Hello. I just came across this board, although I have been blending settled, filtered waste cooking oil with diesel fuel for a few years. Looks like yall have some interesting discussions on here. As you can tell from my "signature", I have a lot of equipment that is diesel powered. I blend up to 50% filtered used cooking oil with diesel in my non-computerized diesel engines and around 30% in the computerized engines (Liberty, '03 Cummins). Vehicles/equipment I have:
'03 Dodge 3500 4x4 with Cummins
'96 Dodge 3500 4x4 with Cummins
'05 Jeep Liberty 4x4 with "CRD" (2.8L VM) diesel
'87 Mercedes 300D diesel (3 liter, inline 6, turbo)
Kubota M9000 4x4 cab tractor (90 horsepower, turbo, intercooled)
Kubota TG1860 diesel riding mower (19 horsepower N/A 3-cyl D722, 54" deck)
Miller welder/generator unit with 19 horsepower Kubota D722 3 cyl
Fuji 3300 watt generator with Robin DY27 air cooled diesel engine
4000 psi pressure washer with Yanmar L70 engine
30 ton firewood splitter with Yanmar L70 engine
Champion 30 gal portable air compressor with Yanmar L100 engine
Rear tine garden tiller with Yanmar L75 engine
2" water/trash pump with Yanmar L70 engine
Other engines for future projects:
600 cc inline 2 cylinder, water cooled Kubota horizontal shaft
2V75 Yanmar V-twin vertical shaft, liquid cooled (plan to repower a zero turn mower)
Acme 8 horse air cooled (from a BCS tiller)
Nissan SD25 (naturally aspirated 4 cylinder) from a forklift
5.9L 185 horse Cummins turbo diesel

At work, I also repowered our hot water pressure washer from a 13 horse Honda gas to a Yanmar L100 (10 horse) diesel, which we use at the shop. I set up a portable pressure washer and air compressor using the Yanmar L60 engines, which stays at a customer's place where we have a full time mechanic. There, they run 15 forklifts (and our compressor and pressure washer) on B20 biodiesel.
Our four service trucks are Dodge with the Cummins diesel

I want to find a small (prefer non chinese) air cooled vertical shaft diesel engine for my 22" cut push mower, just so I can convert my last gasoline (non 2 stroke) piece of equipment to (bio) diesel.
Another alternative: I have considered setting up a alcohol (moonshine) still for personal consumption and to run the push mower, as well as my 2 stroke equipment (chain saw, leaf blower, weed whackers). If I do this, I may also consider refining my cooking oil into true biodiesel, using the alcohol, instead of methanol if possible. I prefer to convert the lawnmower to diesel if there is an engine available. Any thoughts?

If you have a good supply of oil,your're lucky.

I have a VERY good supply of oil. I am good friends with the lady who owns the restaurant. She has a 10 gallon fryer and a 15 gallon fryer. She changes them once a week. I have a 250 gallon tank behind her restaurant. In 250 gallons of oil, I may get 5-10 gallons of "sludge" (saturated grease, water) after letting it settle a couple months in the closed container after collecting and hauling from the restaurant. It is GOOD oil to begin with, then I settle and double filter to 10 microns. NO problems, as long as I keep it at a 50% or less mix.

Welcome to the board.

Can't help you on your search but I'd be interested if you do find one as I'd like to do the same with my lawnmower. I'd also like to put a Yanmar on my snowblower, were can I find one at a good price?

rsr911, I found all my Yanmar engines on either craigs list or e bay. Stay away from the chinese clones, as they are JUNK. Yanmar makes AWESOME engines. We have been using them for years with literally NO problems. Between myself and my company, we have 12 Yanmar air cooled engines, one Lombardini (air cooled) and two Fuji/Robin air cooled engines. Zero problems from any of them. I like the Yanmar ones best.

John galt, I settle the oil for about two months in a 250 gallon plastic tank with a drain valve at the bottom. I drain the "sludge" off the bottom, which is water and saturated (animal) fat. I then filter it with a 10 micron filter when I transfer it to the next 250 gallon tank where I blend with diesel and pump out for use. As it is pumped out, it is filtered again with a Goldenrod 10 micron "waterblock" filter. I have never had a water issue, even with the high Georgia humidity. I change fuel filters on the vehicles every other oil change (which is overkill) and keep spares for the equipment. Since using this process for over a year, I have never had an issue if I keep my Summer concentration at or below 50% and my Winter concentration at or below about 30% oil.

rsr911, I did a little searching and found a Hatz vertical shaft, air cooled diesel engine that would work on a push mower. Search for "Hatz air cooled diesel". I used the dogpile search engine. Looks awesome! Would be one unique mower for sure...I will seriously have to look into this!!!

