Hello sotba,

Are you using the oil for school and education purposes? I have some oil that I will donate for the cause if you are interested. I am close.

Email me dgfishel@hotmail.com

Steve,

My previous posting was the late Methanol I purchased and it works out to 4.89/gal., it make me half sick to know it wasn't that long ago it was only 2.18/gal. Your post about using a vacuum pump is very interesting, you will have to go into more detail for us. I currently heat my oil on a turkey fryer to get it hot and to check for water, your method might save me time overall. I have rearranged my garage to make it more useful and expect to start another batch of BD in the next few weeks. I am also pursuing another source of WVO, now that I have a truck and a car, a batch doesn't last very long. My methanol still is on the list for getting completed, I have put it off too long, I will post photos when it is completed.

Hello Mr.B!

I got the idea about using a vacuum pump from a fellow who attended Mark's advanced class at Dickinson. He uses a hot plate for dewatering for titrations, but dewaters and brews a batch in succession in his processor w/ a vacuum pump attached. I have a 55 gal drum for WVO w/standpipe that leaves 10 gal at the bottom. I never had very good luck with the plain 'ol settling method. I tried the vacuum pump for the first time last week, and it pulled enough vacuum that it pinched my soft lines shut, so I couldn't circulate and dewater at the same time, but the process worked very well overall. I plan on replacing vinyl hose with iron pipe and trying again. The fellow at the class said he would on average get a cup or two in about 2 hours, and then immediately proceed to methoxide injection...

Mr. Fishel, thanks for the generous offer of the WVO. I am a low volume brewer and (finally) have a steady supply of decent quality oil. I was basically "venting" about the cost of methanol.

Steve

Garageman,

Sorry for the late post, but I use a two tank process. I have a 60 gal secondary cone-shaped tank that I use for both washing and drying. I plumbed spray nozzles in the top for mist washing. After mist and bubble washing, I bubble dry in the same tank with a "duct booster" fan suspended in the tank opening. My tank is in my classroom, so I bubble dry overnight when the building is vacant. After 3 nights, the fuel is crystal clear. I double-check for H20 by putting a drop of fuel on a 325 deg. laboratory hot plate- no bubbles, no worries!

Steve

Howdy All, Its been a while since I posted last. Steve I saw you post where you said your going to replace your hoses with black iron because of using a vacuum pump. They make vacuum/preasure hoses (reinforced), they are kinda pricey (possibly less expensive than black iron though) but you can get them from McMaster Carr. Sometimes its too darn hard to hard plumb things. Doing soap tests before drying are also a good idea if you are not already doing those. Just an Idea. Keep Up the good work in the classroom

Tim A

It's now been almost a year since I went to Jon's place to watch him make Biodiesel with a couple other guys from this forum. I'm now happy to say I can devote some time into getting something together to make bio-d, but I need some help.

Since last year, I've been casually looking for a, free to me, hot water heater; I finally got one in good shape. No leaks and I was told the heating element works. The person just replaced it because it was 20 years old and she wanted a more efficient heater. I also have a source for WVO, so I now need the pumps, tubes, and what not.

I emailed Jon to see if he could send me a list of parts that I needed, but just in case his email addy had changed, I wanted to post here.

Can anyone point me to a source where I can get a list of parts needed? I know I need some pumps and fitting, but I don't know the size. I also know I need some barrels, but I have a source for them.

Other then the parts, I also know I need Methanol and Lye. Can someone point me to a source? I really want to get this started.

BTW, what's it costing these days to make a gallon of Bio-D? I'm asking because I'm doing this purely for a cost savings. The way fuel prices have been, I can't afford to drive at the current price of fuel.

Thanks,

- Dae

Hello Dae, 'been a while! Good to see you're still pursuing BD. My rough estimate for producing biodiesel is about $1.35/gal using local methanol and mail order KOH in 2lb containers. I used the appleseed parts list from "biodieselcommunity.org" to build my processor. The plans do not include washing/drying hardware...

