Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 08-16-2015, 09:26 PM   #41
Moderator
 
crazycal's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: NUNYA
Posts: 4,236
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: 3800
Engine: DT408, AT545
Rated Cap: 23 500 gvw
Quote:
Originally Posted by husterdavid5 View Post
The wife and i have been going back and forth about converting, with her on the "save the planet" team and me on the "lets not get stranded" team. I have friends who tour and make their living out of their bus, and on more than one occasion they've gotten stuck somewhere because fuel was hard to find. When they started ten years ago, it was great for them. But now they spend an extra day in every town trying to get the fuel to leave. Environmentally great? totally. But how much down time is that worth? It's all personal preference and personal priorities, i guess.
You want to save the planet but drive a bus that might get 10mpg. If you use WVO, you might knock off a couple of mpgs. If you don't have a steady supply of good, clean WVO, you are wasting your money on a conversion.

If you want to save the planet, get rid of the bus and ride a bicycle. Sorry to say this but this ecobabble is getting a little tiresome. No offense to you. I see people fly in private jets but drive a Prius and think they are saving the planet. I have dropped off people at a jet that are back in less than 18 hours and they want to ban gasoline cars. Real story! Environmentalist want to take down Oshaughnessy Dam that supplies water to 2 million people. Great idea, look at the water mess California is in right now.

I have had the misfortune of being stuck behind a 240D that is running on WVO. It is a good thing that we live in a civilized society because that car wouldn't be on the road burning or attempting to burn WVO if it were up to me.

Rant off.

__________________
I'm hungry!

You Gotta Let Me Fly
crazycal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-2015, 06:56 AM   #42
Skoolie
 
Outcast's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2014
Location: North Georgia Mountains
Posts: 106
Year: 96
Coachwork: AmTran
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
Rated Cap: 75
Quote:
Originally Posted by husterdavid5 View Post
The wife and i have been going back and forth about converting, with her on the "save the planet" team and me on the "lets not get stranded" team. I have friends who tour and make their living out of their bus, and on more than one occasion they've gotten stuck somewhere because fuel was hard to find. When they started ten years ago, it was great for them. But now they spend an extra day in every town trying to get the fuel to leave. Environmentally great? totally. But how much down time is that worth? It's all personal preference and personal priorities, i guess.

Invest in a biodiesel converter and get the best of both worlds. You don't have to convert anything on the bus, just be ready to change out a few fuel filter when you first change over and always keep one on hand thereafter, because biodiesel will clean out all the junk dino diesel leaves behind. and if you are out and need fuel, dino will still run because the setup hasn't changed. If you set the converter up at your home base, just get the biggest tank you can for the bus and fill it up before you go, so it will last as far as possible, and research to find stores that sell B100 Diesel (pure biodiesel) and use whenever possible, when not possible, use dino diesel till you can get back. It's not free, but it is still running around $1 a gallon to make it yourself, not including the cost of building or buying the converter.
Outcast is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-17-2015, 09:21 AM   #43
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario
Posts: 1,791
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: B3800 Short bus
Engine: T444E
Rated Cap: 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by husterdavid5 View Post
I have friends who tour and make their living out of their bus, and on more than one occasion they've gotten stuck somewhere because fuel was hard to find.
Go with a 2 tank WVO system. One tank is always used for diesel, the other is used for WVO and/or diesel depending on availability. There's no need to be stuck somewhere because you can't find WVO (unless your completely broke, I suppose).

Realistically, WVO falls mostly into the hobby category. It eats up lots of time and creates messes, so you truly have to enjoy the process. Some people enjoy it, especially the resourceful folk who like to build their own filtration systems, pumping systems, etc (I fall into that group). If none of that sounds like fun then you had best skip it entirely.
__________________
My build page: Armageddon - The Smell of Airborne Rust
jazty is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2016, 12:19 AM   #44
New Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Posts: 9
just do it!

when running a 2 tank system wvo/diesel you always purge the wvo from your injector pump useing the dino diesel, this pumps dino into the wvo tank! so if you cant find wvo just put in the dino diesel, you are already doing it any way!

