Biodiesel as home heating fuel?

[MercedesRover]

I’ve been reading up a bit on Biodiesel and am thinking about making my own. As I don’t burn a whole hell of a lot of fuel per year anyway, I’d need to heat the house with it to make the venture worthwhile.

As diesel is nothing but good heating oil with some tax added in, why couldn’t a furnace run on biodiesel?

Anyone here doing it?

Thanks for any input.

Jim

lots of people are doing it with either biodiesel, or WVO/SVO, but it requires some adaptation. Biodiesel has a much higher flash point than #2 diesel, and therefore many furnace ignition systems will fail to fire it off; there can also be problems with gelling in outdoor tanks. WVO/SVO requires a specialized furnace, like the kinds used to burn used engine oil, often found in garages and parts recycling yards.

[BrownBaron240D]

Yes you can use biodiesel to heat your home... Taylor Oil which delivers home fuel oil to several northeast states actually has been mixing 5% biodiesel into ALL the fuel oil they sell at no extra cost.
http://www.tayloroilco.com/location.html
If you're going to use more than that percent range, one thing to be aware of is that since biodiesel is a solvent if you have an older tank or furnace, it will clean out your lines, so be aware of clogging as those deposits are freed up.
The other issue is unless you're making it yourself, it will usually be more expensive that fuel oil costs now.
hope this helps!
Paolo
(running B100 in 82 240d)

[MercedesRover]

Thanks for the info. If I get into this, it would only be worth it if I heat the house too.

and hey, a biodiesel powered generator..........

[stockdad]

Don't forget your diesel motorbike that you can run on bio...
Vrrrroooooooommmmm

[MercedesRover]

Royal Enfield made a diesel bike just a couple years ago. Wonder if there are any stateside.....

[stockdad]

Btw MercedesRover, that's a tight rig you have there. I enjoyed your website as well. That body style of Land Rover has always been a favorite of mine. I would love to have one with a diesel engine, but it looks like quite an undertaking.
One day, perhaps...

[bullwinkle]

If you look in the Yahoo forums there is a member who runs a group called altfuelfurnace-he is running WVO in a boiler using a siphon feed nozzle and a small air compressor-he seems pretty knowledgeable (I am considering a second stage oil burning furnace for my drafty old Victorian)