Biodiesel Outrage!! - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Joe Blowe · #1 10-09-2002, 12:28 PM

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=humannews&StoryID=1553167

'Frying Squad' Swoops on Drivers in Fuel Scam
October 09, 2002 07:41 AM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - A Welsh police team dubbed "the Frying Squad" has been formed to sniff out motorists who fuel their cars with cooking oil from fish and chip shops in a bid to avoid paying high government fuel taxes.

Three Welsh motorists have already been caught and fined for using waste oil from restaurants selling Britain's favorite deep-fried dish, the Times newspaper reported Wednesday.

"I have halved my motoring costs since I started running my Subaru on cooking oil," the paper quoted one of those stopped as saying.

"The car runs just as well and even smells a lot better than diesel."

The drivers were fined 500 pounds ($780) and warned that persistent offenders may face up to seven years in jail.

Wallknight · #2 10-09-2002, 12:37 PM

Can they do that in the land of the free?

#3 10-09-2002, 01:53 PM

Of course! This is no different than burning farm diesel in your road car. That is highly illegal without purchasing an expensive annual permit, or somehow paying the road tax on it.

A similar thing that is illegal is running gasoline direct from the oil fields without paying road tax. In the 30's through the 50's when there were cars with very low compression ratios, the folks in the oil fields would sneak around with their "drip gas." This was distillate that could be made to drip from a certain point in the apparatus in the oil fields. It was like halfway between kerosene and gasoline. Highly illegal.

Have a great day,

#4 10-09-2002, 03:28 PM

So I could run my diesel on cooking oil fro the store for example??This wouldn't hurt anything.

surfblau · #5 10-09-2002, 04:08 PM

Tank, Yeah, you could run it on cooking oil, particularly something that had a low glycerin (or chemical brothers) content. Straight soy is known to be bad, alternatively straight rapeseed is apparently ok. THere is a german guy that runs his 124 chassis diesel only on straight rapeseed oil for something like 200K. He has arthroscopic engine photos that indicate he is not damaging the engine- apparently. URL is something like http://www.rerorust.de/ (it is mostly in german)

Since I live in a monotonously moderate (never cold start issues) climate, I dumped a few gallons of canola oil in my half full tank on my 123 a couple of times.

It ran smoother, and the exhaust had a BBQ odor.

If diesel does to $2.25 a gallon, I will switch.

I like Larry's reference to the drip gas- you learn something new every day. I wish I had an oil well or two.

later

#6 10-10-2002, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LarryBible
Of course! This is no different than burning farm diesel in your road car. That is highly illegal without purchasing an expensive annual permit, or somehow paying the road tax on it.

A similar thing that is illegal is running gasoline direct from the oil fields without paying road tax. In the 30's through the 50's when there were cars with very low compression ratios, the folks in the oil fields would sneak around with their "drip gas." This was distillate that could be made to drip from a certain point in the apparatus in the oil fields. It was like halfway between kerosene and gasoline. Highly illegal.

Have a great day,

There are exemptions in place for pure alternative fuels in the US, of which biodiesel in B100 form qualifies. If I were to mix biodiesel in any quantity with pump fuel, it immediately becomes a taxable fuel. I also wouldn't recommend making the stuff to sell at a profit. You will have numerous hoops to jump through with the moffia (us govt) to keep out of trouble. Simply keep the stuff for private use.