TheRecklessEngineer Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 An electrical heater for veg is a complete waste of money...but that is a different subject. I must confess I have never heard of anyone using an electric heater to melt the low melting point fats in bio-d, but I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work. It would take an enormous amount of energy though (at least 200W at a guess) and wouldn't start heating your filter for quite some time. It seems much more realistic to me to use either a heated filter (Normal fiter, but with a coolant heated base - mostly fitted to peugeots) or a heat exchanger just before the filter. I have always had a heat exchanger in my disco for this reason, and have never had a filter block before it has got warm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 Should be fine IIRC the flash point of Diesel is around 60celcius so as long as the fuel is kept below that all should remain ok. the Heat exchanger on the DV twin tank system never got over 48celcius, under bonnect air movement must have kept the temp down Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troddenmasses Posted December 20, 2007 Share Posted December 20, 2007 I had heard a rumour that diesel fuel quality is getting worse & worse & that is why the common rail high pressure fuel systems have been brought in to help burn the lower quality fuel. This could be complete rubbish but it does kind of make sense. Absolutely not true, i'm afraid - it is all manufactured to a european standard. It is regularly tested, and can't be sold if it goes below that standard. It costs money to go above the standard, so the people running the refinery do everything they can (including buying laboratory instruments from me) to hit the standard exactly. Diesel fuel in America is much poorer grade, and one of the problems that engine manufacturers have is optimising a world-wide engine for both US and European standards of diesel. Common rail fuel systems have been brought in for one reason only - to enable engine manufacturers to get through the tighter and tighter emmissions regulations that are put into force. For years, there has been a trade off between NOx and particulates - now that balance cannot be won by older type engines, so common rail is the only way forward. It gives poorer economy, is heavier and MUCH more expensive, but governments decide that they want lower NOx results and no particulates out the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbeaumont Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 Should be fine IIRC the flash point of Diesel is around 60celciusso as long as the fuel is kept below that all should remain ok. the Heat exchanger on the DV twin tank system never got over 48celcius, under bonnect air movement must have kept the temp down Flash point for biodiesel is higher, though I can't remember exactly what it is (or should be - given ideal quality). SVO will be higher still. I've just spent a very enjoyable evening syphoning the tank on the Discovery. Took nearly two hours to syphon it into jerry cans, and there was some right much came out in the first lot from the bottom of the tank - lots of semi solid fats. No wonder it was blocking the filter... I would have been very happy to remain in ignorance of the condition of my boot floor, too! Numpty that I am it didn't occur to me to get an extra jerry can to fill with fresh diesel, so we had to tow it to the filling station, but it's now running happily (took it for a decent run to be sure) and a good deal smoother and quieter than it did on bio. Don't think I'll be experimenting with biodiesel again Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freeagent Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 I reckon its just the wrong time of year for 100% biodiesel... I've been running 50% SVO in my 300Tdi all summer with no problems, but about 6 weeks ago it started running very lumpy and smoking quite a lot... I started running a much weaker mix - 20% SVO and it was much better. I've had a couple of tankfulls of proper Bio from a local place lately, but he recommends mixing it 50-50 with dino-derv when its below freezing, as even with his additives it will still thicken up when its really cold. I'm on almost 100% dino-derv at the moment, but will be back on the bio, and SVO when it gets warmer. come the summer I'll hopefully be on 90% biodiesel, which at 89p per litre will make a bit of a difference... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest weeble Posted December 21, 2007 Share Posted December 21, 2007 A local cooking oil supplier to me used to produce and use his own reclaimed road fuel from the returned oil he collects from commercial food outlets. He used his own road fuel for approx 1 year before realising the money he was saving was being used up in more frequent filter changes and breakdowns on his fleet of Sprinter vans and a couple of lorries. So if you are willing to filter your fuel before use, change your filters more often and drain the tank when the filters start blocking frequently I suppose you may save some money. With regard to SVO I would think the above dosen`t apply as it isn`t contaminated?. I for one will be sticking to ordinary mineral Diesel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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