yes wvo is for diy!! and yes, its messy messy messy!!
i use to work at a mechanic shop helping out a friend. he used oil burners to heat his shop all winter. so we collected used oils of all kinds to burn in them.
i actually gifted him some bag filters i had purchased at ebay that filter at 0.5 micron, and 1 that was 25 micron to fit open top of open top 55 gal barrel.
to collect from places where it was not convenient to load their barrels we would use vaccume to suck it out. we put 1000 gal tank in bed of truck with big hose coming out of bottom with a ball valve and a 6 inch stand off to prevent suction hose from touching bottom of barrel or tank. we put a t in the brake booster hose for vaccume and ran clear plastic water line to fitting in tank. the 350 chevy engine would pull so great a vaccume it actually collapsed the tank several times. this would suck oil from 25 feet when the oil was below zero 0 degrees F.
he saved many $$$$$$ by heating with used oil and had thousands of gallons on hand at any time!!
insanecandycane is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-03-2016, 08:44 PM   #45
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: SW New Hampshire
Posts: 1,334
I didn't see this in the thread so I'll mention it here. WVO and biodiesel are not the same thing. Biodiesel is made from WVO usingl heat and lye. You have to settle the result out and decant it. It's a sort of big deal but you can do it in a garage and I suppose in the back of your bus if you want to carry around gallons of corrosive lye. IIRC it costs about $1.25/gallon of result for the necessary chemicals.

Biodiesel is a lot nicer on engine systems than is WVO. You can run it 100%. You can cold start your engine on it. The only drawback is that it gels at a higher temp than dino diesel, but the same additives that you put into the dino stuff work on the bio-d.

Bio-d is what's mixed into dino-d to get B20, etc.
dan-fox is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-21-2016, 11:47 PM   #46
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Posts: 157
All this talk about Dino, Bio, and WVO I am surprised no one has talked about Blending. I built several kit to install on Diesel cars/trucks, but the easiest way was to Blend. Depending on the weather/temp you would mix 20% RUG(regular unleaded gasoline) with WVO. No conversion needed, just filter, mix, pour into the tank. I ran many miles on this and it worked great. I got tired of looking for a source of oil and tired of the mess so I quit doing it, but it is an option.
The RUG thins the oil down so it will start and shut down just fine, no extra tank, no heaters, no "conversion", just mix and go.
And when it comes to any WVO product, adding 2 cycle oil adds lubricity back that is missing for a low cost, Walmart brand I hear works great.
I was really into this 10+ years ago, but hen I got a Triple Nickel 5.9L Cummins and was afraid of screwing up the injectors. Even running Dino Diesel I still had to replace them all at 125K to the tune of $3000, and I did all the labor, that was parts cost only.
I like my DT466 and it will run the Dino stuff, too much hassle for me to go WVO.
Oldmopars is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-04-2016, 12:09 PM   #47
Bus Nut
 
sojourner's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2013
Posts: 703
Year: 1995
Engine: DT408
Quote:
Originally Posted by dan-fox View Post
I didn't see this in the thread so I'll mention it here. WVO and biodiesel are not the same thing. Biodiesel is made from WVO usingl heat and lye. You have to settle the result out and decant it. It's a sort of big deal but you can do it in a garage and I suppose in the back of your bus if you want to carry around gallons of corrosive lye. IIRC it costs about $1.25/gallon of result for the necessary chemicals.

Biodiesel is a lot nicer on engine systems than is WVO. You can run it 100%. You can cold start your engine on it. The only drawback is that it gels at a higher temp than dino diesel, but the same additives that you put into the dino stuff work on the bio-d.

