just convert the car once and be done with it instead of converting every drop of fuel you plan to use from now till eternity.

Beside with a SD in particular go WVO. It has been said over and over that the 617 is a veg loving beast of an engine. Very robust engine.

[R Leo]

I'm in Austin...similar summer climate to you.

When doing it, I run an 80/20 blend of WVO and diesel or biodiesel. In the summer, I wouldn't hesitate to run properly filtered and dewatered straight WVO with a 140°F to 170°F in-line electric fuel heater. I prefer to use commercial biodiesel as the solvent for my WVO but I will use any handy fuel - kerosene, diesel, scented lamp oil, paint thinner etc. While not recommended, I've successfully run <90% WVO in temps down to 45°F.

For the present, I'm back on dino fuel while putting the finishing touches on my 2nd generation WVO processor. I took my first unit out of service in Decmember because I had incorporated galvanized (a no-no in WVO) plumbing in part of the design and had infected one of my vehicles with the fungus from hell with some poorly dewatered oil. I decided to terminate use of the system while I expanded my processing capabilities and integrated heating/dewatering into the design.

A word to the wise: you must be absolutely sure to take all the usual precautions before filling up on WVO — ie complete filtering (<10 microns) and dewatering.

[coachgeo]

Originally Posted by R Leo

I'm in Austin...similar summer climate to you.

When doing it, I run an 80/20 blend of WVO and diesel or biodiesel... ...

NOTE. More and more people are reporting problems with blending with dino diesel. Seems a waxy substance settles out of the mix. I have witnessed this myself with my own blends. The wax is suspected to come from the diesel and not the WVO. More success has been found blending with gasoline simular to the recomendations for winter diesel blends. In your hot TX tempratures you may need to install an inline vapor bleeding fuel filter in case the gas gets so hot it vaproizes. These are found on cars that have vapor lock issues. This inline filter has a vapor bleed port that you plumb to your return line and it vents off into and out of your fuel tank.

[odie]

It was suggested to me that the use of WVO will cause 20 years of diesel wax & paraffin build up in the fuel tank to start coming loose.

I think blending with RUG lessen the problems as RUG does a better job of "melting" the waxes enough to flow thru the filters better.

I know that I get lots of tallow caked to the bottom of my barrels and jugs. Diesel is not too successful at removing it. Neither is degreaser nor soaps. But a little RUG in the barrel seems to wash it out real easy.

[seafarer12]

Hey Guys
I am in Texas too. I have been reading up on Bio Diesel and WVO for awhile now. They both have their plusses and minuses. You are going to have to put out money to run both but with biodiesel you will have a running tap with supplies and wvo you just have to filter it. I am going to start experimenting with it when I get home from this hitch and start school. I am looking forward to it. There are so many exciting possibilities avalible but I am affraid they will never be relized by the masses till it is too late. It is amazing how powerful greed is.

[Jimmy Joe]

I'm going with two tank WVO.

[coachgeo]

Originally Posted by odie

It was suggested to me that the use of WVO will cause 20 years of diesel wax & paraffin build up in the fuel tank to start coming loose.....

Others and my experience does not support this as the causation. I have particulate settled out of my prefiltered mix in a 30gal barrell as well as a few other small containters.

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by coachgeo

Others and my experience does not support this as the causation. I have particulate settled out of my prefiltered mix in a 30gal barrell as well as a few other small containters.

I don't particularly want to preheat anything with gasoline in it. What (if any) problems have been encountered using biodiesel as a solvent?

[Old300D]

Originally Posted by odie

It was suggested to me that the use of WVO will cause 20 years of diesel wax & paraffin build up in the fuel tank to start coming loose.

I've not found that to be the case. I ran WVO in the main tank of my old 300D all last year, and did not have any filter or build-up issues. Biodiesel, on the other hand, will cause all that old crap to come loose, especially in stronger blends.

[rathole]

Thanks to RLeo for telling me about the galvanized pipe.

I am assuming that if you run straight veggie oil that you still have to start the engine on diesel or bio until the veggie oil warms up and switch back before you shut it down for any lenth of time to flush the wvo out of the filter and pump so that you can start it the next time. Is this kinda the way this works?

[boneheaddoctor]

Originally Posted by Old300D

I've not found that to be the case. I ran WVO in the main tank of my old 300D all last year, and did not have any filter or build-up issues. Biodiesel, on the other hand, will cause all that old crap to come loose, especially in stronger blends.

I've not had that happen yet....but then..maybe it takes a while. I have B20 in both cars.

[Jimmy Joe]

Originally Posted by rathole

I am assuming that if you run straight veggie oil that you still have to start the engine on diesel or bio until the veggie oil warms up and switch back before you shut it down for any lenth of time to flush the wvo out of the filter and pump so that you can start it the next time. Is this kinda the way this works?

Seems better to have an independent WVO filter, and loop the return when not on diesel
You will find many answers here:
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x/a/frm/f/159605551

[R Leo]

Originally Posted by rathole

Thanks to RLeo for telling me about the galvanized pipe.

I am assuming that if you run straight veggie oil that you still have to start the engine on diesel or bio until the veggie oil warms up and switch back before you shut it down for any lenth of time to flush the wvo out of the filter and pump so that you can start it the next time. Is this kinda the way this works?

As mentioned above, I've run my cars on practically 100% WVO in temps down into the 40s...it wasn't intentional and, I got some diesel in there ASAP after the cold snap hit town but the engine started fine and didn't exhibit any problems at that temp.

I don't do any conversion short of adding a heater to the fuel line. All WVO goes in the existing tank on the vehicle. Startup and shutdown are just like any other vehicle.

As long as you are operating in temperatures above the cloud point of the fuel, there's no reason to dork around with change-over valves and secondary tanks. If you were operating in cold climates, this obviously will not work.

[Legal Eagle]

OK, here's my take on it :-) I am in the process of installing the two tank system in my 1983 240D Benz and I also brew my own biodiesel in a system that I also expanding for double capacity production.
I live in a climate that is cold and in winter it gets stinkin' cold, so the plan is to start/stop on dino (in the cold) and then run BD in the hot tank. This, IMHO, solves the "what to do with cold weather BD use" question. Biodiesel falshes at around 300F so the heat isn't a safety concern. I could also go the WVO route in summer with BD as the start/stop fuel or run both tanks on B100.
My set up will have a heat exchanger in the engine bay, as well as heated lines to and from the tank (HoH) and a coil of copper tubing inside the second tank. The one in the engine bay is hose in hose just before the IP and flushes each time the flip over is done IE: both dino/BD and WVO run through it just before the IP. An extra in-line fuel filter is also in the plans, as well as a sender that will give me a fuel gauge for the hot tank.
For both the sender and in-line filter:
http://www.marinegeneral.com/acatalog/Online_Catalog_Fuel_Filters_Water_Separators___Senders___Misc__347.html
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