Can't afford to drive??? Time to think about a little diesel car! Steve

OK I don't know how this works but here goes.
My name is Brian. On Friday I bought a 1984 Mercedes 300SD turbo diesel with the intent of running it on biodiesel. I am looking for a fairly local group of like minded individuals to work with and gain information. Up to this point I have not met anybody in person that is the least bit interested in alternate/renewable energy so I have been on my own and operating on pure theory.
My initial concern is to do what is required to get the vehicle converted over for biodiesel. I have read that the hoses need to be replaced and to carry extra fuel filters for when the system gets cleaned out from using biodiesel. I can buy biodiesel near me and will probably do that since I have never seen it done and I don't need another variable in my experiment. I intend to use this as my daily commuter and my commute is only 12.5 miles each way so I would probabaly not be able to warm up WVO in time to use it before I have to switch back so a WVO conversion is not in the near future. If this becomes a highway cruiser I will happily reconsider.
I am located about 4 miles from the intersection of 10 and 30 near Parkesburg. I would be very interested to watch biodiesel be made and to watch a car be converted.
I had hoped to get a 1 cylinder diesel engine to make a small CHP arrangement to try biodiesel out on in a less critical role but that seems impossible for some reason and this came first.
Thanks you for your time and don't hesitate to email me if you wish.
Looking forward to learning.
Brian

Hi Brian.

Welcome to the forum! I have a MB or two. My daily driver has been operating almost entirely on B100 since June of last year. You really do NOT have to do anything to the car to burn biodiesel in it; however, there are a few things you MIGHT want to do.

First --- the questions:
Was the car being driven as a daily driver when you purchased it?
Are there service records with the car?
Do you know when the oil and oil filter were last changed?
Do you know when the "secondary" fuel filter (spin on) was last changed?
What does the "primary" fuel filter look like -- clean or dirty?
What does the air filter look like -- clean or dirty?

I'm not familiar with the SD model, but there are a lot of common stuff between it and my 300D & 300SDL.

If the maintenance has not been done on the car, do it.

Brian,
I don't know much about those vehicles, but I brew a good chunk of bio when its warm. I'd be happy to have you over to participate in some brewing. I am in the middle of assembling my 2nd generation shop, so I won't be at it for at least another month, but send me a PM and I'll let you know when the Longacre Lab is back in action.
Jon

daw,
Thanks for the welcome.
What I know about the car:
I got it from the owner of the NAPA parts place next door to where I work. He got it when it was 6 months old when a friend of his decided to trade it in on another Mercedes or something like that so I guess that technically makes it a 2 owner vehicle. It was his wifes daily driver until about a year ago. Then it was driven a couple days a week as a delivery vehicle. Then I looked at it in November and I think he stopped driving it at that point because maybe I would buy it. I hemmed and hawed about spending this much on a "science experiment" and also got forced to replace my current daily driver in a hurry but finally after new years and getting another car I made the offer and he accepted. Then he needed to get the title because he lost his then he had to make a letter that gave him authority to sell the company owned property to a private individual and get another officer of the company besides himself to sign it and get me and him to the tag place at the same time and that was friday. Then he couldn't find the key so he ordered one and it should be here tuesday.
I believe he maintained it well but I can find all the answers to those questions. It was inspected in October. He mentioned he had all the scheduled maintainance done right down to having the injectors changed every 100K miles. I think it has about 213K on it. It really wasn't for sale. I'm not sure he really wanted to sell it but I don't think he wanted it sitting either. He knows what I'm going to do with his baby and I think it makes him nervous. He talks to NAPA dealers all over the country and he hears reports of big problems with "Biowillie" fuel in texas but that may be just people throwing it in a truck that has used regular diesel and the resultant sludge that gets broken loose clogging filters and such. I would prefer that I not kill his car.
I also have access to my stepson who was a lead mechanic at Mercedes here for about 8 years until last month. He would have offered more for the car than I did so I figure it's OK. We will probably go over the car once I actually get it home. He can point me to all the filters.
I think it has a 5 cylinder and the only thing I know for sure is my insurance agent told me while I was adding it to my policy that the replacement cost when new was twice that of the wagon so it seems it is some kind of "special" car. I always end up with them somehow.
Well that's the saga up to this point. Hopefully I will get this together and be on the road with it.
Brian

Brian.

Sounds like you might have found a "good" car.....hopefully, there is no rust on the jack points or elsewhere on the car.

