Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Chatting => Frugal Living => Topic started by: lefrog on April 11, 2008, 14:02
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I was wondering if anybody was "brewing" their own diesel out of old cooking oil and what their result/output were.
I just bought a car, and have access to a non stop source of old cooking oil.
Looks like the initial set up is rather messy and slightly dangerous, but worth a try.
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The consumables like the filters can make this less attractive.
Plus the problems that replacing damaged fuel pump and injectors is a big bill
Maybe on an old French diesel , but not a modern common rail, the tolerances in the fuel system are too fine.
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I remember this being done on the BBC TV programme called It's not easy being green (or something similar, it had Dick Strawbridge & family moving down to the South West).
If I recall correctly, he built a machine to enable used cooking oil to be converted to something he could use in a vehicle, but emphasised that he had to pay tax on it and have it properly regulated etc - you can't just go ahead and do it.
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on my way to the airport the other day listening to the radio the topic was how many people were adding cooking oil to their diesel and i was surprised just how many people were doing it , but you have to get the proportions correct , they all did say it was a bit smelly though.
Chrissie b
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I have had a look into it but when cooking fat is approachiing 90p a litre and you have to pay tax on top :wink: its not worth taking the risk of something going wrong.
Cooking fat was quite cheap a few years ago until everyone cottoned on to putting it in their tanks and whoosh the price gets a hike.
As for setting up the refining process to get the crispy bits out of used oil - is it worth the cost ? How long would it take to recoup your outlay ?
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working in the catering trade, I have a non stop supply of cooking oil ready to brew, I know setting up the whole brewing kit might be a bit of a pain, but DIY and scavenging should provide most of kit.
So I guess nobody is brewing biodiesel in their back garden.
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I have had a look into it but when cooking fat is approachiing 90p a litre and you have to pay tax on top :wink: its not worth taking the risk of something going wrong.
Cooking fat was quite cheap a few years ago until everyone cottoned on to putting it in their tanks and whoosh the price gets a hike.
As for setting up the refining process to get the crispy bits out of used oil - is it worth the cost ? How long would it take to recoup your outlay ?
In my local tescos (Warwickshire) I can get oil for 74p a litre which is 44p cheaper than dino diesel. I can run my Jeep on it without any modification, in the summer I run about 95% cooking oil and in the darkest depths of winter I run in on about 20-25%. That is a £25 a tank saving in the summer.
Regarding the tax, you now can use 2500l a year without having to pay any tax on it :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
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There was quite a bit of discussion on here relating to bio a while ago....
LINKY (http://www.chat.allotment-garden.org/viewtopic.php?t=9937&highlight=bio+diesel)
I've used it, seems ok, but be careful 8)
The dangerous bit is when you 'home brew' proper bio. You are dealing with Methanol, dangerous stuff as you absorb it through your skin & caustic soda. You have to mix these together to start a reaction to lower the PH of the brew & separate the lanolin from the mixture. Then you have to wash the bio with water to remove the Methanol/Caustic or every seal in your fuel system will dissolve ......
There was a place selling bio near me, it was about 30p a litre cheaper than standard diesel & the car run better on it !
He's stoppped selling it now tho' :x