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[tidla]

i know theres a few veggie burners out there so..

i only do short journeys so preheating the oil using the coolant is a waste of time.

thinking of using the glowplug set up to get the oil hotter,quicker.

the question is how many plugs would you need to sufficiently heat the oil for the flow reqd of 2.5 engine?

[I_want_an_Omega]

The other option you can look at is a Kenlowe Hotstart electric engine pre-heater.

This is basically a mains powered 2.4 kW heating element & pump which is plumbed into the cooling circuit (usually in circuit with the heater matrix).

It then heats the water and pumps it around the engine. Its on a thermostat and cuts off when it gets to about 80c.

I fitted one to my V6 some years ago and it would heat the engine up to normal temp in about 45mins.

Ok, so you need to have access to mains power - so where you park is key, and also being able to plan when you start it. I had mine on a remote control switch which I would turn on when I woke up, the car was then nice and warm when I wanted to leave. It's great for when you go to work on an icy morning.

When you start the engine the temp needle basically goes straight to warm and you get instant heat from the heater too.

These devices seem very popular with the Autobhanstormers, but I've not heard of an OOFer with one. I don't have one on my car at the moment.

A lot of modern diesels have a fuel powered heater which burns fuel to heat the water to aid rapid warm up. I think the 2.2 Dti Omega  has one.

HTH

[Sixstring]

Have fitted LOADS of them over the years to Ambulances and "standby" vehicles. A good thing to have, as long as you remember to disconnect the car before driving off........a colleague of mine that had one I fitted forgot one cold morning, ripped all the wiring out of the wall socket, fused the house trips, and made a hell of a mess of his plastic rear bumper!!

Incidentally........Kenlowe make a nice 12v fuel heater on a timer for only £30 or so, try that?

[I_want_an_Omega]

£30, seems far too cheap for the job in hand. I'll take a look at their web site though.

[Sixstring]

Apologies.....£30+VAT is AFTER we get 40% disc for trade. RETAIL price is £61.35 inc vat.

[Iain]

Someone clear this up for me please?

Am i wrong in assuming that veg oil is not really much cheaper per litre than diesel?

I bought a 1 litre bottle of veg oil the other day and it was £1-odd, like 1.03 or something

[Varche]

The trick , so my brother advises me, is sourcing your veg oil cheap. e.g. used frying oil. Then filter it and then process it in your "still".

I thought the same as you Martin, a couple of years back sunflower oil here in Spain was about 80% the price of diesel. It soon increased in price to parity. Supposedly because all sunflower oil in the EU can only come from farms that use controlled chemicals, pesticides and so on. That excluded dubious stuff from eastern Europe (apparently).

[Iain]

I just cant see how going to all the hassle of finding a source for cheap dirty oil, then going to the bother of filtering it, fitting pre heaters etc etc and then using in the car could really be viable

Surely its not that much of a saving? by the time you take into account,the filtering set up would take up your garage and would stink! then the car when running smells like a chippie!

For all that hassle i think i would just get a smaller car that used less diesel....

[Sixstring]

"BioDiesel" is for sale here in Lydney at 0.83p per litre, ready filtered and perfectly clean. Has already been treated with Ethanol, and runs really well without waxing. The trick is for every three fills of Bio, fill once with ordinary diesel fuel.
My neighbour swears by it, his Toyota Avensys loves it, you just change the fuel filter every 3k. (£5)

[Iain]

Yeah mate,i used to own a Pajero 2.8TD and a lot of guys on the forum used to run bio fuel...a lot of them reverted back to normal diesel as over the piece it didnt save a great amount

My opinion on my Omega is... i know what it is and i know how much fuel it uses.. if i was bothered about fuel economy i wouldn't have it
Its like when i ran Monza's as daily cars,i accepted they were thirsty
Thats why i haven't bothered with LPG either.. i just dont see the point of trying to get better mpg or cheaper running costs
I bought the car i wanted and i knew how it was going to empty my wallet so now i live with it
And if it gets too much to live with, then i'll get something which does 45 mpg as standard... simples!

[Varche]

I just cant see how going to all the hassle of finding a source for cheap dirty oil, then going to the bother of filtering it, fitting pre heaters etc etc and then using in the car could really be viable

Surely its not that much of a saving? by the time you take into account,the filtering set up would take up your garage and would stink! then the car when running smells like a chippie!

For all that hassle i think i would just get a smaller car that used less diesel....

No hassle for a "spiv". In fact some places are only too keen to see the back of it!  Horses for courses. No such thing as a free lunch but if you get the scale right the economies kick in. And cars running on Bio diesel actually smell quite nice compared with the cloying back of throat diesel smell. 

[P_Russell]

A friend of mine runs his Volvo estate alsmost exclusively on fryer oil sourced from a  school canteen.  He just filters it and chucks it in, smokes like a good-un and smells like Grimsby docks but its free fuel.  Done this for several years with no problems.

[Sixstring]

VOLVO DIESEL=AGRICULTURAL ENGINE=FEW PROBLEMS

Wonder what some of the more recent TDi's would run like on it??

[andyc]

just off topic a bit but i knew someone who put heating oil in his van and was suprised when it all pack up, had to have the complete fuel system renewed

Andy

[Varche]

I bet they aren't the only ones. I suspect most people don't tell everyone my vehicle packed up as a result of trying to save money by using unadulterated ......