Bio-d is what's mixed into dino-d to get B20, etc.
Not just Lye. Methanol is also part of the process requiring a titrate test to see how to mix the sodium methoxide to mix with the oil. Some nasty chemicals to deal with. Did it years ago. Methanol and WVO are both hard to come by in quantity these days. I used to buy methanol by the 55 gallon drum. Now, at least from the company I was dealing with, if you say you're buying it for making biodiesel they won't sell it to you. On the other hand, if you're using it as a fuel to "heat a greenhouse to make CO2 and heat" they'll sell it all day long.
__________________
I am an sojourner in the earth; hide not Your Commandments from me. Psalm 119:19

Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones keeping the commandments of YAHWEH, and the faith of Yahshua. Rev. 14:12
sojourner is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-04-2016, 06:39 PM   #48
Bus Nut
 
Jolly Roger's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2015
Location: North carolina
Posts: 651
Year: 1986
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Ford
Engine: Detroit 8.2
Rated Cap: 60 bodies
A little comment on the subject?
I have a friend that runs all of his vehicles on wVO fish fry oil that he gets for free. Usually several hundred gallons a year. Of course there is a process.
For the last ten years he has used a barrel drip method to seperate the junk and water from the oil and then it went strait to a vehicle as needed ?
Used it in a (older diesels but still 85 up)
Chevy suburban got rid of for elect. Problems not fuel.
Mercedes needs nothing but carry extra fuel filters with you
BMW-the injectors are big enough but the fuel pump isn't strong enough so change the fuel pump and your good.
I know this don't help much with the power train Ya'll are running ?
Last year I salvaged a way overpowered boiler bound for the scrap yard and have since helped him down fire the boiler to heat and circulate his wVO process which (I think) all the strainers I insisted on to protect the boiler and the pumps which have to be cleaned more often than not are the reason he seems to think the warming up is it but the oil looks almost fresh out of the bottle? Probably a combination of both?
He is a friend of mine through Boy Scouts and everytime I use my bus for Boy Scouts we will put 10-15 gallons of veggie oil in it. Before the new system I am helping him with and after?Usually a mix between and highway diesel but I have ran on strait veggie oil for at least 20- gal with no problems.
No filter changes , injector size problems, fuel pump size problems as my friend told me.
Don't know about what the rest of you want to try WVO in but my underpowered/hated/boat anchor of a mechanical, non-turboed dinosaur of an 8.2 Detroit has no problem switching back and forth.
The Boy Scouts still call the wife of my friends Mercedes wagon the fish fry mobile because before the new process there was definitely different smell from her vehicle? The outside exhaust not the inside?
At one point diesel was 4$ a gallon and veggie oil was 2.50$ even though less convenient to get in the tank?
The only other thing is when taking a road trip on WVO is 1-you have to find places that will give it to you?
2- you don't know the quality or quantity available so that could mean filtration systems on board to handle it?
3-most places these days pay a company to reclaim what's in there tanks and the resteraunt has to show records of it so your SOL.
My friend gets his from a resteraunt that the dad grew up with the dad handed down to the son that grew up with the son and so on. Which brought up the whole updating my friends operation for when the inspector comes by not when cause his family also left him a 100-dog kennel on 40 year old sewer systems and all kinds of other crap I am proficient at so we help each other as needed.
Sorry
My comment should have started at comment?
Jolly Roger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-04-2016, 11:58 PM   #49
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Sep 2016
Location: Darrington, Wa.
Posts: 304
Year: 1994
Coachwork: Genesis/Am-Tran Tall Roof
Chassis: International, 643 transmission
Engine: DT 466ci 250hp, International
Rated Cap: 86 screaming Monsters
Ive been running WMO (waist motor oil) for years. Its easier to buy or get for free oil from shops. It doesn't matter what kind of oil it can be engine oil transmission oil or oil from the transformers on the power lines.
Buy a small 4 hp honda oil pump from one of the WVO companies so you can transfer it fast and clean.
By a cheap 150$ centrifuge there usually rated at full rpm at 90 psi. Use your oil transfer honda pump and make an adapter to run your oil through the centrifuge from one tank to the next.

Once this is done you can either run it right in your main tank 100 percent if its 70f out side or warmer ( keeps it thin for the oil pump to move it).

If its below 70 you could heat the system but its a pain in the ass and **** leaks. i just use it mixed 50 /50 with diesel. you can blend in more oil depending on the temp. But this will start on a 45 50 f day with no issue. Below this temp just run diesel 100%. flushing the system out in a morning that it went cold is a pain in the ass for saving a few dollars that day.