My new daily driver, "Coda", took her maiden voyage tonight running on homebrewed B100. I think she liked it. She really liked the car wash and then the engine degreaser and engine wash. She has all working bulbs including the under the door courtesy lights. Black interior is quite nice. The back seat almost looks virgin. The driver's seat needs springs; and it has a 2 inch split on the seat bottom and about a 3 inch split on the back --- normal wear spot near the door. I'm going to try to use a passenger front seat to make a new driver's seat.

Once you get the car home, we can go into details offline unless folks want the information here on what to do to your car. My guess is.....brew biodiesel, wash the biodiesel good, pump it into the tank, and drive your new Mercedes. Does the new gal have a name yet?

daw,
I think the car will do well for this test. There are a couple of small rust spots on the body at the ends of the trim. The clearcoat is coming off. There are a couple of scratches in the paint. The front seats have tears in them and the back seat is in better shape but not really good. I suppose that's the best to expect for 24 year old leather.
I can actually buy biodiesel around here so I am going to do that in the begining. I have never done it and I don't need another variable. The fact that it's a diesel is a variable in itself for me. There are so many foolish little questions like, If there is no ignition system to kill power to with a switch, just what exactly does turning the key off do to actually stop the engine from running?
This is the level I am coming from.

Since it is intended as a solution to the oil problem and it is silver, I'm leaning towards "The Silver Bullet". I'll get some pictures up on my website when I can. I will be thrilled to add this experience to my site. I have oil heat and last year I used 551 gallons. I used about 500 gallons of gas in cars so if I can run this on B100 all the time I will have cut my total oil usage almost exactly in half. This would be very good.

Brian

quote:

Originally posted by Brian1:
daw,
I think the car will do well for this test. There are a couple of small rust spots on the body at the ends of the trim. The clearcoat is coming off. There are a couple of scratches in the paint. The front seats have tears in them and the back seat is in better shape but not really good. I suppose that's the best to expect for 24 year old leather.

The fact that it's a diesel is a variable in itself for me. There are so many foolish little questions like, If there is no ignition system to kill power to with a switch, just what exactly does turning the key off do to actually stop the engine from running?
This is the level I am coming from.

<CUT>

Brian

Brian. Whatever you do.....just do NOT go over to this website Just kidding. You need to come join. The ignition switch turns OFF the vacummn going to the IP. Vacummn leaks or hoses knocked off can cause the engine NOT to shutoff when you turn the key to off. Raise hood and press down on the red STOP lever on the side of the engine near the IP.

Front seats can be found in the junkyard. I'm going today in the hopes of finding one for my new daily driver --- the driver's seat is shot. Get in and it goes almost to the floor.

Here she is.
http://home.comcast.net/~bigvid/mybiod.html

looks like a nice car, Brian. What color is the interior? I did the front brakes on "Coda" tonight. First time I've ever done brakes!!!

Hi Brian, welcome to the forums.

I live near Lansdale and work in Malvern. There's a group of 5 or 6 of us in the area that make BD. I've been making it for 2 years and since I heated my house with it this winter, I made it all winter too. You're welcome to come over to help brew a batch. Send me a PM if you're interested.

All the best.

daw,
The interior is black leather. It is not as cracked as I thought but it is still cracked and needs some attention. Congratulations the brakes. I have done lots of brakes. I do much more work on cars than I want but I can't seem to get the job done right when I pay someone else and when my car breaks I need it fixed now not when the mechanic has an opening in his schedule in 2.5 weeks.

Brian

Brian,
I checked out your MB on your website. Best of luck with your biodiesel experiments. I started out putting commercially produced BD in my Jeep while working on a processor. Now finally after a few months work I have brewed my first batch using the GL Eco System 1-Day process. Great success. I was also impressed to see your other alternative energy stuff on your website. We burn woodstoves for heat and I am putting a solar hot water system in my workshop/BD shed for heat and process heat. My Dad is putting a large solar PV system on his barn, so I am eager to learn as much about this stuff as I can. I would be eager to collaborate on any alternative energy projects so keep in touch. I am in Lancaster County.

Al, regarding the "ecosystem 1-day process":

Huh?

Steve