Hi Lowgear,

I bought mine from the local Home Depot, but that was a couple of years ago now and I couldn't tell you where the best deals lie at this point.

My tank has the one port  near the bottom that is normally used to drain the tank.

There are four ports on the top... Cold in, Hot out, Pressure/Temp safety valve and the port that is normally occupied by the sacrificial anode rod which must be removed.  (I didn't use this port and it is currently plugged with a 3/4 plug.)

On my tank all five ports are 3/4 NPT which made it simple to organize the plumbing. My system draws the oil from the bottom port to a chinese made gear pump and sends it back to the old "cold" port on top via a glass re-enforced clear tube. Enroute it passes through a manifold that allows me to either pump out oil or draw in the Methoxide.  The pump is driven through a flex coupler by a 1/3 HP motor. Also found on this manifold is a cheepo automotive temperature guage sender to lets me keep track of the working temp of the reactor.

The old "hot" port has a "T" plumbed in where the vertical port is used as a gravity port to introduce the Acid and alcohol for the Acid/Base two stage process that I use. The horizontal port is home to a pressure gauge that allows me make sure I don't exceed the safety margin of the plastic hose mentioned above. I let my system pressurise to 10PSI then the heater switches off. This is a 100% safety margin for the hose I use.

The old "safety" port has a "T" plumbed in that has the original pressure/temp safety valve screwed into the vertical port and a nipple that fits my compressor hose in the horizontal port. I use this port to lightly pressurize the tank to aid in draining it.

I disconected the upper heating element as there are times when it will be above fluid level... and I really don't need the exitement that might follow an electrical heater burning out that is exposed to alchol vapour at 160 degrees F.

There are lots of shut-off valves in my system that allow me to completely seal the tank if needed.

If you go this route be sure to remove the 1.5 meter long thinwall plastic pipe that you will find inside the cold port before adding your plumbing.

I hope this helps, feel free to PM me if you need more info!

R.

I think that any effective down ward pressure on energy prices is still quite a long way off... As David says, the free market can and will control the prices of basic commodities... but most people I know don't look at oil/gas/electricity as a descretionary purchase. To most folks energy in the form of oil/gas/electricity is a cornerstone of "life as we know it" and they will do/spend just about anything to retain access to it.

Combine this with a demand that is growing exponentially and a free markets tendency to charge what he market will bear and we have our current situation. Made worse when one needs to spend a large amount of this costly energy in the process of earning enough money to pay for the energy... it makes my head hurt!

What I'm seeing locally is that more and more  household income is being tagged for energy costs at the expense of just about everthing else. David is correct in observing that this trend is not sustainable... but the huge question is "How far will it go before a significant percentage of the population adjust their expectations"...

And what will the world look like once those expectations shift and our need to move around in multi ton, chrome plated living rooms on wheels is replaced by.... what???

we are living in interesting times folks!

Rob.

I live just outside of Vancouver British Columbia and having watched the price of gas/diesel/natural gas/electricity hike uphill over the last few years (O.K. so now it's not hiking uphill, it's sprinting!) I'm very glad that I do most of my heating with wood. Untaxed, renewable (from our wooded lot in the Kootenays) and not under the control of a government agency or foriegn owned company.

We attracted a little attention a few years back when some bean counter noted that our gas/electrical consumption did not seem to change from summer to winter... had to convince them that we were not stealing energy. It's never been a problem heating our 2,600 sq ft house with the wood burner in the basement.... we go through about 2.5 cords a winter.

My costs for home brew bio diesel are about $.50/litre and that is going to drop to close to zero when I finish converting the 1 ton to WVO. There is absolutely no way on earth that I could even think about running a truck like this if I had to pay pump prices...I simply don't know how people that don't have access to alternate fuels do it... fuel prices here in Vancouver have doubled in the last 4 or 5 years.

On a more cheerful note tho... we just completed a round trip to the Kootenays in a 2006 TDI Jetta wagon and made the ~1,200 KM round trip on just a tad more than a single tank of BIO D. This represents three 20 litre totes of fuel at a cost of about $36.

Rob.

Hello All,

I don't have a Lister/Listeroid (yet) and have spent much time lurking and learning... I do have a fair bit of experience in home brewing Biodiesel tho and can offer the following:

I have found that if the used oil is even slightly acidic the two stage acid/base method is the only way to get consistent good results. Trying to process oil that titrates at 3 or higher will produce huge amounts of soap and sometimes the entire batch will gel and need to be dumped.

The "appleseed" type of reactor does the job without venting toxic fumes and can be constructed cheaply. Do a google search and you will find lots of examples to work from.

Small batches first and careful measuring/note taking are the key to success here... I made several 1 litre batches before moving to a 20 litre mini reactor then the full size 200 litre appleseed. It's much easier to dispose of 1 litre of glop than 200!

Getting the fuel properly washed and then thoroughly dried is time consuming. It's easy to get impatient and rush things, which will leave you with water in the fuel which will clog up your filters with what looks like mayonaise. water contamination will be more evident as the temperatures drop. I heat my fuel to just above the boiling point of water after the washing stage and agitate it to release steam. This seems to leave the fuel completely dry.

My cummins powered F350 has run on my own B100 since I swapped out the gas burner for the Cummins 5.9 about 80,000 Km ago. The only fuel issues I have had were fuel gelling at temps below 35 degrees F.  The engine smokes much less on Bio, gets slightly less mpg and if there is any power difference between the two fuels I can't detect it.

I have also run a 2005 TDI Jetta on B100 since new... about 35,000 Km. on it now. I mix Bio with regular diesel in the winter to combat gelling, and if it gets too cold I simply switch back to dino diesel.

The latest addition to the fleet is a 2006 TDI wagon. That has run on B100 since new also and now has about 12,000 Km. on it. The same dino mix or switch to 100% dino is done when the temps drop to near freezing.

I hope this is useful to those contemplating making your own fuel.

cheers,

Rob.

Hi All,

I agree with Russell... If you're going to seek out a single guru for all things biodiesel.... Mark Alovert (Girl Mark in her postings) is the one to turn to.

For a good example of what a reactor looks like go here...  This is not mine... but is very close.

http://www.cybernet1.com/mcquaid/Appleseed%20proccessor.htm

couple of cautions.... I would strongly advise all newcomers to the biodiesel process to experiment with small scale (blender batches) runs first. When you are confident, move up to a 20 litre pail and then the full scale reactor. This is particularly important when you are dealing with heavily used waste oil that is acidic and needs the two step (acid/base) reaction. 

The whole process is very simple, but there are some subtle things to look for and it is much easier to deal with a blender full of goo than 175 litres!  (ask me how I know this!!    )

The Methanol/Sodium Hydroxide solution is NASTY...it will turn your skin to soap faster than you can wash it off.

When dealing with small batches in an unsealed pail there is a strong possibility that a lot of the Methanol will fume off. If you lose enough the reaction will halt and you will be left with Goo or gel. Plus the Methanal fumes are both toxic and explosive.  Make sure you have a lid of some sort on your reactor.

Fore warned is Fore armed as my Grandfather used to say!

Good luck!

Rob.