Date:         Mon, 24 Jan 2000 11:22:36 -0500
Reply-To:     LAWS HOME <backintime@TRITON.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         LAWS HOME <backintime@TRITON.NET>
Subject:      Re: french fry/biodiesel
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Yes, biodiesel does have a way of " eating rubber fuel lines. One might
think that it is because the finished product is approx. 15 percent Methanol
(alcohol) , and if we have learned anything from the past we should have
learned that alcohol eats rubber! Remember the "Gasohol" of the
'70's......same problem. The difference now is that we have plastic fuel
line now that can get us around that problem. The manufacturer of such hoses
is Viton, You can get the balance lines and other return and supply lines
pertaining to the fuel system from them at
www.viton.com/products/viton/default.html  . The article you have eluded to
from the "commune" is probably from "dancing rabbit ecovillage" right? I
hate to tell you this but they haven't even had that diesel van around for
quite some time. I believe that it wasn't so much problems with the fuel or
the lines , but rather a maintanance problem...i.e. they didn't maintain it
like you or I would. They are not mechanics on this "commune" they are a
group of people trying to live off the grid as "earth friendly" as possible.
(From what I learned/ understand after visiting their site) While it is true
that bio-diesel has a "warmer" cloud point than #2 diesel, there are also
ways around this. As I don't own a diesel Westy/Vanagon YET, I do have 3
diesel rabbits. ( one of those engines wants to jump into my '84 Vanagon
real bad) I really don't have the time to do an engine swap right now, I'm
working on a bigger bio-mixer. The key to getting your "waste oil" is asking
at the smaller "mom and pop" restaurants. Eventually I plan on running my
route rabbits on nothing but bio-diesel, or maybe this spring I will get
ambitious and set one of them up to run on just filtered/preheated waste
fryer oil. All of the research I have done has been leaning toward the
VW/AUDI diesels (TDI included) as being the best/most reliable engines to
run bio-diesel in. Engines to stay away from are the Fords with the 6.9l,
7.3l  as they have rubber componants in the injector which cannot be
replaced with any alternative at this time. BTW the book they sell on some
of those bio sites is cheaper if you buy it at Barnes and Noble! they are
about $13 cheaper! It is called From the Fryer to the fuel Tank by Joshua
and Kaia Tickell  $26 at B&N.