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#1
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Who's running B100 in cold weather?
I have been thinking about this...I am going to have a winter 240D, and a steady supply of B100. Id like to run B100 or close to it through the winter.
Im in Boston, so it gets down into the 20's during the day, 0 at night on the coldest days of the year. Does anyone have a two tank conversion meant to modestly heat for B100 (as opposed to the 180 deg F heating needed for WVO)? Heated fuel pickups or filters? Or just blend with petro, kero etc? Thanks, dd
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------------------------------- '85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit) '82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car '83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car |
#2
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that is cold, but you should be OK if you put a magnetic heater on your tank, and plug in the block heater.
aside from that, you could order one of those gas fired fuel heaters (kinda odd to have a gas tank on a diesel car but still...)
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John HAUL AWAY, OR CRUSHED CARS!!! HELP ME keep the cars out of the crusher! A/C Thread "as I ride with my a/c on... I have fond memories of sweaty oily saturdays and spewing R12 into the air. THANKS for all you do! My drivers: 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5Turbo 1987 190D 2.5-5SPEED!!! 1987 300TD 1987 300TD 1994GMC 2500 6.5Turbo truck... I had to put the ladder somewhere! |
#3
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In the winter its a good idea to blend 50/50 ULSD and B100, plus throw in some biodiesel compatible anti-gel stuff. It's like $10 per bottle, and goes a long way. I don't remember what brand I got, maybe Lucas?, but look for special mention of biodiesel compatibility on the bottle.
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1987 Mercedes 300D ~200K (Greasecar & Biodiesel) 1993 Ford F-250 7.3 IDI diesel 165K (Biodiesel) 1996 Thomas/International Bus with DT466 engine |
#4
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Most stations quit selling B100 in the winter months and switch to some kind of mix.
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1985 500SL Euro w/ AMG bits 130k 1984 300SD Turbodiesel 192k 1980 240D Stick China 188k 2001 CLK55 AMG 101k 2007 S600 Biturbo 149k Overheated Project, IT'S ALIVE!!! |
#5
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To run B100 in the winter time you will need to atleast heat the tank and the fuel filter. A block heater would be a good idea as well, granted this won't heat the fuel but it will keep the bloxk warm which will help on those cold mornings. And ideally you'll want to heat the fuel lines as well. Becuase the biodiesel in them can freeze up and not allow fuel to get through. The block heater and tank heater are going to be 120v so you will have to have access to a plug in all the time. You can wire in a heater band for your fuel filter pretty easily. Grease Works sell a heater band that would work. They also sell B100 winterization kits which included a heater band for the filter and a tank heater. The one big draw back to running B100 in the winter is if you don't have access to the plug-ins you need you may freeze the biodiesel, and you'll have to wait for the temp to warm up or heat it another way.
The easiest and most reliable way is to blend in the winter time
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Andrew '04 Jetta TDI Wagon '82 300TD ~ Winnie ~ Sold '77 300D ~ Sold
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#6
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Quote:
My whole motivation is since the B100 I make is $.80 a gallon (+ fed road tax), I want to keep as much of it in my tank as possible. Bio300TD - thanks for the comments. It does sound like blending is the best way to go. Are you blending only petrodiesel or do you throw kerosene into the mix? Theres got to be a chart somewhere that explains the cloud/pour point of soy bio with different ratios of petro. I have yet to do any experiments to figure out where the cloud/pour point is on my bio. Its made from waste soy oil. dd
__________________
------------------------------- '85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit) '82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car '83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car |
#7
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Quote:
I'm not aware of any charts that show cloud points of blended and non blended biodiesel. There are lot of home photo experiements with different blends being put in the frig or freezer. Something I have done with my BD and VO is put a bunch of whatever you are running in your car into a container and put it outside in the winter time. Keep and eye on it. Whatever it is doing is what is in your tank and fuel system. This will give you visual of whats going on in your car's fuel system.
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Andrew '04 Jetta TDI Wagon '82 300TD ~ Winnie ~ Sold '77 300D ~ Sold
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#8
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I did some cold weather tests of my homebrew BD based on overnight unheated drive shed sample observations last year and came up with the following temp guide:
B100 down to 45-50*F I want to take no chances especially with BD made from solid at room temp grease B50 from to 45 - 35* F B33 below 35*F and that got me down into single digits below zero I mix in it the fuel tank with ULSD and a measured shot of PS Grey or White depending on what I have on hand. Absolutely no gel issues
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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD 2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily |
#9
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I ran a single-tank WVO system here in the Reno winter (not AS cold, but still in the teens at night and the 20's-30's during the day).
Just mix in 10% D2, and you'll be fine.
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'79 300SD '82 Chevy Chevette diesel |
#10
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thanks for the replies.
thats amazing that B33 made with solid at room temp yellow grease was ok into the single digits. that must mean my B50 made from soy oil will be ok down there. does anyone blend kerosene? i know thats even recommended in the MB manual for cold weather. dd
__________________
------------------------------- '85 300D, 'Lance',250k, ... winter beater (100k on franken-Frybrid 3 Valve Kit) '82 300D, 'Tex', 228k body / 170k engine ... summer car '83 300TD Cali Wagon 210k, wife's car |
#11
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Quote:
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'79 300SD '82 Chevy Chevette diesel |
#12
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Yes the higher quality liquid oils will yield better low temp characteristics
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1981 240D 143k 4 spd manual -SOLD 2004 VW Jetta TDI 5 speed 300k -still driven daily |
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