Centrifuged oils are as clean or cleaner the fuel. So running it through your filters will not be a issue. I like to take the expensive fuel filters and un hook them and run a external mount or remote mount oil filter like a old PH* ford filter for a fuel filter. Its plenty good and at 20 microns your still very good. Plus Walmart has them for 3.50$.

there is no water or debris in the oil fuel at all. your diesel truck oil will look like brand new coming out of the system. You would keep running it through back and fourth between your to storage tanks until it looks clean. maybe twice usually once.

Veggie oil can go right through this as well and be mixed in with it.

Its a stinky machine at 100% but not a lot of smoke it just smells like your using oil in a old engine. at 50% its not bad at all.

Remember oil has more btu's than diesel or veggie so you don't get that big fuel loss and you can feel it switch over to oil it has a small little bump like mini turbo just smidgen more power.

I was thinking about sticking a couple 55 gallon drums up under the bus and mounting the centrifuge and pumps under neath to keep the mess out of the bus. Just go slow keep lots of paper towels around and dish soap and shop broom to clean up.

You could even fill both tanks at a repair shop with dirty oil and centrifuge the oil right into the filler cap with a hose off the centrifuge in the parking lot next to the gas station then top of with diesel to give it a good mix but the return line will do that for you as you drive. or you can fill up 5 gallon cans when your killing time around the camp fire and dump those in so you don't have to wait fro fuel to process. heck with a bus you could add 30 gallon drum under it you have more room and process to that as well.

Ive done it others ways and this was by far the easiest. My best set up was a 330? IBC tank in my f350 and had range to Florida from Washington state on one tank and about 25 minutes to refill at a oil change store and all the way back home. The motor oil seemed to make the engine last forever. I assume it was all the lube on the cylinders instead of diesel which is closer to solvent. never had a injector or injector pump failure ever. Just treated like a 4 door car since the bed was mostly full of fuel and equipment. Pretty heavy too full of fuel with the truck tanks it was almost 400 gallons.

restaurants are hassle it seems to me and shop owners appreciate what you are doing. it makes difference when looking for fuel.
Geo Jeff is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 05-09-2017, 10:33 AM   #50
Almost There
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 83
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DT466E/MT643
Rated Cap: 65
Many years ago my family made biodiesel with our own setup (collection trailer, barrels, pumps, filters,... etc), it made sense for our situation because we had multiple diesel vehicles. The cost to make biodiesel was less than the cost to convert and maintain several vehicles. When we started collecting WVO we were paid by restaurants, followed by a long time when we just got it for free, once the market switched from giving away WVO, to restaurants being paid for their oil the bigger companies just out priced us.

I wasn't aware that restaurants can now can lease oil, that would make it even more difficult for the alternative fuel crowd.

Sure it was fun, but as many others have pointed out it was also messy and expensive. I think our cost was around $1/gallon just for the raw ingredients and that doesn't count electricity, equipment, consumables, road tax, or your time that could be spent on other things.

One thing I haven't found mentioned was how to legally collect used WVO. Typically restaurants lease their containers from the company that picks up the oil and once the oil enters the container it is in the agreement that the pickup company owns it. Therefore even if you get permission from a restaurant representative to syphon some off the top they technically don't have that right. When we made biodiesel we always furnished our own barrels for restaurants to use after getting appropriate permission from the landlord, even so sometimes our oil would disappear too

When our family was making biodiesel it was good for us, picking up WVO and driving around for around $1/gallon was a great feeling but after many years it became more of a chore than a joy and now that the big commercial guys fully realize the monetary value of WVO (cosmetics, pet food, commercial biodiesel, etc...) the hobbyists like myself are squeezed out, probably forever.

I don't wish to discourage anyone from exploring alternatives just thought somebody out there might benefit from my experience.

__________________
1999 International 3800, Blue Bird, conventional front engine, DT466E, MT643

My conversion thread: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f11/project-huckleberry-17952.html
hatchetman is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
cost, cummins, diesel, wvo

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:52 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.