30,000 miles on alternative fuels - Page 2 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Old300D · #16 10-03-2007, 04:37 PM

30k + and 3 years on B100 homebrew. No starting issues, no petroleum fuels.

spark3542 · #17 10-05-2007, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WD8CDH

Hi Mark,

Depending on your oil source, you are probably not getting suspended water removed from your WVO well enough to not reduce the life of your engine.

De-watering is even more important than filtering. Proper de-watering not only removes the water that can damage your IP but it also removes water soluble contaminants like salt and acids.

If you don't filter well enough, you will plug up filters. If you don't de-water well enough, you will damage your engine.

Proper WVO processing and a good conversion will PROLONG the life of your engine.

Ron,
Your posts on here as well as the Alt Fuels forum show me you have a wealth of experience, and therefore your words speak loudly. I've seen your posts before about dewatering, and I struggle with a couple of things, perhaps I'm mistaken in my assumptions.

When the oil was still in the fryer, it was above 212 degrees, so all water from the food, etc would be long boiled off. So if the frycook did a reasonably good job transferring to the jugs without introducing water or other contaminants, and the jugs were subsequently sealed from the weather, how much water is in it?

Water is heavier than oil, so under normal operation any water will settle to the bottom. My approach is to pour off the good oil to use in my blend, and anything that has settled will either go into the BD reactor (where any water will be removed during wash) or thrown out.

My next thought is...if there is, in fact, water suspended in the oil and not settling out, and it wouldn't boil off back when it was in the fryer, then how much impact does it have on the IP, injectors, or the burn process in the cylinders? I have precious little knowledge on the chemistry here, I'm just using deductive reasoning.

F18 · #18 10-05-2007, 09:45 AM

Mark....great write up! Good to here from some of you Home Brewers and your successes to date. This grassroots approach is definitely part of the catalyst creating a change in transportation fuels and educating some of the masses. A lot of great tech developments started in someones garage or basement........

Have a great weekend.....cranberry harvests have started in southeast Massachusetts!

Cheers

Sbean · #19 10-05-2007, 07:28 PM

If you boil off the water, what happens to the salts or sugars dissolved in it ?

mdisav · #20 10-05-2007, 07:35 PM

It does not seem good if you have to hold your foot on the throttle to start it. Was it this way when you first started running veg?

Neither of my cars have needed to be started that way even in the dead of winter and I am on 100% canola with the Elsbett system.

Sounds like you need the glow plugs afterglowing after start up.

My 99 has 36k on veg and the 84 has 15k on biodiesel and 15k on veg.