Attention: TDR Forum Junkies John,
Thanks for writing. I became bold enough to try something besides biodiesel in part by reading what cj (see his posts in this forum, in the DSE thread) had done. From there, I read everything I could find on the net - even outside the US, which is where I found the info from Schur.
I don't really have a problem with glycerin - it burns just fine. The motivation associated with it seems mostly to do with it's tendency to thicken the fuel and the issues that thick fuel brings. The biodiesel folks transesterify the oil to remove it, and the blenders thin it with gas/kerosene/alcohols... I chose the latter to keep the effort down, knowing I would be more likely to keep doing it that way.
The challenges with alternate fuel, for me, is *effort*. I knew that if I could get the process to the point where the time/labor component was low enough I would likely be able to sustain the use of the oil. I didn't need to spend a lot of money or get too fancy, but I don't have a lot of time so that part had to be reasonable. I think I've done OK, and have been blending and driving with the fuel since June.
Second and related is filtering the fuel. If you cannot accomplish a decent job at filtering the oil, the effort spent getting the fuel system going again on the vehicle would convince you to stop! It's not hard, but worth paying attention to. Since economics is a big driver, the cost of replacing failed fuel system parts, or even the engine, has to be considered. Sub-dollar fuel costs aren't cheap if balanced by $2k high-pressure pumps, injectors, or toasted engines. What I've found (reading), the experience of others such as cj (& myself) have led me to believe it can be done with reasonable safety for the rig.
Those things considered, finding a steady supply of quality used oil made the difference. I found a small local chain that provides 6-8 good 5-gal containers a week. Perfect for my driving; about 30 miles one way to work, which gives the engine plenty of time to warm up (a plus). The containers make pickup easy too; I know I'm fortunate in this, that both places put their used oil back into those cardboard housed, plastic containers.
The last item that helped with the Schur fuel was finding a recycler (circuit board manufacturing) who provided isopropyl alcohol at $3/gal. I'd be using DSE (just fine) otherwise.
So, until supply runs out or things change, I'm happily running the Cummins in my Suburban, getting 18-20 MPG in rural driving, and paying about $0. 60/gal for the blended fuel.
Regards,
Mark
--
Thanks for writing. I became bold enough to try something besides biodiesel in part by reading what cj (see his posts in this forum, in the DSE thread) had done. From there, I read everything I could find on the net - even outside the US, which is where I found the info from Schur.
I don't really have a problem with glycerin - it burns just fine. The motivation associated with it seems mostly to do with it's tendency to thicken the fuel and the issues that thick fuel brings. The biodiesel folks transesterify the oil to remove it, and the blenders thin it with gas/kerosene/alcohols... I chose the latter to keep the effort down, knowing I would be more likely to keep doing it that way.
The challenges with alternate fuel, for me, is *effort*. I knew that if I could get the process to the point where the time/labor component was low enough I would likely be able to sustain the use of the oil. I didn't need to spend a lot of money or get too fancy, but I don't have a lot of time so that part had to be reasonable. I think I've done OK, and have been blending and driving with the fuel since June.
Second and related is filtering the fuel. If you cannot accomplish a decent job at filtering the oil, the effort spent getting the fuel system going again on the vehicle would convince you to stop! It's not hard, but worth paying attention to. Since economics is a big driver, the cost of replacing failed fuel system parts, or even the engine, has to be considered. Sub-dollar fuel costs aren't cheap if balanced by $2k high-pressure pumps, injectors, or toasted engines. What I've found (reading), the experience of others such as cj (& myself) have led me to believe it can be done with reasonable safety for the rig.
Those things considered, finding a steady supply of quality used oil made the difference. I found a small local chain that provides 6-8 good 5-gal containers a week. Perfect for my driving; about 30 miles one way to work, which gives the engine plenty of time to warm up (a plus). The containers make pickup easy too; I know I'm fortunate in this, that both places put their used oil back into those cardboard housed, plastic containers.
The last item that helped with the Schur fuel was finding a recycler (circuit board manufacturing) who provided isopropyl alcohol at $3/gal. I'd be using DSE (just fine) otherwise.
So, until supply runs out or things change, I'm happily running the Cummins in my Suburban, getting 18-20 MPG in rural driving, and paying about $0. 60/gal for the blended fuel.
Regards,
Mark
--
JFaughn said:
