http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22452420/
Read and discuss
What happens when you run out of grease? You can’t really stop at the nearest grease station…
old news.
Thought about it many times, it is a huge initial hit though for me, I think bio would be the way to go for myself.
Oh, I thought the grease thing was permanent. Good info, Thanks.
Ya, I brought my FD back from York, PA with a greasetruck. Since the owner was a bit low on grease, we ran diesel the whole way. A couple months later, a friend borrowed it when the owner had too much grease. He got to run it all day long basically for free on grease.
That’s pretty cool, Kinda makes me think my next project after the e30 is an old TDI rabbit grease car. 
:lol: at “answer to high gas prices”. Maybe for a very few individuals but it certainly won’t affect our consumption as a nation.
The problem is scalability. There simply aren’t enough restaurants to provide enough used oil to make much of a dent in the millions of barrels of dino oil we use a day. For the same reason it will never make much of a difference on the global warming side.
If you’re poor and looking for a way to get real cheap fuel it’s a good option though, assuming you can find a restaurant willing to give you enough free oil. I say poor because generally the more money you make the higher a dollar value you start placing on your free time and I don’t think the cost benefit here is enough to offset all the time you’ll spend collecting, filtering and storing the used oil. These restaurants you make a deal with are going to want that oil picked up at a specific time every so many days. That means you have to schedule your life around your pickup schedule.
If you’re making decent money simply filling up at the local gas station will start looking like a much better alternative. If you’re really struggling to get by and make your monthy bills giving up a large chunk of your free time is probably worth it to greatly cut your monthy gas expenses.
umm… also it is not an answer to high gas prices… high diesel prices, maybe.
Not really an answer to either. To change prices you have to change demand and there will never be enough used vegi-oil to change national demand. Like I said, it may help a few individuals but it will never be a key in our overall energy consumption.
Yeah, I love how diesel is cheaper to refine but right now, costs more than gasoline.:bloated:
It was nice when it was $.20 cheaper though.
Jack, check on some diesel forums, I know on the cummins forums there is a ton of write ups on guys running greese. It’s nice with a pickup too because you can have a lot bigger tank…(which means a lot more time inbetween fillups)
A family friend has a large boat that ran on diesel. He was in the restaurant supply business so he got an unlimited supply of grease/oil by-products.
So for him, it might be worth it. But if he has the disposable income to have a big diesel boat chances are he’d rather just fill up at the marina than cart the oil, filter it, cart the filtered fuel to the marina, wheel down the dock and then somehow transfer it from the dock to the boat without spilling any. Spills = huge fines.
I’d think it would likely even out for him considering he didn’t have to hire a waste disposal company to come and remove of the wastes from his facility and he is also doing a small part to help the environment(well not doing much by himself) but either way it probably evens out for him. besides he gets to reuse the product twice, therefore he is getting twice his moneys worth.
Yeah I never understood that. Its less refined therefore its more expensive?
Just wait 'till the state gets involved…
On the one hand, vegetable oil isn’t considered a motor vehicle fuel in its raw state, and if you’d have to have special EPA dispensation as a “refiner” or fuel processor…
OTOH, I wonder if people go this way, they’d be sued for not paying motor fuel taxes. It’s all nuts, really.
And if you don’t think this hasn’t happened…
http://www.herald-review.com/articles/2007/03/01/news/local_news/1021491.txt
I agree with traumadog. I can see more and more people being busted for running a ‘refinery’ or ‘chemical processing plant’ in a residential area. I can also see costly permits being required. The government wants your money so they can waste it to make well connected people rich cough KBR cough but whatever they want they money. In NY IIRC about 69 cents per gallon of diesel is tax. You pay state and federal fuel tax per gallon then you pay sales tax on the price of the fuel WITH the fuel tax. Thus you pay sales tax on tax.
My feeling is that whatever happens it will not cost you less to drive XXX miles per year. Whether we drive WVO, propane, LNG, CNG, fuel cell, hybrid whatever we will pay no less. How we will pay more will remain to be seen. It could be mileage tax, higher tolls, higher registration fees, etc. Rest assured you will still pay. If the new CAFE rules reduce fuel consumption by 25% how are the government and big oil going to keep making the same money? Simple. Higher profit margins on fuel and higher marginal taxes.
Good for the governement, good for big oil, and good for the politicians as it is sold under the guise of environmental responsibility.
Back to grease. It gets cold around here. If you aren’t under a rock you should know that at 25 degrees F fryer oil is like a slippery brick. If you try to start your engine with that in the injection pump you will break something. Thus you need to start and stop the engine on diesel. I think it would be a PITA to wait five minutes whenever you need to shut the engine off. A very good engine heater would also be a necessity here. That can be a little costly to run.
I also think many people gloss over the labor. I think if you put a cost on your labor to mess with the handling the per gallon cost would be much higher.
I think grease is much more suited to stationary applications like pumps and generators. These engines don’t start and stop often nor do they move far from their fuel production station. They are also exempt from motor fuel tax so you won’t get in so much trouble in that regard.
The little research I’ve done shows exactly what Brock is saying… start and stop on diesel… no biggie. I’d install a turbo timer, and I always use my remote start in the winter.
BUT - I’d need an aux tank, with a heater, and aux fuel lines. No biggie. Run my heater hoses, to an additional heater core, in an additional fuel tank. Kinda cheap so far… but my fuel system, from what I’ve read, doesn’t necessarily get along with WVO so I’d have to change out some stuff. I have room in my shed to make bio. I’d run it all summer for pennies/gal and then run my rez mix in the winter, with no additives. I’m spending over $100 on fuel every week… which over the course of a year is $6000 ish. Doesn’t seem like a lot, but when I can make it or get it for free… that $6k could go towards my propane, nitrous and transmissions 
http://www.greasecar.com/kit_detail.cfm?prodID=23
comes with the heat and 13g tank and all you need for about $1500
so 1500 to change over car about 1000 more for tank and filter system so 2500 ish i would save money in about 6 months … but like everyone is saying there is not alot of places that will just give you the oil but with this kit you can run both anytime you want so fill with diesel and when you get some oil run that …also have to add in buying the car that you would be able to do this with :gotme: i know they have honda diesel cars just need a motor
/end
If you can run on it right out of the fryer, its awesome. Stop at mickey d’s and fill up…
I still wouldnt consider doing it, but i guess i could understand why one would.