JWR,
Some waste vegetable oil (WVO)
information for you: My 2001 Excursion 4WD runs
on WVO, and I'm presently in the process of converting my recently acquired
1996 Ford F250.
For
my
first
conversion,
the Excursion,
I bought a conversion kit from a company and I recommend that all first timers
on straight vegetable oil (SVO)
start with a kit from a reputable company. I'm building my second conversion
kit on my own and I expect it to cost around
$800 for
all
the
conversion parts
except for the second tank for the WVO. (I picked up a L-shaped 105 gallon
transfer tank cheap off Craigslist a
year ago since I knew I'd be getting a diesel pickup and converting it sometime
in the future). Conversion kits usually cost more
but they use expensive filters only available by mail order from boat supply
houses ($33-$40 each filter). Mine is cheaper since I run filter bases and
filters from FleetFilter.com ($5-$7
each filter for an equal or finer micron rating). Fleetfilter is a NAPA auto
parts store in Texas that only sells filters
online (I'm not affiliated with them I'm only a satisfied repeat customer).
The main advantage is this: If I ever need to replenish my spare filters while
on a trip, I can go to the local NAPA store and if they don't have it in stock
they will have it in the morning. (A side note: I used to call them "NOPA",
as in; Question: "Do you have
this part in stock? Reply: "Nope uh, I'll have it in the morning." Joking
aside, they really can get the right parts the first time.)
The savings of running on WVO will completely pay for the conversion in about
four and a half months and completely pay for the entire truck, and the other
stuff I bought for it, in about 2.3 years (Payback was calculated on $4.00
per gallon diesel. Payback is faster when diesel is higher. I last filled up
at $4.22 per gallon). I picked up the truck cheap since second gear was blown
out,
also
I bought a
topper and a rolled over truck (for cheaper than a junkyard transmission) and
swapped the transmissions out so I can have complete a spare drive train as
soon as I rebuild the bad trans. After I sell my old gasoline-powered truck
I'll have very little money in the "new" one, and I already have
enough filtered and de-watered WVO to cover the cost of the conversion and
then some. If I lose my sources of WVO (local restaurants give it to me for
free)
then I can use up my WVO or probably just run on diesel and keep what I have
in long term storage to be used during in emergency to G.O.O.D. After
that I could run Waste Motor Oil or Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF)
in the same second tank that the WVO ran in. Between the two tanks (the 44
gal. stock
tank is for veggie and the new tank mounted on the inside of the frame is 24
gallon) in the Excursion I can go about 1100-to-1200 miles to empty, and in
the F250 I estimate a range of about 2,500-2,700 miles to empty (two stock
diesel tanks 15 and 19 gal. and the 105 gallon transfer tank).
Preparation for long term storage of WVO - People talk about a limited shelf
life of vegetable oils while this is true for vegetable oil to be used for
cooking, I don't think this applies
when working with WVO for fuel. I believe they go bad due to microbes, similar
to the microbes present in diesel fuel. Microbes need three things to live,
water, food and air. To kill the microbes, I de-water all the oil, then filter
it again before I pump it into 55 gallon drums or 275 gallon totes, as I pump
it in I add microbiocide (available from boating supply houses) to kill the
microbes and I fill the containers to the brim to reduce the amount of air
present. Due to the microbiocide, the vegetable oil in the container can never be
fit for human consumption, but I've never reused any of the waste vegetable
oil I get from the restaurants anyway, since I don't know what chemicals they
clean their fryers with and would never consider cooking with used oil (from
a source outside my families direct supervision) as an option - not even in
a pinch. So even after all this if the WVO "goes rancid", it still
doesn't matter since we use it for fuel, not cooking. Note: The dead microbes
will leave a very thin layer of sludge at the bottom of the LTS containers
when allowed to settle for several weeks, no matter how finely the oil is filtered.
BTW, thank you for all your assistance and efforts. We bought the family pack
pallet of 150 of #10 cans from SafecastleRoyal
last year, we would not have bought it or heard about it, if you hadn't pointed
it out and told us
why now is better than later. They were very courteous, helpful and allowed
us to make a few substitutions. We are glad we joined the Safecastle Royal
program and we did tell them we found them via SurvivalBlog. We have commented
several times how grateful we are to have some food for ourselves and for charity.
God is Good. We also bought a Listeroid [engine generator] several months ago
as we saw the writing on the wall concerning Bernanke's decimation of the dollar,
and
are
grateful
we slipped in under the wire on that too. You have taught us a lot and my wife
is now very eagerly exploring the possibilities of getting some goats. I hope
to be a 10
Cent Challenge supporter soon.
Thanks and God Bless, - Rollinns (A loyal reader who has a long way to go
and has read only partially through the archives and lives somewhere in
the middle
of the country within a few hours
of I-70.)
