a question for the veggie oil gurus

[bobofthenorth]

In another couple of weeks we're going to do a pitchfork fondue for 200+ people.  Some friends of ours want to impress their customers - little do they know.   

Anyway, at the end of the evening I anticipate having around 10 gallons of well used canola oil which I intend to strain through a coffee filter, dump back into the containers it came in, take it to the bus and dump it into the tank.  Should I expect problems?  Seems to me that 10 gallons in 100 shouldn't be a major issue.  Its $40 worth of oil - my scots nature won't let me dump it.

[Chaz]

I'm no "guru", but there were a couple people in Florida that have done/do this. Hopefully someone else can elaborate.
I do know the most important two things in burning VO is filtering it good - 5 micron or smaller - and heating it before it goes into the engine. But when you mix it.......... I dunno. Hopefully it will be fine.

   Chaz

[Hartley]

I would let it settle for about 2 weeks if possible. Then filter off
with a 2 , 5 or 10 micron filter of some kind. I don't remember what
coffee filters are rated at. If it is very clean you might not need to
do any settling.

Adding 10 gallons of clean veggie to 100 gallons of diesel should work fine
as long as you are careful to filter it.

I ran over 1,000 miles with a 70% veggie/ 30% diesel filtered to 10 micron
in 3 passes and had no problems.

I have seen guys pull brown WVO out of a tank, run it through a sock filter
and into their running tank all in one step. I am not quite that brave but have
run some pretty dark brown oil in my Isuzu which I sold a while back and only
sacrificed a fuel filter or three.

Dave....

[Chaz]

Thats cool Dave, good to know.

Oh, and by the way, there was a list someone posted about fuel additives because of the new low sulfur fuel and VO was one of the better ones! So it would seem that it is even "good" for the motor in small quantities.

  Chaz

[bobofthenorth]

I would let it settle for about 2 weeks if possible. Then filter off
with a 2 , 5 or 10 micron filter of some kind. I don't remember what
coffee filters are rated at. If it is very clean you might not need to
do any settling.

Maybe I'll stack 2 of them together. 

Adding 10 gallons of clean veggie to 100 gallons of diesel should work fine
as long as you are careful to filter it.

That's what I thought but I wanted somebody to blame if it doesn't work out well.   

[Hartley]

Uh... Don't blame me if things go wrong..

Always keep a spare set of main filters handy just in case.

I always made the statement about what works for me may not work for others.
I do tend to be an idiot at times trying stuff just to see if shortcuts will work or taking the long road is better.

I ran WVO straight out of the fryer (filtered to 10 micron) in a kubota diesel generator for 2 years. Never a drop of diesel even to start up. Although a spritz of ether (glows off!) to crank when cold was needed. I still have some of the oil in an aluminum aircraft tank and even after 2 years it's still viable and usable.

I would swear that I got better mileage on my 6V92TA (MUI) running the mix that I do when only running diesel.... Yet I am probably crazy too....

Dave....