Todd, I doubt you'll not be surprised to know that I'd be your first customer for detailed plans to build a condenser or, because your definition of people with a teaspoon of common sense probably does not include me, an actual condenser suitable for use with Mark's Fumeless Processor design. And if I knew what an evaporator was, I might also be in the market for one of those.
As far as I can tell, practical methanol condensing is a highly underdeveloped aspect of home biodiesel processing. Speaking as one interested in making biodiesel because of concerns for the environment, it is critical to learn how to stop venting methanol into the atmosphere as soon as possible. In fact, I think every processor design starting with the 20 liter size should have an associated condenser design. My biodiesel is 80% vegetable oil and 20% fossil fuel until I can find a source of green methanol (making a 100% green fuel possible) or recover some of the fossil methanol (reducing the fossil fuel component below 20%.) Rather than waste more bits and bytes on beating up on Fuelmeister, let's put our energy toward developing a Middle Way solution. The whole idea of competition in the marketplace is to drive consumer prices and margins down. If no one competes with a supplier then they can and will charge what the market will bear. This is what Fuelmeister is doing. A Middle Way solution would provide a D-I-Y (do-it-yourself) option to Fuelmeister. Fuelmeister is just an issue in the U.S., where we still have more money than time. If home biodiesel processing is an industry, then Fuelmeister is guilty of an early entrance into the U.S. market to meet demand for a turnkey solution. Someone with time and the know-how who despises Fuelmeister's "off-the-shelf" solution can undercut them by publishing a comprehensive parts lists with U.S. sources and instructions, along with a warning that the product will be sub-standard. Of course, you'll also have to negotiate sources and favorable rates for all the necessary chemicals (other than methanol) because that's part of the turnkey solution you're trying to undercut. Better yet, publish a parts list, sources, and instructions for a turnkey D-I-Y solution that *will* produce a quality product. Whether you charge for them or give them away for free, providing D-I-Y plans for comprehensive solutions (what Hakan calls a kit) will contribute to market pressure that will contribute to lower prices in the relatively near term and ultimately to the realignment of solutions (in other words, when the market becomes competitive, if Fuelmeister can't compete they'll fail) in the long term. My previous offer to help draw up your condenser design still stands. That said, if past experience predicts the future, let the flames begin. Maud Always glad to engage in a spirited discussion of even controversial ideas. Never willing to engage in insult, sarcasm, or personal attacks. >Hakan, > >Rather than your suggestion, why don't I and others just make the >information freely available to anyone with a teaspoon of common sense and >let them reap the savings of building their own processors from scratch? > >Or why not make an outbuilding available for a like minded entremanure to >construct and distribute such systems and let them benefit as much as I have >over the years? How much money does one person or family need to be happy? > >My day is already maxed out five times over. I have no desire to get into a >traditional, government issue regimen of payroll and matching funds. And I'm >perfectly happy with my present income to headache ratio, give or take a few >thousand dollars a year. > >And if it came down to a matter of proving my point(s)? I've had no need to >prove anything since fifth grade. Frankly, it would be far more appealing to >see the Fuel Sheisters of the world get their game on right in the first >place from both mechanical and principles perspectives than have to build >another business just to keep them honest. > >But I've thought about it long before I heard of Fuelsheister. And I've >still not discounted the idea. Unfortunately, I'm not so convinced that the >average shadetreer is prepared to go the full length of co-product handling >in order to make a system as environmentally benign as possible from cradle >to grave. > >My preference would be to build inexpensive evaporators and condensors and >supply "how to information" to equip shadetreers to meet such demands...even >on a shoestring budget. > >Todd Swearingen > >----- Original Message ----- >From: "Hakan Falk" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> >Sent: Sunday, February 08, 2004 4:14 PM >Subject: Re: Fuelmeister was Re: [biofuel] Filtering biodiesel > > >> >> Todd, >> >> Chuck talked about general rules of margins and those are quite close to >my >> experiences also. I we talk about fuelmeister as such, it is quite a. >other >> game. I think that you are right, it is no real product development and >as >> a kit, it does not look serious either. It is no real development behind >> it, and as a kit, the price is over exaggerated. To sell a kit like this, >> they should actually be close to what the sum of the parts can be >purchased >> in the market. The profit they would deserve lay in negotiating good > > purchase prices for the parts. > > > > So why do you, or someone else put together a kit and sell it for the sum > > of the parts to interested on Internet. You will for sure be able to have >> around 40% margin on it and be able to sell it for half the price of >> fuelmeister. >> > > Hakan <snip> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! 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