If people could get past the Matrix-like overtones of "humans as power source" it certainly makes more sense than using up lots of ever-scarcer good land to plant them...

Duncan

 

Man, did you look at that pump finder page? You have all kinds of choices in Seattle, lucky you! Looks like a lot of them are geared towards marine use (a huge benefit of biodiesel is that spilling some from a boat is completely harmless...) but there are B20 and B100 places available too. Wish I had that many around me...

Duncan

 

I also found biodieselwarehouse. They claim that you can make your own for a lot less than buying it. I saw your truck page. Man they cram that engine in there. It looks like there is maybe 1 inch between anything. Is that what you run the bio in?

 

I just spent the last half hour reading some of the FAQ's. Pretty interesting stuff.

 

You can make your own for next to nothing, but I haven't gotten that wild-eyed crazy about it yet. It's a hassle, it's liable to produce fuel that's harmful to your engine over the long haul, etc.

I ran one tank of commercially available B20 through the 2003 once, from a fueling station in Bensenville. All my other experiments have been in the '97 F250HD and the '82 Mercedes (a car I bought specifically to experiement with running B100 in... plus it was a cheap dependable safe car to let my kid drive.)

[ON EDIT: THE LICENSE PLATE ON MY 300SD ]

Duncan

 

So, if I've already got two fuel tanks, I'm basically good to go, right? Anybody know if there's a significant difference in performance/mpg?

 

Hmmm, I never thought about using the twin tanks of the pre-Superduty trucks! That might actually work. One reason you need a second tank is so you can *heat* the SVO, so you'd need to add that to your stock setup somehow. There's also the issue of the return fuel. I don't remember how that works on the manual-pump 7.3s, doesn't it return to the fuel filter canister, or does it go all the way back to the tank like on the electric-pump ones? You don't want fuel from one tank to return to the other tank if the fuels are different. (Normally you avoid that to keep from overflowing the other tank! But in this case you don't want *any* fuel getting mixed, not even a drop if you can help it.)

When I ran the Mercedes on straight biodiesel, there was a small but noticeable drop in performance. At 50% blend in that (or at 70% blend in the '97 F250HD) I noticed no drop in performance. I can't say what results you'll have with SVO, except that blending isn't an option. The greasel and veggievan guys seem to get around OK on what are already seriously underpowered vehicles, so I assume that a big honking 7.3L V-8 can manage OK even if there's a slight loss of power. As to MPG, who cares? SVO is generally free!

Duncan

 

www.greasel.com

 

Sorry, I have been kind of delinquent in responding. I live in Lake Stevens North of Seattle, and have been running SVo for better than 10,000 miles now.
First, the good stuff...It is hard to track, but I figure that I average about 15mpg with a heavy foot using the SVO, so a little less economy, but ITS FREE!!. I have some performance mods done, the biggest being the Evolution tuner. In stock setting, there is no noticeable change in power. In the 100hp setting there is a deffinate lack of power, caused by the stock fuel pump not being able to maintain an adequate fuel pressure with the thicker oil. Normal driving, not an issue Emissions... I had the carbon monoxide tested at a DEQ station, and I am allowed 1.5%, but blew a .02%

I have only in the last 4,000 miles or so gotten the bugs worked out so that it is trouble free in the truck. I utilize a 70 gallon tank in the bed, that I have plumbed a custom heat exchanger in the side of it next to my fuel-oil hose. I tapped into my heater hoses, and ran those back to the copper exhanger in the tank. My oil hose leaves the tank and goes to a copper tube that is wrapped around the exhaust pipe 4 times at about the trans x-member, then goes to a solenoid valve, mounted pre pump. from the pump it follows the stock lines to the engine, where I hijacked the fuel lline off the factory filter, and ran it again through more copper tube along the heater hose that comes up the front of the motor, and goes to the passenger side. at that point it joins an exchanger I made by soldering 3 copper tubes together, 2 for coolant, one for oil, that run across the top of the back of the engine compartment from left to right, and used to go back into the stock fuel filter. This is all stuff I have added one piece at a time, trying to add more and more heat to the oil. But I kept plugging up the factory fuel filter, some grime, but mostly waxing it up due to the oil not being hot enough. The key piece that finally made it work for me was adding a peterbuilt fuel filter mount and a 4"X10" fuel filter in the space directly above the drivers side exhaust manifold, behind the factory air intake tube. I was able to mount the filter mount to the bottom of the cowl. I ran the fuel line from the copper tube through this, and then to the factory filter. The filter now collects the immense heat from the exhaust manifold, and works great!! The last filter I drove 3,500 miles on before replacing the filter for the drag races. (Have not replaced the factory filter in around 5,000miles) Plus they are only $7.69 each . For the return line, I currently have it looped back into the unpressurized supply line between the valve and the pump, this way I can recirculate the hot fuel coming from the motor right back to it, without adding any extra stress to the already stressed fuel pump, as well as avoid dumping veg into my diesel tank. I seldom switch over at night, and usually plug my truck in. I have started on oil as cold as 40, without plugging in, but I need to let it warm up a bit before it will get out of its own way. I am working plans to make the system nearly idiot proof, where all one would need to do is pump straight from the waste bin, into the tank, and the system will take care of prefiltering, final filtering, and switching over and automatically purging itself without any manual switching of tanks, or having to let it sit and run for 20 minutes to purge the oil at night. Just time and money are both in short supply. Time more than anything. Sorry for the long post, just trying to share the wealth. Any specific questions, please ask!!

 

That is very impressive. I am glad that you have worked most of the bugs out and now can take advantage of the free fuel. I have two questions, how many total miles do you think you have been running the veggie, along with what do you do to filter the veg, and how much do you feel you have in the whole system. I am very intersted in it, and on the edge of trying to go with it myself. Thank you for any info you can give me on it!

 

Spitball- thanks for the comps, and it has not been very much fun, I will say that. A few times I was ready to give up. Especially when in the middle of a trip, and the stock filter would plug up, leaving me nearly stranded.
Not to mention this stuff, like most oil is freakin messy. Once it dries, it is like stone. I was trying to clean off the motor and could not remove this stuff with a an 1800 psi pressure washer.

RIght now I collect the stuff in a 55 gallon drums in the back of the truck, that I installed a valve in the bottom so I can drain it into a 30 gallon plastic drum that I haul in back to my 55 gallon heated drum, set up on a pedestal. I let it set overnight at least, then drain it through a valve about 2/3 the way down, into my home made 5gallon bucket/ 92 dodge alir filter setup, into another barrel, that I have a sump pump in. the sump pump then pumps it through one of those peterbuilt fuel filters for the final filtering and into another 30 gallon clean drum, and that is then pumped into the truck. I have setup a pressurized draining system for the plastic barrels so I just use my air compressor to force the oil out. works great. here is the link to some pics of most of the stuff. I figure including all the trial and error stuff, I am into it for about $1,000. BUt I have saved for more than that in fuel already. Like I said, I am working on developing it furhter so I can pump straight into the tank without having to take it home and prefilter it.

 

This site has lots of info on SVO for 7.3 PS diesels.
http://www.greasel.com/

 

Thanks for the information and the links. Good work and that shows hard work pays off. Keep us informed!

 

Has anyone done any BLENDING of well filtered used veg oil with diesel ?

 

You'd still have the viscosity problems, which would require similar heating schemes for when running SVO. And if you only had the blended on-board, you'd have no way to get the whole thing started to provide the heat, unless you had a heat source that didn't require the engine to be running.

Duncan