wife says do the veggie

[Train-train]

We have always thought about changing our bus to veggie but our bus was only going to be used for outings to near by places. Now, we have been thinking it over and switching to veggie would make long trips more possible and even cheaper than our better mile/gallon cars.

The plan I have been thinking on would use a 65 gallon white plastic drum as my veggie fuel tank. This drum would be located right behind the driver's seat. This would be done so that monitoring fuel level as well as keeping the tank close to the engine and maintaining a good thermal housing with more ease. I could carry numerous drums based on the distance of our planned trip. I hear using the large Racor filter has some advantages and the pre-made fuel line that incorporates the two heater hoses is worth the higher cost.

I have six co-workers that are running veggie and I have heard a lot of pros and cons. One thing that is interesting is that all of them have had their problems. Most of them revealing the weakest link in their system during the coldest weather. Some of them went with pretty fancy kits and some went with the cheaper basic models. So far, I think I will go with the more basic design. One of my co-workers recently modified his so that an extra valve also diverted the excess veggie to the veggie tank. His diesel tank was getting contaminated even though all of his mentors were telling him that it wasn't significant enough to matter. The veggie we are getting is from our company that sometimes fail to use the consumable oils for infant formulas. I tend to think that our veggie is probably undesired but when we can get it in 250 totes it makes it much easier to try and use it. So far, it burns fine as long as we can insure heated lines through the whole system.

Anyone have any suggestions as my wife and I are still looking at all our options as of right now.

[dlor1]

Hey man, i got a BlueBird with 20K veggie miles on it. It's definetley the way to go. I have my 55 drum behind my seat as well. At first it's great because it's easier and easy to monitor everything, leaks, kinks, etc. But eventually it get kinda annoying. For one, when it's hot out, you got 30+ gallons of 140+F oil. Also, it's probably not the safest thing. Also, veggie tanks inside the bus, means veggie in the bus, all over the bus. One spill or leak and it sucks, not to mention what happens when you drive with the lid not latched. All in all, not bad to set up as your first system but if your interior is already hooked up then it's not worth the risk. Otherwise go for it and plan to want to upgrade in a few months. If you want to talk more I'm cool with you or anyone else calling me 301-three67-9245. I'm about to revamp my entire system in the coming weeks. I drive in very cold weather and the investment is worth it. For me at least.

[dlor1]

Oh yeah, are you referring to those Schutz containers that are like 200-500 gallons with a ball valve on the bottom and a metal cage around it? If so I am very interested in finding 10-20 or them or if anyone else knows a good place to find them.