Use bio-diesel?

GrowFarmers · Sep 22, 2011

Just wondering how many people out there that are using bio-diesel. My father has been making it for about 6 years and we have been using 100% bio-diesel in all our tractors and some road vehicles when it is warm enough.

I looked around this forum a little bit but didn't find much discussion on it. So I was wondering how many people have given it a chance and are still using it?

dodge man · Sep 28, 2011

What I buy out of the gas station pumps, which is on road diesel, has a sticker that says between 5 and 20 percent bio diesel. I suspect most of it is B5, but there is no way to know for sure. I personally don't know of anyone making there own diesel.

GrowFarmers · Sep 28, 2011

Yea I think a lot of oil companies are putting about B5 in a lot of their ULS diesel to help with lubrication. I have heard of a few towns around here that require at least B5 in their town trucks. When you run B100 the engine noise quiets down noticeably.

I really prefer it as a fuel to regular diesel because of the performance (of well made fuel), if you have a spill it isnt as serious because it is biodegradable, its a fun thing to do to be able to make your own fuel and a bonus is it is carbon neutral. As a side note it is also an amazing solvent. Swirl a greasy wire brush in a cup of bio-diesel and it comes out looking almost new!

I guess that there are not many people out there using it more than the B5 that comes in the pump. I would be happy to share what I know if people have any questions about switching, how to make it, cautions etc. If people are interested I could post up the pictures of my dad's system. He makes about 1,000 gallons per year, mostly for use in our farm tractors.

tungularafishcamp · Sep 28, 2011

Grow farmers, are you making it from french fry oil or are you growing your own crops to make it?

GrowFarmers · Sep 28, 2011

We are just using french fry oil from a few restaurants within 20 minutes of us. You gotta be careful about the quality of the waste oil you use, fast food places usually have poor quality oil which makes poor quality fuel. There are ways of testing the quality.

tungularafishcamp · Sep 28, 2011

I am waiting for someone much smarter than me to figure out how to get the oil out of kelp, then I could convert that to biodiesel and either trade it to the cannery for gasoline or better yet have someone come up with larger sized diesel outboards!

HHelms · Sep 28, 2011

Bio Diesel will kill the naturally occuring bacteria in your fuel tank. They will break up into smaller pieces and clog your filters and or prescreens. Not a big deal on new equipment but can be a pain on older equipment, untill it all flushes through.
H

GrowFarmers · Sep 28, 2011

Rick, it sounds like there are people already working on using kelp for fuel. Gotta get working on more options for diesel engines though!

HHelms, yes that is very true, it is one of the first things I usually tell people who are switching to using biodiesel. Its a good idea to have some extra fuel filters on hand and keep a close eye on the one installed shortly after making the switch. But once everything has been cleaned out you dont have to change the filter any more often than you would with regular diesel.

HHelms · Sep 28, 2011

GrowFarmer
Quite right, usually only one or two filter changes will do the trick. Well except on the Massey it gets into the head pump prescreen and it only takes a tiny bit to stop the flow. I have learned that the rpm increases slightly right before it quits, and shut it down to clean the screen. Not a big thing but handy information to know.
H