First Biodiesel Tank

Beat me too it D, I was about to say I hope you have the spare filters ready. But after that it is all good from what I hear.

Sadly I have just gone the other way, bought a car running on b100 and have had to run it on normal diesel since I bought it and I can notice the difference. Now black smoke and I consider it to have less power than when I first bought it :-(( So that's a big vote of confidence on my part for the b100.

Cheers, Trevor.

Yeah I've heard that, but I've done nearly 20,000kms on straight B100 and only just changed the filter the other day (only because it was due, no other reason).

Member - Jeff M (WA) where do you get your 100 % BioD from in WA? Are you in Perth?

www.melbournebiodiesel.org/

I'm not sure where their figures for an 8% decrease is... I got an improvment after I reset my ECU as BD has a higher cetane level. (the equiv. of higher octain in ULP). Perhaps the 8% decrease is for engines that have not been tuned for it and or are in colder climates.

I think once the engine is reasonably clean it would not clog up for a while. Switching would not present any problems. I have only this one tank and no reliable source either but will be getting it as much as possible from here on. The guy who gave it to me wacked a sticker on my rear window saying "I prefer Biodiesel". Well after getting home in the car tonight I now agree with the sticker, but I cant always have it.

How many tanks of biodiesel would you expect to use before the filter would need to be changed.

I am off next week to Qld to pick up my new van and was thinking that I might try a tank whilst up there and then fill up for the trip home. If the cost of flushing out the system is 1 fuel filter then it might be worth it, but then due to no reliable source locally I would have to go back to fossil diesel.

I would say the first full tank will produce the most sludge and then it would tail off quickly. I cant see a problem with one tank, change your filter and then it should be ok. If the stuff is cheap you could do what I am doing and get a few pastic tanks and take some with you so you at least get a good run instead of only 1 tank full. I can get it at 200L a time. I even know one guy who takes around 200L in his diesel pug to travel interstate as its a BD only vehicle.

A couple of times over the last 6 months I have had to stop ont he way home from a trip at put $20 bucks of dino diesel in, no effect whatsoever, you'd never know the difference other than the black smoke instead of white smoke when you turn the key.

one thing to watch is that because this is a solvent process, the higher the temp the more effective the "cleaning".

Consequently, run it for a long time on a hot day or very hot day is going to clean more out ... so wait until you have a hot day before replacing your filter.

Cheers
Andrew.

I was thinking of filling up in Brisbane (seems like there is only 1 outlet selling Biodiesel in Brisbane) and then again about a week later when I am bringing my new van home (about 550K) and then changing the filter when I get home.

Just in case it needs replacing on way home, I will carry a spare.

Hopefully a tank and a half will do the job.

Usually a few tanks would be necessary at least, to really get most of the gunk.

If you're carrying a spare (in case it does clog up) and you have no need, I would wait until I had done a few hotter weather tanks.

Cheers
Andrew.

OK, thanks for the info, will give it a go.

What, no changing filters going from bio to normal diesel?
How long do you run on normal diesel before going back to bio?

My understanding is the "normal" diesel puts crud on the inside of fuel lines and then the bio comes along and cleans it out again, but this crud ends up in your filter. maybe it takes years of "normal" diesel to build up enough crud to be of problems when changing between the two fuel sources. If so I may be able to try bio in my GU after all??

Good reliable source of b100 in Willow Tree (1/2 way Bris-Syd), also good reliable source up here in Brissy but nowhere else to my knowledge and I travel all over the east coast regularly so I would have to go between the two fuels if I went the bio option.

Thanks for any info you can give me.
Trevor.

Nah the "sludge" is normal from YEARS of build up, not a couple of tanks here andt here. You will have no problem whatsoever mixng, matching and swaping BD with DD.

pfft, 2-5% why bother! At least Gull over here are doing B20 at the bowser. Personally I stick to the B100 as long as it's chepaer (it's getting close at the moment to the Gull B20, paid $1.25 per litire at the Gull bowser to top the tank up before my next delivery of B100 arrives. B100 is only about 5cpl cheaper at the mo.

In terms of using less fossil your right, 2% is a crap idea. But I think it punches above its weight level in emissions. I haveent got a source but something I read once seemed to say that adding a little bio reduces emissions for example by 20%, way above the 2% added. I think it could have been higher than 20% tho. Still I cant see a lot of value, I think B50 minimum.

Barty,

There are lots of BioD homebrewers in Oz. This site isn't the best place to find them, try this link instead for a start. Site Link

This link shows someone in Perth with a similar setup to the link you gave.
Site Link

Tim
Running on new or used Vege, BioD 100%, Dino at a pinch - whatever makes it go.