My conversion to veg oil / chip fat

[richbaker78]

IM doing this conversion on my Merc Vito traveliner so I can drive round for free....not strictly on a VW but this is transfereable to ANY diesel vehicle....and since some of us on here run on diesel....I thought a how to might be useful to dispel some myths and summarise all my research over the last months.

Background.....

Tax - it is now legal to use veg oil as a fuel - you used to have to register as a fuel producer and pay tax according to your declared litreage....however this has now changed and you only have to do this if you use more than 2500 litres per year....and whose counting....

There a a number of veg oil related options available to you related to veg oil....these are as follows:

Biodiesel - this is diesel refined from Vegetable oil rather than mineral oil - no conversion is necessary for this just pump it in and away you go. Its time consuming to make and only about 10p per liter cheaper to buy...one for the environmentalists really.

Blend - depending on your diesel pump (eg Bosch/ Lucas/ Cav - some dont like it) you can run a blend - this involves tipping veg oil into your tank, chucking in a bit of additive and mixing with diesel - you vary the amounts through the year as it can impair yourstarting ability - no conversion is neccesary but you still end up spending about 70p per litre on fuel.

100% veg oil - this is the option I have chosen and can use either new clean veg oil or waste veg oil (chip fat) also known as WVO. Depending on the vehicle and its pump you will find that most diesel pumps wil last a short while on 100% veg oil. HOwever two problems occur: Starting in cold weather is near impossible due to viscosity of the oil so youll need a blend, and for the same reason your diesel pump (especially if a lucas) will not like it...consequently your engine will not run. There is always someone in the pub who will tell you how they just pour it in off the shelf....but if you want reliability and longevity this is not the way. The answer is to run a 'two tank system'. The disadvantage of this apporach is you have to spend time and money converting your vehicle - but then you can run on 100% veg oil - which if you get it free (WVO) soon pays for itself.


What is a two tank system?: essentially you use your existing tank for veg oil, and add another small tank for diesel for starting. To overcome the cold starting and viscosity problems the kit does two things: 1) you start on diesel and switch over to veg 2) you preheat the oil to make it less viscous.

which kit should I use?

There are a lot of kits out there - SmartVeg, Dieselveg, etc etc and all are a variation on a theme. Obviously its up to you to offset which each kit offers you - but for me it was quality parts, good reviews, good tech help and having an auto switch over that sold me on the DieselVeg ATG kit.

The kit is as below:


the main components = switchover valves, tanks, pipes and clips, wiring loom, dash mounted switching unit, tank, and heat exchanger (not pictured), instructions.
This kit cost me £475 - if you want to save a bit on this you can for example provide your own tank etc. As I say there a a lot of much cheaper kits on the market so do your research - smartveg and dieselveg ATG are generally considered to be the top end. If you have more time then you can put together your own kit - its fairly simple and will prob cost you £150-200 - but for me the priority was to get on the road for free ASAP and with minimal teething problems.

WVO - waste veg oil
I will be using waste veg oil - sourced from take aways etc for free. There is a lot of info on the net and if filtering/ settleing isnt for you then you can buy this prefiltered at approx 45p a litre. INitially I have bought 20L of clean oil for £13 to get the system running. ONce fully functioning ill be on WVO.

It seems there are lots of options for filtering kits but I sourced mine from www.oilybits.com for £145 - it includes a pump, inline filters, pertol station type nozle, pipes etc (again cheaper options available if you have time to figure something out)- i will be filtering to 1 micron via a 10 micron filter and after the oil has settled for a minimum of 2 weeks. Cold Filtering to this level will allow me to remove a lot of the fats and salts from the cooking process - there is a lot of advice suggesting you filter to less - some people just use legs of jeams (sewn up) as these filter to about 10 micron....but its up to you. As im going for reliability im filtering as much as possible.

The most common question I get asked is what happens when you run out of veg oil in eg france. Well there are a few options 1) if you have space like me i will try to carry most of my fuel with me - plan ahead and stockpile filtered oil. 2) Go to any supermarket and pour in veg oil - still cheaper than diesel 3) last resort - override the system and run on diesel.

This is the fat from the chippy - its good stuff - after two weeks it has not seperated out or gone creamy suggesting low animal fat content. I reckon of the 80L of my first batch - 60L is usable. The other parts are the inline filters, nozzle and pump.



Fitting

This is the first instalment of a few - the diesel veg kit is 'suitable for a competant home mechanic and can be fitted in two days'. i started last night.....

First I read the instructions and checked kit contents...good job as one of the relays was 24v....also helped me get my head around the system and put off going out in the cold a bit longer.

First job was to identify diesel pump feed and return. I then identified the heater matrix feed and return by running the engine (heater on) and seeing which pipe got hot first. ITs important that the heat exchanger fuel and water flow in oppositie directions. I then mounted the heat exchanger in a convenient place where it could easily recieve all pipes.



