First off I'm new to grease! Getting excited about this and I have done a lot of reading. No conversion yet due to lack of funds, and I need to do more reading to figure out what I need to make bio with a 55 gallon drum for a processor. On to my question...

I can't seem to find out if there is a "sure-fire" mix to blend with? I live in Northern California and where I am it's getting "cold" right now, lows are in the 30's but not everyday. Highs are in the 50's, mostly 60's, so it "warms up" later in the day.

I'm planning on running about a 25% WVO to 75% ULSD mix but I know I need to cut the WVO some how to get the viscosity down. I've read I can use RUG or kero, and what I've seen is about 1 gallon RUG or kero to 4-5 gallon WVO? Will this be enough to cut it? Which should I use, or does it matter? If there's something else I should use I'm open ears! I was going to mix the WVO and the thinning agent before mixing in the tank to make sure I get it mixed well. I'm setting up my upflow settling unit right now and I've got about 70 gallons of lightly used rice oil to run through it.

The truck is a chevy duramax and I've got an on-board 2micron pre-filter before the OEM fuel filter. I figured this would give me a little extra protection after I upflow-settle, de-water and polish my WVO before mixing. The oil will go through a goldenrod unit and a 2 or 5 micron filter after the upflow process and before it gets into the truck.

Am I missing anything? I can't test my oil for water yet but I get it from work and it usually comes right out of the fryer when I get it. Most of the time it's still "warm-ish". I know I need to be careful about partially solidified fats, but I figure in this "cold" they will settle to the bottom in one of my settling tanks. In the summer I wont worry so much because it stays in the 70's and up all day and night. It's just this winter chill I'm worried about right now. If someone would help me out and give me the "secret" recipe (if there even is one?) for thinning WVO I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

-David

25% wvo to diesel,mixed good before filling is ok.Be sure to cold filter animal fats out,as they will cause filter plugging.

Anything added to WVO that is a lower viscosity than the WVO is technically a thinner. At 75% diesel you are already thinning enough for those temps in my opinion, especially if you have all the animal fats out of the WVO.

I live in Ohio and it gets below zero around here, last winter I ran straight diesel. This winter I'm experimenting with blends of WMO (waste motor oil), my current temps are similar to yours and I'm running 50/50 with no trouble. Anyway long story short I just got done setting up my winter settling of my WVO reserves. I've got a 250 gallon IBC full with "good" oil and 2 drums of OK oil and one drum of "trash" oil that I'll probably get 10-20% good oil out of in the spring. I also have a drum of clean cold upflow settled oil that has had one pass through a 1 micron filter, I'm gonna let it sit all winter and check for any fallout etc. The main point here is if I had it to do over again I would have started collecting 6 monthes before I started using it in my van, settling is by far the best means of getting good oil in your system. Well settled oil also keeps your upflow system much cleaner. I just cleaned out my upflow system and the primary drum was half full of gunk and water. I've built new drums for double upflow, a primary and a secondary. Both drums have 1.5" pipes welded into the bottom edge with PVC valves for cleanout. I hard plumbed a 25 micron filter between them. It works buy putting oil into the funnel of the first drum for primary settling and dewater, out the small bung, through the filter then into a standpipe in the second drum, then out the second drum small bung into my mix barrel. For a 25/75 mix like yours I would run 10 gallons through the system into the collection drum and add 30 gallons of diesel and stir well then recirculate with a 1 micron filter for a few hours prior to pumping into the van. The garbage off the bottom of my drums will go into my "trash" drum for further settling. I've been toying with making it an upflow as well, then when I see junk come out of it I would know in needs cleaned out. I have been thinking of a big valve for this, like a 3" possibly but time will tell.

I thin with what I have, old RUG, diesel, kero, sometimes a little "clean" waste toluene or naptha. I love naptha as a thinner and my van seems to like it as well. In the summer my favorite blend is 80 WVO, 15 diesel, 5 naptha.

I get a power increase running WMO vs. WMO so if I know I'm gonna be pulling a big load I run the tank low on my WVO blend, add a few gallons of diesel and run that low, then add in 50/50 WMO/diesel and a touch of naptha. Don't mix WMO and WVO as they seem to polymerize or something, you get little plasticicky chunks.

This works for me --

Awesome.... this helps a lot... looks like I'm in better shape than I thought. Sometimes when I read TOO MUCH paranoia sets in and I have to check my self


Thanks for the reassurance. I'll try to get some pics of my filtering setup once I get it finished up. I've been collecting slowly from work for about 2-3 months now and all my oil has been settling this entire time. Thanks again for the help!

-David