Veggie Rookie

[97stick]

Hey Guys,

I'm interested in trying Bio in my 97PS. For me it's all 'bout the coin- Out in WA, we are paying about $3.60 for fuel. I found a station in my town that sells B20 for a little bit less and B99 for $3.14, commercial grade. I've read a lot of conflicting stuff about running bio. Hell, it's all expensive so I don't want to save a few bucks in fuel only to lay it out for repairs.

Any info will help.

[mschn99]

IMO you can run PROPERLY MADE bio all day long in that truck of yours. Pump bio should fit that statement.....

You might also talk to Chenry about a full veggie oil system that would cost you pennies on the dollar to operate..

[97stick]

Thanks,

I was thinking of trying the b20 first. So there should be know problem with the seals or injectors? I've heard I may go through a few fuel filters at first, from old tank and line deposits- bio works like a detergent...

Just thinking of using the pre-made for now. I already make my own beer and save some change there

[stump0331]

Originally Posted by Marc

You might also talk to Chenry about a full veggie oil system that would cost you pennies on the dollar to operate..

YEAH I WOULD TALK TO HIM HE EXPLAINED HIS VEGGIE SYSTEM TO ME(ITS REALLY NEAT) AND I THINK I READ SOMEWHERE IN LIKE 10 MONTHS OR SO IT WOULD FOR ITS SELF. SOMETHING TO LOOK INTO

[mschn99]

LMAO, now that u mention it, maybe i should make my own beer two...

As far as the bio, YES, most definately plan on changin a filter at 4-5k, 7-10k, and 12-15k, if not sooner.....it WILL clean out anything in your fuel system and will plug filters faster....

[97stick]

Thanks Mark,

A couple more ?s, if ya don't mind? Will I always be changing the fuel filter on an excelerated schedule or will I go back to the regular interval- or just let the truck tell me when to change it- lugging and hesitation?

Mind you, I'm just talking about B20 right now.

Also, it's no problem switching back and forth between B20 and dino, 90% of the time would be B20, just dino on longer trips.

Yes, I am super cautious....

[mschn99]

eventually you would get to a normal service interval on the fuel filter, but what you would have initially is a super cleaning of everything in your fuel system, which once its all cleaned out, you would get back to a 15k schedule....

No, there shouldnt be any problem switching back and forth when nessicary....

[CHenry]

If you are interested in learning about how to REALLY save some money as well as time, i can point you in the direction of using straight, used vegi oil rather than Bio-d. Bio-D will still cost between $.50 - $.90 per gallon to make yourself depending on what you pay for the methanol/lye etc. Plus the time you will spend making it will most likely offset any money you save. For me, my time was a very important factor.
I spend very little time processing my used vegi oil preparing it to go in my truck. I too looked into the Bio-D first and then looked into the conversion for my truck to just use SVO. The last thing i wanted to do was get into something that will save me 400 bucks a month but takes up 5-6 hours a week of my time. And i say 5-6 hours without any real experience in making bio-D cause I never went that route but i can promise you it will take some time. So if your looking for a hobby, that might be what you want. I have to many hobbies and didn't want another one. I just wanted to be able to burn a more clean burning, cheaper, renewable fuel and cut my ties to oil mongers as much as possible and do it with as little time involved as possible.
Another HUGE factor for me in deciding against making Boi-D was safety. I am accident prone. Accident prone people should not be involved with chemisty projects that WILL kill you if you make even one mistake. The vapors created when mixing the meth and Lye are very deadly if inhailed. The Lye itself is very caustic and if spashed in your eye or just on your skin, will blind your or burn you instantly. I also enjoy a few cold beers :beer2: whenever I'm in the garage messing around, That would be a definate no-no when making bio-D. Also, I have a 8 year old boy running around and usually his friends are with him and this kind of stuff sittin around in my garage just wasn't an option for me.
So making the desicion to go with bio-d or straight vegi oil is the first big step before you start dumping money into it. Make sure you think out the pros and cons of each. For me the choice was simple. Both require collecting vegi from your local eatery. Both require some space in your garage or shop or barn. Both will be a good alternative fuel for your diesel engine - whether it be a PSD, a Jeep Liberty, a Mercedes Benz or a John Deer tractor. If you want to burn these fuels in multiple applications, the bio-D will be easiest because SVO requires a seperate fuel system on each application and can get expensive if your doing more than one vehicle. I hav a diesel tractor that I am doing a conversion on next. I probably run less that 30 gallons of diesel through it in a year so it won't really be cost effective to build an fancy, high dollar conversion for it but i have some ideas for a relatively inexpensive system and I"m mainly doing this as a hobby. Because I like creating and building stuff and getting grease on my hands. I'll only save less than 100 bucks a year running vegi oil in my tractor but i will have the satisfation of knowing I'm doing it plus it makes for a good conversation when someone finds out your running an engine on vegi.
Last night i was at a friends house down on the river (no, he doesn't live in a van), his neighbor came over to shoot skeet with us and he found out about my vegi truck and after finally becoming convinced i was really burning vegi in that truck (all he had to do was smell my exhaust) he nicknamed my F-350 " The Hamburgeler truck"...lol.
The vegi oil conversion will cost you more initially to start up but will have a much faster payoff. You can get into making Bio-D with a nice homemade setup for around a grand. The conversion on a vehicle will cost you between 3 and 4 grand and that's including everything you need to properly filter and dewater your used vegi oil. I have right at 4 grand in mine. I cut no corners. I bought what I believe to be the best, simplest conversion system for the ford PSD. I have ran 5,000 miles on it so far and that equated to 1250 dollars in free fuel i have used since early June. I just collected about 300 gallons of oil last weekend and thats aother 1000 bucks worth of fuel waiting to be used. So by next June, I will have paid for the setup and be pocketing money fast.
That's alot to think about but now you know my
Let me know if i can help you more and I will be glad to.

[CHenry]

Do a search on her for "vegi oil" and you will find several threads about it, some of which i had posted some more detailed explanations of how my system works as well as some websites to look at that i got all my vegi oil education from.

[el conquistador]

anyone have any ideas if setting up the rear tank on a 97 would work with SVO. Other than running the radiator lines to the tank, any other way to heat the oil, and at what temp. been researching bio for a while, and being that i go to about 100 restaurants a year inspecting, feel that i might be on to something. just would like to make it as simple and cost effective as possible.