I cut the fuel supply line from the original tank, put the inline filter in and connected to the H-exchanger.

Then i cut into the van heater pipes and inserted the t-pieces. ITs important that the Heat exchanger is fitted across the circuit (ie you cut into both pipes) you can just make out the blue t-pieces on the bulkehead. The gold thing is the inline temp sender which actuates the switchover relay once 60 degrees is reached - this is fitted in the return line.


next you need to find a suitable location for the supply valve...this switches between Veg oil and diesel. Then connect the fuel outlet on the heat exhcanger to port R. ITs a heavy thing so a good vibration free mounting is required.



so thats the heat exchanger in, supplied with hot water and veg oil. Now to the diesel.

The auxiliary diesel tank can be mounted anywhere and can be any size - too small and youll be filling up forever - too big - you loose space - Mine 22L - as i have a van i have fitted mine behind the front seat so it can be easily filled through the sliding door. IT should be properly secured - the ratchet strap came with my kit on 'special offer'.



as its inside (we sleep in this van) I need the tank to breath outside....so i fitted this small pipe - again this came with the kit.



Then fitted the tank in place and marked holes in the floor for the breather and fuel supply.



and thats as far as i got last night.....time so far....4 hours. More to come.

[rusty69bus]

is that the chip van coming

nice one in running two stroke bikes you used to be able to get stawberry favour oil, any plans
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[sven]

Great setup!

As Rich says it means extra work, but I must defend the biodiesel. I have been doing batches from both pure veggie oil (RME) and from used restaurant oil (FAME). Of course it will be expensive to go for it with virgin oil if you have to buy it. My old friend on the other hand, who's a farmer, produces his own oil and he has a cost approx 15% of the gas station prices.
When it comes to restaurant oil, it's a bargain every time. I happily run my VW Touran on biofuel and it runs like a dream. And to you guys who are pessimistic - it's even confirmed by VW that the car is ok with biodiesel, they even have there own service code for biofuelled cars.
The processes for home brewery are exactly the same as the factories uses, it has also been quality tested and passes the Swedish diesel standard, highest of them all.

I'm following two mailing lists for home brewers with great interest and I am going to make my own processor. In fact if my weeks were less full with work it had already been built...

Cheers!
Sven


PS. Here's a picture on one of my first test batches. The bottom layer is glycerol, the rest is biodiesel.

[richbaker78]

a cold an frustrating night last night......

I spent some time routing and connecting the new diesel supply pipe. Fortunatly Mercedes left me a nice clip all the way - new pipe is the bottom one. This also has an inline filter fitted as well and eventually leads tothe supply valve.



INside I made sure the pipes were out of the way and clipped togetehr so they dont get caught on the seatbelt etc.



then on to thetime consuming part - the return valve and diesel therm. This must NOT be the highest point in the system....in a vito this makes life hard as theres not much space so after a lot of thinking (this is where i wasted a lot of time) i found a space behind the headlight which would allow good fuel line access.



all that remains now is to fit the electrics and make a few last fuel connections.

That lot took me a further 3 hours.....so thats 7 hours so far.

[richbaker78]

Next up was the wiring....this is my personal worst bit of anything so I wasnt looking forward to it.

The kit comes with 3 assembled looms and a wiring diagram.....but theres also a list of wiring allocations so I used this. The first job was to decide where to mount the relays / fuse box (this comes pre-assembled) and identify a good earth point, switched live and permanent live. SO first i loosely laid out the loom in the engine bay and got out my ,multimeter....



Being diesel theres not a lot of electrics in the engine bay that wouldnt involve me using wire extensions etc....so I used Starter feed, heater live (switched) and a common earthing point i found behind the airbox. Once I had these suseed I zip tied the relays and fusebox into place (eventually to be properly mounted). Its important to ensure the adjustable timer on the flush relay is accesible. (you can just see them above the brake res)



now the nerve centre is in place - its just a matter of joining coloured wires to various solonoids etc. The kit comes with spade connectors etc so you dont need anything extra. This is connecting the Return solonoid. YOu can see lots of extra wires - these are unused so got wrapped up and cut later (once I know it all worked) heres.



I found it easier to spliut the ready made looms insulation and pull out individual wires then tape the loom closed again - this way most the wires remain protected with only short runs outside of the loom. It also gives more flexibility to locate wires where they are needed.

The worse bit....running the loom for the dash controller....first i decided on a location, then removed a million pieces of plastic and then drilled a hole in the bulkhead coming out near the relays....this is the most awkward and time consuming part if you have a Vito!!



controller basically has two positions - diesel and veg oil. It also has a manual and auto setting. ON auto the engine starts on diesel and as soon as temp is reached it switches over. Manual is self explanatory!

