With the electric car gone and a new plan in place, I begin the undertaking of converting a diesel rabbit to run on WVO and biodiesel.
The plan to switch from going electric to going veg was a tricky one with much of it focusing on personal preferrence and overall viability.
First, I know next to nothing about electric cars or electric systems in general. I know far more about internal combustion engines and whatnot.
Second, my home heat runs on what is essentially diesel [heating oil], and currently has a 90/10 diesel/bio(soy) mix in the tank which is quickly running dry after the second year and a much colder one than last. Why not have a home and car which can run on the same fuel? Oh yes, but you could have had one which worked the same but on electricity! And you’re correct! Electricity which I purchase from the grid (I don’t have the capital to invest in solar). It makes more sense to me to get free fuel in the form of waste vegetable oil, and run my home and car on that rather than purchase electricity produced by coal fired plants.
Third, diesels and necessary equipment surrounding biodiesel and WVO are FAR cheaper than the electric car equivalent.
Fourth, I was able to sell the EV, pay off all debt, finish my garden fence, prepay even more on my mortgage, put some $ away for renovations on the bathroom, and put plenty away in savings… Oh yes, and spend the leftovers on the diesel project.
So, with those justifications and plenty more in hand for why this will work better for me personally, here I go.
Everything in this photo was acquired for free of of freecycle, craigslist, through work surplus or through friends. With many stable sources of free WVO, I’ve set off to begin acquiring the necessary gear to process the WVO for use and for biodiesel conversion. So with the collecting of necessary items for WVO processing going on, lets have a look at what will be burning this stuff.
This video was recorded a month or so ago. Since then Ive got much more work completed on the project, its almost done and ready to run on a diesel/veg mix. Im working on gathering the parts for a full veggie conversion now.
In the interim, we swapped a diesel motor into my friends rabbit and have been running various diesel/veg mixes at various ambient temperatures. A few leaking problems ocurred with hoses which were already seeping when running on regular diesel. I attribute the worsening of the leaks to the higher pressures seen at the injector due to more viscous fuel. Once the hoses were replaced, the leaks were fixed. So far we have had alot of luck running mixes on the unmodified 1.6 Diesel motor. We have noticed a slight increase in mileage, a much cleaner burn than straight diesel and a quieter motor. Jamie even noted that it felt like it had a bit more power.
Anyhow, I hope to have my rabbit running soon so I can install the axillary tank and warming setup to run straight veggie.
Are you sure about biodiesel? It is a good concept, but I am concerned about the destruction of old-growth rainforests and the economic diversion from food crops.
Pink,
This is the reason I am using waste oil which many restaurants either pour into containers and toss them into dumpsters, pour out, or otherwise throw away. Youd be surprised at how many don’t recycle their waste oil. One of our 2 scheduled suppliers used to just throw theirs out until we inquired about picking it up from them.
The stuff I am using for fuel and biodiesel conversion is a waste product.
Dude I totally forgot about that.
We have onions in the fridge, btw, but none of them have begun to sprout. If I wait for the next shopping trip in a couple of weeks, will it be too late to start off a bulb or three and plant them then? The garlic is proceeding beautifully. I think that the sweet poptatoes are a loss
but there is hope in the potatoes. We have seeds too, that I should find… So much to do, so little time.
I think a couple of weeks won’t hurt. How exactly are you doing garlic? I saw some at our local greenhouse and they looked like exactly what you buy in stores…. Do they seed themselves and create more or what?
We picked up some asparagus this weekend and are going to try that for the first time. My seedlings are sad sad sad lol out of about 36 various seeds, I have only had one green bean and six broccoli germinate… and the broccoli are apparently starved for light and very long and leggy… I have my work cut out for me lol
Gramma does asparagus. Anything that you want to ask her?
So far, the poor garlic and those potatoes are still in the fridge. Hopefully this week or next I will have them planted. This is insane. I am waiting too long. I guess I need soil and perhaps some containers? At least for things like potatoes and carrots. Gramma wants to try keeping some of the garlic around her apple trees to ward off pests and infections. Yathink?