Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Pete10 on March 11, 2012, 07:42:57 pm
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Given regular diesel prices are getting a tad silly has anyone considered / or is currently running their wagon on biodiesel?
I know the government allows you to use 2500 litres per year if you produce it yourself, with bio-diesel prices coming in at under a pound per litre I think it has to be worth a look, I heard about a guy running a traffic up to 370k on chippy fuel!
I'm hearing the difficulty is getting a regular source of chippy fat (which i think is solvable), also problems with filtration systems on high pressure modern van fuel systems but dont have specifics.
Am just starting to research this but any help or advice from experience is gratefully received!
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I thought places selling proper bio-diesel is no cheaper and you have to have a newish van won't run on anything 5yrs plus; am i wrong?
Also cooking oil, chip oil etc, i'm sure somewhere down the line you'l need to fit a new fuel pump.
My mate is a mechanic and has had to do this recently with someone with landrover who was using chip oil.
I think if you want an alternative then go LPG
May consider this on next van, i hear a lot of vauxhall combo's are lpg.
You might get 30 mpg lpg as apposed to 40 mpg diesel.
But lpg is half the price of diesel i think.
There is a guy on here with combo lpg i'm sure.
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There is a difference between just using oil and biodiesel, biodiesel is treated oil to make it virtually the same as diesel. You can buy it in bulk off ebay for 90p a litre. You do have to keep up with your routine maintainance though...
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the way forward is to get hold of red diesel. have you ever heard of the ministry dipping the tank on a van,no ,thats because its impossible to get a dipper tube pipe down in the filler neck of a modern van
i dont run my van on red as its just a small van and im trad so dont use much fuel. but if id a big van i surely would. a good way to get red is to own an air compressor ,like what is used to run a jackhammer on the roads-then you can legally buy red diesel for it. Some fuel firm will even pump it into 45 gallon drums but usually prefer into a bigger tank
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the way forward is to get hold of red diesel. have you ever heard of the ministry dipping the tank on a van,no ,thats because its impossible to get a dipper tube pipe down in the filler neck of a modern van
i dont run my van on red as its just a small van and im trad so dont use much fuel. but if id a big van i surely would. a good way to get red is to own an air compressor ,like what is used to run a jackhammer on the roads-then you can legally buy red diesel for it. Some fuel firm will even pump it into
Sound advice to put on a forum there ::rolly eyes::
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not worth risking using red if your vans worth a lot,they take it off you plus a fine,iv used it on my old van which was worth 500 quid but not on my current van
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everyone in stoke runs on red
you big fibber ;)
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Much appreciate the advice chaps, not really keen on red as I the edon't want the stress. Am interested in the long-term effects of running bio-diesel on a ren traffic if anyones been using it for some time.....
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If you put a litre of parafin in with every 20 litres of red diesel it bleaches it back again and is no longer red.... ;D ;D
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.....and if you keep yer socks on they don't get pregnant????
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They dont just dip your tank if they're looking for red diesel takes 2 mins to crack open an injector pipe
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my son got done using red in my car he got 500 pound fine they gave him 1 hour to pay or take car off him not worth it
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dg where in barnsley do you clean
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Running Red Diesel and getting caught, aside from the fine, takes you out of the remit of the Police and puts you into Customs & Excise territory....Do not cross these people because they are scary!
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Much appreciate the advice chaps, not really keen on red as I the edon't want the stress. Am interested in the long-term effects of running bio-diesel on a ren traffic if anyones been using it for some time.....
5+ years with absolutely no problems what so ever for a Transit Connect.
All you need to worry about is changing the fuel filter once or maybe twice to start with as bio diesel clears all the muck out the fuel pipes which then clogs up the filter. It doesn't damage the engine, it just starves it of fuel when you accelerate.
It's a pretty simple job to change the fuel filter.
Aslo, check with the manufacturer of your van first to see if it's ok to use bio diesel. I'm certain that all Renault diesel engines are ok for bio diesel but check anyway.
