For You Guys Who Missed The Biodiesel Show On "Trucks" [Archive]

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01-28-2006, 11:35

It was on again today on Spike TV at 12:30 Central time. This is always the same episode that they show on Sunday's at the same time.

I just wish I had the 3 or 4 thousand that the machine costs. Stacey said the Biodiesel costs about 70 cents a gallon to make.

doncannon

01-28-2006, 18:09

Hello All,

ZZ: yes I know it would be nice to have 3-4k to invest. I remember seeing that a few months back and got on line to see how much it was. OUCH e WAWA that hurts the wallet. The only problem is how long it would take to pay that kind of investment off saving roughly 2.00 a gal (2.70 -.70). Although while I was watching it today I thought 55 barrels are readily available and the valves would be standard from a Hardware the only thing was the hoses. Wonder if the hoses would have to be anything special? Now all I would need is a pump and scale...hmm oh and a place to do it.

Just my thoughts,
Don

01-29-2006, 09:13

I wondered about a homemade Biodiesel "still" too.

I made a mistake on the time. The show comes on an hour early at 11:30 Central due to a movie.

doncannon

01-29-2006, 10:30

Hello All,

ZZ: That is ok because it comes on at 12:30 here in the east. There are 4 valves on the bottom and one on the separate tank. 3 on top of the main tank so that is 8 valves you would need. Lye is available at hardware store and methanol at a race shop (according to Stacey). Now I just need some cc measures, a scale and some hose. Oh and cannot forget the pump.

Don

de_lok

01-29-2006, 16:15

Don and ZZ: If the 3-4K for the system you are refering to is the "Fool Miester" (yes I spelled it that way on purpose! :D :rolleyes: ) not to worry.
I have been making and using homebrew biodiesel in my 96 6.5 for several months and so far so good. You can build your own setup for less than $500 bucks buying almost everything new and have a much better system than the store bought one. Check out this link: http://biodieselcommunity.org/
You can also do a search on "appleseed processor" .
This is a well proven design that is open technology
meaning nobody can patent the idea and it is FREE ;)
! ! You will find several hours of very informative reading on the above link. Hope this is helpful.

Subzilla

01-30-2006, 07:13

I've heard over and over, stay away from that $3k machine. The plastic tanks don't tend to stand up to the constant heating. I just finished a workshop last weekend with "Girl Mark" who is the Jim Bigley of Biodiesel. She invented the appleseed reactor and does not have any patents or receive any money from us homebrewers copying and building the same system. I've got all the parts except for the water heater and a storage shed and I'm very eager to begin production. I figure about 70 cents a gallon will quickly pay for any expense I put into it. Check out the afore mentioned website for some great info and helpful people.

Nelsoncat

01-30-2006, 16:41

I have been following this closely and just watched the Trucks segment again after hours of web searching. I don't see any heaters on the Trucks' fuel meister but they are on the other ones that are available. I use very similar equipment to mix my chemicals for the farm. I think building one would cost far less. There is a guy in town that runs a VW diesel on french fry oil and I am pretty sure all he does is filter it and warm it up; he starts on diesel.
This would be cool!!!!
Craig

01-30-2006, 20:31

I'm glad to see all of this interest. If too many get into this; then the used cooking oil will get scarce.

de_lok

02-05-2006, 10:18

ZZ
Worst yet, used oil will not only get scarce but the law of supply and demand will kick in. When these restuarant owners that have paid to have their oil hauled off for years begin to be haggled to death with people wanting thier used oil they will want to start charging for it. If they charge the same price to sell it (as they pay to have it picked up)
it could easily double the price of homebrew biodiesel.

Still with the total percentage of US consumer diesel owners being in the 3% range it shouldnt be a problem for a few years anyway. There have been areas in the US that have been activily making homebrew biodiesel for almost 10 years now.

If the new ultra low sulfer "clean" diesel opens the floodgates in the US market for consumer diesel vehicles like it is in Europe now the used oil will probably be bought by recyclers to make biodiesel. I probably wouldnt mind paying higher pump prices so bad if I owned a diesel Ford Focus like they sell in Europe that reportedly gets 63 mpg ! ! ! :D

My 2 cents worth anyway........ :D ;)

BTW I collect 30 gal of used fryer oil a week and actually use less than half of it (at present) and I have between 300 to 350 gallons stockpiled in 5 gallon buckets! ! :eek: I only collect from three resturants ;) :cool: So far its been a fun hobby that has actually paid for itself :cool:

02-05-2006, 13:43

Glad to hear it is paying off for you. I can't get into it right now. I'm nursing a an infection in my leg.

I haven't heard about the Focus having a diesel, but I hear the VW diesels get close to 60 mph.

de_lok

02-05-2006, 20:16

The Ford Focus diesel is only sold in Europe.

I grew up in a junkyard in the late 60's and thru the 70's and have always tinkered with something :cool: When homebrewing biodiesel came along it was a natural ! ! ! :cool: ;) :D

doncannon

02-11-2006, 18:45

Hello All,

ZZ and de_lok: I know my rabbit diesel gets 40-50 mpg so biodiesel would be great! Even paying at the pumps is better than running the 6.2 truck. Still not as fun to drive as the truck :D I was just wondering if the biodiesel and the other oils get the same mileage? hmm

thanks for listening,
Don

Truckie117

02-12-2006, 07:46

devildog

02-15-2006, 20:18

For more Bio Diesel info. try Journey to forever. They have several processors and how to recover some of the methanol used in the reaction. There is even info. on how to use the glycerin by product to heat your shop.

Subzilla

02-16-2006, 09:32

NO! I keep reading on so many other websites that the "Journey to Forever" website has much, much flawed info. There procedures will not produce great results. Check out these websites: http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/6/ubb.x?a=cfrm&s=447609751 and http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/appleseedprocessor/

aloharovers

03-04-2006, 08:45

Hey Guys
This seems like a lot of work for bio diesel I have a friend who uses the frybred system using straight cooking oil that is filtered. He has been using it for a year no problems. He starts up in diesel then switchs to Cooking oil and before shut down switchs to diesel again. He is driving a VW diesel how about our 6.5 how would they fair? Im thinking about it.

Going the VO route works also. There are two issues
1. Need dual fuel systems, one with diesel, one for the VO.
2. VO does have a loss of power.

using the H20 heater as your base for a home brew biodiesel is a very good route to go.
With BD you only need a single fuel tank. You can mix petroleum based and BD in the same tank if you run low on BD with no problems what so ever.
Some folks have actually reported an increase in power when using BD.
BD has almost zero emmisions.

We have diesel smog check requirements here in CO Springs and the power and emissions info I got directly from the guys that run the dyno at the place I get my truck smog checked at.

There are a couple folks in the Rover community that are doing BD with the H2O heater and have no complaints.

My only problem at the moment is only my off roader is diesel :(
My daily driver is a saturn (32mpg) and my wife has a trailblazer. We want to trade out the TB for a 6.5 sub and the Saturn for a 6.5 pickup. But until funds become available we are stuck with the gas machines.