It is the 1B20
if a link will post, I will post it here:
http://www.hatz-diesel.de/index.php?id=72&L=1

quote:

Originally posted by TheDieselNut:
It is the 1B20
if a link will post, I will post it here:
http://www.hatz-diesel.de/index.php?id=72&L=1

I have a 1B20 in the horozontal version.
It is much quieter than the Yanmar and Chinese engines I have and has the sensors for temp and oil pressure built in as well as electric start. Mine is wired to a control board which enables remote starting and shutdown in the case of over temp or low oil or fuel pressure. It is also much easier to start than the other engines having some sort of automatic decompression system that allows you to just pull on the cord and off it goes rather than having to set the decompressor lever manually.

The verticle version would be great on a mower but they seem too big for a push mower. You would want to check the bolt pattern on the engine is the same as the mower deck because I have a feeling it is the rideon size not the standard push mower size. I don't know the actual specific diameter but I know there are a couple and they change at about the 5-6.5 hp rating and I think the diesels have the larger pattern even though they are the smaller HP rating. You would also want to check the shaft length and diameter. My Horizontal engine is just the standard 3/4 size which should be right for push mowers although some are 1"

In any case check these things out before you by an engine or a deck.

I'd love to have the same setup myself.
The mowing contractors here all go for Honda engines over the B&S crap as they last so much longer. They would never wear out one of these Diesel's!

DCS, It says it uses the same bolt pattern as a "comparable" gas engine, which I am sure would be the 5-6 horsepower range, as the smaller HP rated diesels usually do the job of the larger HP rated gas engines. I have a mower deck with a 5.5 horsepower Briggs (junk) engine. The deck and wheels are great. It is still a nice unit with a junky engine. I will use this mower for the transplant if I do it. I would love to find a used engine or one on a piece of equipment that was not needed...
I have never had any problem with starting Yanmar engines. Even the biggest rope start ones (L100) always start right up. The little Robin DY27 I have on my little generator starts right up and it does not have a decompression lever or an oil adding port like the Yanmar ones. It has the oil pressure switch you mentioned the Hatz has. How much did you have to give for your Hatz engine? Have you seen any of the vertical shaft versions? Damn I would love to have one!

John galt, well, as I mentioned, I let the oil settle for about two months, then drain any "sludge" out the bottom. I have never had any problem with water. Actually I saw more signs of water when I was running regular diesel than since I have been blending. I used to see bits of rust around the inside rings of my fuel filters on my trucks. I have never had a water in fuel light come on in my 15 years of having diesel trucks and equipment.

quote:

Originally posted by TheDieselNut:


How much did you have to give for your Hatz engine? Have you seen any of the vertical shaft versions?

The Horizontal version I have of the engine has the std bolt pattern, I just thought it would be good to confirm which one the vertical version had before you spent any money on one.

I bought my engine used as part of a package which I got very cheap. Here the horizontal engines are upwards of $2500 but I expect they would be cheaper in NA as everything seems to be.

I have never seen a Vertical engine in the flesh but the pictures I have seen of them give the impression they are substantial. The horizontal engine I have is considerably larger than the B&S and Kawasaki Petrol engines I have of the same or greater HP. You might have to find a mower deck with sufficient space and watch the Hi-arch type decks as they may well foul an oversize engine.

I reckon if the Chinese started producing a vertical diesel that fitted on a mower deck they would sell thousands here. People in the country and on the land love Diesel everything and would jump at the chance of a diesel Mower.


Co-incidentally enough, I had a problem with a Hatz engine I borrowed from a friend on the weekend. The Bio dissolved the injector return hose and the thing started spraying Bio everywhere. I'm worried now what else may be in the engine that the Bio will effect. I think In future I'll flush the fuel system with dino when I put it away to prevent and deterioration by the Bio. My Chinese engines don't seem to have suffered any problems in this regard although I do usually run at least a 50% WVO mix in them which they don't seem to mind at all.