Hello Biofuel List,
If anyone is interested, I have more information on the install of
Elsbett single tank systems.
(It is large document not suitable for posting)
We will be hosting another Elsbett install workshop in North
Carolina, U.S. in September.
If you are interested in participating let me know.
This workshop will be part of larger Sustainability Fair for North
Carolina covering sustainable
agriculture, transportation, building, and water conservancy.
I do agree with Niels and Keith on the success of these conversion kits.
Thanks,
Rachel
Piedmont Biofuels
www.biofuels.coop
On Jun 25, 2005, at 12:47 PM, Keith Addison wrote:
Hello Lyn
There's rather more to it than just pre-heating the oil to lower
the viscosity. I posted this a few weeks ago:
Is there anyone out there who can compare the commercially
available kits, their pros and cons? Which is the best system
to install for use in Northern California.
Elsbett. See:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html
Straight vegetable oil as diesel fuel
Don't get some two-tank system that probably has copper parts in
it and all it does is pre-heat the oil to lower the viscosity,
there's a lot more to it than that, even with a Merc.
Our SVO page is currently being revised. It was three years ago
that I first uploaded it, and it's been revised and added to
regularly since then, but more information has emerged on just
what is required to run an engine on SVO successfully. We don't
any longer recommend simple two-tank systems that only pre-heat
the oil. As Niels Ansø of the Folkecenter in Denmark said
recently: "The "secret" is injector and glow plugs, increased
injection pressure, + afterglow and good quality rape seed oil."
Or at least good quality oil, if not rapeseed. Special injectors,
special glow-plugs, adjustments to the injector pump, electronic
controls that keep the glow-plugs on and the heaters heating until
a certain fuel temperature is reached. The only such system
available in the US and internationally is Elsbett, and IMO it's
the best system anyway - Elsbett has been deeply involved in this
business for a long time, 30 years and more. No switching fuel
from one tank to the other once it's finally warmed up enough, no
purging before you switch off (or forgetting to) - switch on and
go, stop and switch off, SVO, biodiesel or petro-diesel, in any
combination.
We've had a two-tank system for a couple of years but we never used
it. I just didn't think it addressed the problem fully, and the
more I learnt the more I thought so. A few months ago we installed
a single-tank Elsbett system in our Toyota TownAce and we're most
pleased with it. It does exactly what it claims to do, as we fully
expected.
http://www.elsbett.com
Best wishes
Keith
On 25 Jun 2005 at 8:46, John Hayes wrote:
> You have the 'SVO destroyed my TDI' folks.
>
> And the 'SVO is just fine' pollyannas.
>
I went to the TDIclub site as well. I probably only saw a fraction
of the posts,
and what I saw made me realize that I didn't really do Mike's
question justice
with my previous answer, so this will be long in an attempt to
provide more
substantive info.
I researched WVO for a while and decided upon the Jetta TDI, which
I bought
specifically with the intent of doing a WVO conversion. I chose
the Jetta even
though the golf or beetle would have been more to my personal
taste, because
the consensus seemed to be that it was desirable to isolate the
WVO tank
from the passenger area because the tank is heated - a hot metal
tank of oil
being not the most desirable presence in a passenger compartment
There are a variety of systems and kits and ways that people have
done these
conversions and I have no doubt people have ruined their TDI's
with WVO. The
TDI has very close tolerances, also why it its such a high
performance engine.
>From what I have gathered, gumming up the injectors with WVO is
one of the
serious risks. Critical issues in the system then are well
filtered WVO and
that it be HOT.
Just to clarify matters for any readers, a WVO system is a 2 tank
system. Do
not ever consider just pouring WVO into your regular fuel tank -
that will
destroy your TDI.
The system I have has :
a heated WVO tank and fuel lines (the lines are heated by being
bundled
beside a line filled with engine coolant) ,
a filter for the WVO (which has already been prefiltered the
remove the obvious
particulate fryer gunk before being put in the tank) This filter
should be
replaced approximately every 2000 miles,
and a PURGE switch.
The purge switch is a very important part of the system. It is
used when
switching *back* to diesel from WVO. It pushes the WVO out of the
lines and
injectors. If you purge for too long, you begin to suck diesel
fuel into your
WVO tank, but ithat's not really not a problem.
The *problem* in a WVO system *without* a purge function arises
because,
if the WVO is not completely cleared from the engine components ,
you will
begin to dump some WVO into the diesel tank when you shut off the
car.
After a while, your diesel will be contaminated with WVO. The
reason why this
is a problem is because your diesel tank is not heated and the WVO
is too
viscous at "room temperature" to flow through the injectors
properly. The
WVO must be at 190 degrees F to liquify it adequately.
I am not a car mechanic, and the above description is what I've
gained from
online research and conversations, and this was the data I used
to decide
whether and what conversion I would do.
Hope this helps.
Lyn
>
> And the professional 'we need more scientific data' skeptics.
>
> And the 'yes, we need data but your studies are too old' counter-
skeptics.
>
> Yup. I think that about sums it up.
>
> jh
>
>
> Keith Addison wrote:
> > Hello John
> >
> >> Just FYI, there is a major debate on SVO use raging at
TDIclub.com
> >> right now. It's actually spilled over into 3 different
threads in the
> >> biodiesel section of the forums(sic).
> >
> >
> > Would you perhaps be up to giving us a summary?
> >
> > Best wishes
> >
> > Keith
> >
> >
> >> jh
> >> Lyn Gerry wrote:
> >>
> >>> Hi Mike and All,
> >>>
> >>> I just had my 1999 Jetta TDI converted, and so far, I'm really
> >>> pleased. I live in central New York State and the conversion
was done
> >>> by Lucas MacDonald at Vegpower
> >>>
> >>> http://www.vegpower.com/
> >>>
> >>> They can do the work or you can buy components from them.
Lucas is
> >>> also an experienced VW/volvo mechanic.
> >>>
> >>> Lyn
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> On 22 Jun 2005 at 16:26, Mike wrote:
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>> Has anyone ever converted a VW diesel to run on
> >>>> leftover oil from restaurants or fast foods like
> >>>> Krispy Kreeme and McDonalds etc... I'm about to do it
> >>>> and want to follow the lead of someone else who's done
> >>>> it. Thanks.
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