Originally the diesel engine was made to run peanut oil.
Never, and I stress the 'NEVER', try to use untreated cooking oil or any untreated oil as fuel. It'll coke up your engine in no time.
With bio diesel, you'll never ever fail the emissions test for an MOT.
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A few years ago you would see piles of big 5 gallon drums of cooking oil outside most of the Indian supermarkets round here. It then worked out about half the price of diesel but it was illegal to use it. As soon as they made it legal the prices went up to the point where there is no advantage.
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thats good to know re your transit, will check with manufacturer and give it a go....whats to lose. Re the advantage Vince if you can find a remote source of cooking oil (not economic for big companies to collect) and then refine yourself you would be looking at around 90p a litre.......bio is only 3-5% less efficient than reglar diesel so looks like its well worth it to me.....depends how much go juice you get through i suppose........appreciate inout chaps..
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waste of time will knacker up your engine in no time, there was a local place which sold bio diesel, was in the paper for knackering up cars the local scrap yard filled up with old diesel engined cars and the tanks were full of the stuff,
eventually it got shut down, the savings are not worth it your van will suffer expect large repair bills,
stick to straight diesel and just put it through the books as an expense its no that expensive
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Hoyland & Elsecar
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The big problem is animal fat. If the oil has just been used for just cooking chips then fine but they cook sausages and chicken in it as well. Thats hard to get out and you have to get it all out. Its the animal fat that does the damage. Older engines were more forgiving
The other thing is finding this mythical source of oil. Chip shops get people in all the time asking what they do with their oil.
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waste of time will knacker up your engine in no time, there was a local place which sold bio diesel, was in the paper for knackering up cars the local scrap yard filled up with old diesel engined cars and the tanks were full of the stuff,
eventually it got shut down, the savings are not worth it your van will suffer expect large repair bills,
stick to straight diesel and just put it through the books as an expense its no that expensive
Sorry but that is utter and complete rubbish. It can all be easily researched on the net.
Apart from anything else, look on your log book where is says engine type. It don't say 'diesel', it says 'heavy oil'.
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Was talking with the manager in nando's on friday,she was telling me she keeps finding the thieving buggers taking all the waste oil from the rear off the shop!!
S'pose it's even cheaper that way,as long as you dont mind the smell of peri peri when sitting in traffic!! ;D
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Unprocessed oil will turn the inside off the engine like the outside of an old chip pan.
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my reading up on a while back, was if you just bought certain types of vegetable oil and mixed it with diesel, depending on whether it was winter or summer was all you had to do,
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my reading up on a while back, was if you just bought certain types of vegetable oil and mixed it with diesel, depending on whether it was winter or summer was all you had to do,
Where I buy my bio diesel, and these people supply bus and coach companies, ferry operators, etc, the bloke there just said 'DON'T'. I seem to remember the problem is in the mixing although some lighter oils can be used for a while.
If the engine is hot, then almost any oil can be used untreated. It's when the engine is cold that there is a problem. There is also a further problem of the wax going solid in the oil in very cold temperatures and clogging up the fuel filter in minutes.
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cheers ross, ta for answering that one, I thought bio was all diy stuff, didn't realise you could buy it
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DIY is not a good route to go down. You can buy a 'cracking' machine or plant and use any cooking oil new or old. Last time I checked they were about £8 000 and would fit into a garage quite easily.
There's not many places that sell bio diesel in small quantities. Maybe 10 or so in the whole uk.
The place I use is in North London in Walthamstow called Pure Fuels and I usually fill up 10 X 25ltr barrels as well as the van.
Bio diesel isn't a fire hazard at all and can be stored almost anywhere. It has a shelf life of a few months.
Most producers only deal in bulk as that's where the real profit is and by bulk, I mean 20 000 ltrs upwards.
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I run my car and van on bio diesel which I have buy from the local garage as they sell it at the pump. I also service my own vehicles every 12 months and always change the fuel filters, and I've been doing this for a few years now and everything seems fine. I do mix with normal diesel every now and then