Craig.
Nope, I'm not laughing, when I put 20 bucks in, and get barely 8 gallons I take note! When 'ol Mr. Diesel designed his engine, in the late 1800's,he ran it on peanut oil actually, and it runs just peachy with this fuel! There are three ways to go, Bio-Diesel, which is as good as Diesel, and needs NO extra filtering , or bother, it is a blend of Diesel and Veggie oil with an alcohol boost to raise Cetane (Similar to Octane in refined gasoline) The second is SVO, (Straight Vegetable Oil)which is which is unrefined veggie oil, and you can filter and mix your own Bio-Diesel, or run as is with a stop and and start of Bio Diesel, or regular Diesel. This can be supplied by obtaining 5 gallon regular unused hydrogenated (better than unhydrogenated, but you can still use this also with a bit of care) And if you have a local producer of cooking oil, they have reduced rates for bulk, and sometimes contaminated oil. (cannot be used for cooking food for various reasons)
The Third, which I am doing is WVO (Waste Vegatable Oil) which is the stuff that restaurants throw away, and pay to have hauled away! (Or they gladly give to me!) This must be filtered to at least .10 micron via several filters, and again, unless you blend to make BioDiesel, run it as-is! Again it must be heated via a heater line jacket that parallels the fuel supply line, and in the tank, to approx 170 degrees so that it doesn't gel.This only seems to be a concern in temps which are say 50 or so degrees, and we have so few of those here, but I am plumbing this in also! It must settle in my black painted drums, and cook for a few weeks to have a better viscosity! Mexican and Asian food restaurants are the biggest producers of waste, BTW.
I am doing this for two reasons, one is that I am just doing my part to use a renewable resource vice a finite one such as Dinosaur blood, and because I truly want to relize savings in the long haul, so it becomes an economical and viable solution to be more "Green" because this stuff really does "close the loop" on the carbon atom, as it has very little pollutants and claims of better lubrication for the fuel system, no coking, and longer engine life, by 30% ! That means I get 400K + miles out of this mill, before overhaul,and by that time, the truck should truly fall apart before the engine!
So, yes, it's been a consideration for quite some time, it is not easy, but I am commited at this point for various reasons, and resolved to doing my part to save this 3rd rock from the sun, with relative little loss of capabilities. We do not have a mass transit system that works in California, and carpooling may work for some, this way I am saving in many ways! It remains to be seen, but I feel OPEC may pull a fast one and who knows, put a strangle hold on us, and stop the flow, like was done in '73. No crystal ball here, but I see the writing on the wall, so to speak! I was in Marine basic training, during that debacle, but was told how bad it got. Can we see a repeat? Yes, IMHO, and I'll be ready!
If I had the means, I'd add solar to the roof of my house, and a windmill also. I did convince my next door neighbor, who just happened to be on a daysail on our X one day, who mentioned that he was going to redo his pool with his refinance. I mentioned that he'd be better off buying solar. He did and now his average $800.00 a month electric bill, has dwindled to about $50.00, after he added over 60 panels (120 watt modules) to his roof! He works as an engineer at a local power plant ironically, and had the government help pay for his 80 thousand dollar system, they paid half!
And you guys are "green" also by owning a sail boat, you are doing your part, whether or not you are meaning to, you are helping free our great nation from the bonds of energy dependance, and a system, which is out of control. My opinion, anyway.......so yes I am serious, and will gladly make sacrifices for the better good. And save some big bucks in the long run! Then I can afford more toys for the Mac!!!!!!!!
