Biodiesel

I don't know exactly Dave. From what I can make out, if your injection pump is a bosch one it's not as critical. The other thing is that the injection pump contributes significantly to heating the fuel. So you might find the injection pump gets hotter much quicker than the cooling system.

Also... :¬) the diesel is used for starting/warming up and purging the veg. oil which on short journeys would probably be most of the journey. The return from the purging is always back to the veg in the main tank so, if most of your journeys are short as you say, then I would be inclined to keep the main tank with diesel as you'll be using it more often, and run the auxilliary tank with veg oil for the longer trips. Perhaps going to a bigger tank if you have space.

I'm sure I read somewhere that the 21 litre tank does for about 10 start/purge cycles with the purged fuel going to the non-diesel tank.

I'm no expert though, just reporting some of my findings so far. HTH

Pete

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On or around Wed, 20 Jun 2007 08:49:06 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

get some copper 8mm microbore and wind a few turns round the exhaust, I reckon. mind, you have to be sure it'll actually start, but once running the top end of the exhaust gets hot pretty quick.

On or around Wed, 20 Jun 2007 21:24:52 GMT, "Tony" enlightened us thusly:

it's all full of other crud from the frying process. apart from that...

Hmm, not overly keen on winding a fuel line around the exhaust to be honest ;-)

I think this is something that people miss out on, in that if you get your tank dipped and don't have records to back up your claim of only using 2,500 litres per year, you'll be in the shit. What kind of records do you need to keep and how much hassle is it?

On or around Sat, 23 Jun 2007 07:45:01 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

wimp.

Besides, diesel (or veg oil, in this case) isn't inflammable like petrol is, that's why the R101 had diesel engines. Although, of course, several million cubic feet of hydrogen gas made that somewhat academic...

Insulate it first .... ;)

Petrol vapourises and causes a nasty explosion risk, but diesel will still merrily catch fire, the main advantage over petrol is the lack of vapour danger. IIRC diesel is rated as "moderately flammable" rather than "highly flammable", but it's still something I'd hate to see leaking out of a fuel hose wrapped around a hot exhaust. Just recently someone posted in here about how a diesel leak onto a manifold caught fire immediately for example.

Yep, perhaps run it in a water jacket to keep the heat down!

This is the wording in the notification letter I received: -

"You must, however, continue to check your production levels at the end of each month, and if you have produced more than 2,500 litres in the past 12 months, or if you expect to produce more than 2,500 litres in the next 12 months, you should contact our National Advice Service on 0845 010 9000."

All I do is dump the amount of Veg Oil I buy into a spreadsheet.

RichardB

No need for receipts etc?

I've already had two people I know tell me that it's a free-for-all when it comes to using veg oil, it seems the bits about the litres limit and needing to keep records is being forgotten, which is a tad worrying. You'd think with the cynicism about tax, people would think "what's the catch" and look into it but apparently not! Doesn't sound like the records are a problem, but not having them probably is.

Agreed. HMR&C expect (if not demand) that records are kept. If you don't have the records then I'd fully expect them to go for the Duty due on a notional amount of veg oil used. Trying to argue against that or the notional amount they come up with would be rather hard.

Keeping simple records of when, where and quantity of veg oil you bought (and I would keep the receipts to back that up) would stop HMR&C taking a long hard look at you if they came for a routine check. Provided the declared amounts more or less tie in with your mileage/dilution that is...

Just use the water circuit !

Steve

What, to cool the exhaust? Smashing idea!

I thought we were warming the oil ?

Steve

I think we strayed off-message somewhat some time ago ;-)

Warming the fuel (veg oil in this case) IMHO is best done by using the water circuit, which is what I did using a heat exchanger. Nice and safe, Austin I think just enjoys lighting fires with accelerants!

Ian Rawlings wrote: Austin I think just enjoys lighting fires with accelerants!

Do you mean Austin "no-eyebrows" Shackles perchance ;-)

That'll be the one, I'm told a faint hint of petrol is a popular flavour with steak in his part of the country!

On or around Sun, 24 Jun 2007 15:40:54 +0100, Ian Rawlings enlightened us thusly:

takes a lot longer to get hot though, than the exhaust... most heat exhangers are indeed in the wtare circuit, it's not that hard to make yer own. However, what you really need is a preheater that warms the oil in the tank befor you start the engine, and that's more tricky. Kenlowe hotstart would probably be a good idea.