So that was the wiring.....now everythings connected...seemed easy....but will it work??

Well i decided that before I find out i needed some fuel. No going back now............



I decided for testing purposes to use clean oil - 20L cost me £13 at the cash and carry. This way I would know any issues wouldnt be down to clogged filters etc. i filled up the diesel tank and then bled the system through.

Bleeding involves cracking of an injector (ones enuf on a vito), operating the controller in a certain way to open and close valves and turning the engine over to prime the pump. ONce juice is coming out the injector...nip it up again. You do diesel first then get it running on diesel until it reaches operating temp. then do the same with veg oil.

to my amazement....it all started and ran..... up to this point took me a 5 hours - so a running total of 12 hours. ill come back to how well it ran in a minute....

All that is now left to do is tidying up and snagging - for me this involved putting the dash back together, securing wires, tidying things up so they dont get caught on stuff and making a proper mount for the heat exchanger. This is important if you cant mount on the bulkhead. I cut a piece of steel and used some spare rubber bobbin mounts...you can just see them in the pic. The bracket will get tideid up later as by this point it was midnight and I had an appointment in portsmouth the next day...plus the neighbours dont like me using my grinder at that time for some .



Once everything was back together, secured and tidied and water was topped up (dont forget this bit!)....I had a celebratory cup of tea MADE SURE i SWITCHED TO DIESEL before turning off the engine and went to bed!!! this last bit of tidying/ snagging took me two hours somehow...

SO beginning to end thats 14 hours.

TESTING

SUNDAY MORNING 8AM - approach van hoping I allowed enough time for system to flush so it would start on diesel (or I would have to wake very unhappy g/f to come and re-bleed the system with me!!).....fortunatly it did start. so i set off on my 200 mile test drive. after 1/2 a mile the LEDs come on to tell me ive auto switched to veg oil. So i floor it and make it to portsmouth with no problems.

Its an odd feeling - something is different about the way it runs - I dont think its more powerful but its certainly smoother and quieter. Low down performance is certainly better and it seems to cruise more easily. Of course its hard to tell which part of this performance is down to my no longer driving with an eye on the fuel guage but theres certainly something different and better I cant clearly describe.

MPG - i havent calculated but i think it may have improved slightly...not that I care now becasue i drive for free

Final checks....in portsmouth I was helping my mate do his head gasket....of course it got dark before we finished so I used my van for headlights and left it running for an hour at idle....this allowed the engine to get up to 100 degrees and fully pressurise the water system - a tiny spray of water under pressure showed a loose J-clip - nipped it up and job done. Made the journey home - no drama.

So thats it......conversion finished. Next up - set up my fuel staion and filtering system.

[trev]

well done Rich, you've really made it look easy
Happy motoring in the chip van
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http://www.veewrx.com

[richbaker78]

cheers... it WAS easy. its nice just to follow some good instructions for a change!!! ratehr than be fabricating stuff from bit found in the scrappy.

Hardest bit was working out what goes where really. Would recommend DieselVeg kit for quality, support and ease of fit to anyone.

[sven]

I've noticed a smoother engine since I started to blend my car too. Besides that, it doesn't puff diesel smoke anymore when I floor the pedal.

Great work Rich!

[richbaker78]

First Problem......

last night i checked the level in my diesel tank and was shocked to see a lot of it had gone....I checked my main veg tank and sure enough the low fuel light had gone off and the diesel magically appeared there instead!!!

At first I thought a problem with the pipes being wrongly connected...but a call to diesel veg and they diagnosesd an incorrect purge timer setting. This is the flush setting so when I change back to it it should stay on for maybe 30 seconds....mine must be set for longer. A simple twiddle of the setting screw should solve it.

[richbaker78]

progress report: 500 miles so far.....and no drama. Now running on recycled oil begged from chip shops, pubs and anywhere else. IM trying to stock pile this as the longer it settles before I use it the better.

MPG seems to be ridiculous...I havent calculated it but im beginning to think my fuel gauge is faulty its dropping so slowly! Ive sorted the purge timer mentioned above and it now sips diesel.

I have changed the fuel filter (£7) which hasnt been done in my ownership and probably not for some time becasue the performance has been transformed. IM going to perform a biopsy on this at some point and see how mucky it is and whether my veg oil filtering need revision.

Loving driving around for almost free....

[jp]

I can confirm that the smell from the exhaust is actually quite pleasant better than nasty diesel smell IMO.

Top work and write up BTW
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1971 Devon Bay with 1800 Ford Turbo Diesel Engine (wip)
1972 Triumph Spitfire MkIV 1500
1999 Passat TDI Running On Chip Fat
2002 Golf GT TDI 150

[ElusiveStranger]

Nice one Rich.

Get down to Mucky D's and get their old fat. Then you could say "La la la la. I'm lovin' it!" (sorry guys, couldn't resist)
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