Topic: anyone makin biodiesel

[PA Formula 78]

I was wondering if anyone on here has a set up to make their own biodiesel.  I have 05 Ram with a cummins and have started looking into making or buying a processor, and was wondering if anyone here had any experience with it.  Would be nice to have fuel for under $1 a gallon, as compared to almost $3 a gallon now.

[HOMER]

my dad bought some off of a guy for in hiss roll back, ran just the same only smelled like french fries lol made you kinda hungry when you drove it

[turbota400]

A friend of mine makes it and it cost him a hunk of cash to get all of the equipment but now he gets the oil free from the chinese restaurants in exchange for geese that he shoots during goose season.  He said he gets better power and mileage at a fraction of the cost.

[77tafrommo]

my brother makes bio and run's it in his GMC. The initial cost as I remember it was around $1000 for the equipment he purchased. The only problem he had was initially finding a restuarant to supply him with oil.....once he had a supply of used cooking oil he was ready to go. The only other issues he has had is that Bio does not like cold weather and will thicken so tends to run very little in the winter months.

[turbota400]

It shouldn't be hard to find a source for oil though.  Most restaurants pay to have their oil disposed of.  You would be saving them money.

[Rick]

All good ideas, but be sure you don't run afoul of the tax man.  By law, ALL fuel used in vehicles driven on public roads MUST have the applicable fuel taxes paid on it.  You are breaking the law if you don't pay that fuel tax.

The big catch 22 in some states (like the Republik of Illinois) is that in order to pay the fuel tax, you have to have be a registered fuel producer/distributor.  A couple of years ago some private citizen got jumped because he was recyling cooking oil in his VW Rabbit diesel.  He was tagged for not paying the fuel tax.  So he tried to cut a check to the state.  The IL department of revenue rejected the check because they didn't have an account to credit it against.  So the poor sap tried to get an account, and found out that the state legislature (in their wisdom) had decided that you had to produce/process a minimum of 15,000 gallons per year to qualify for an account -- anything smaller wasn't worth their time and effort in administering the law.  It took a special act of the Illinois State Legislature for this guy using recylced cooking oil in his VW Rabbit to get square with the state.

BTW -- that's why farm fuel is different color than road fuel -- the dye in it indicates whether or not the fuel tax has been paid.  You can be arrested for using farm diesel in a truck operated on the public roadway.

And people wonder why I'm opposed to the government taking over the health care system...

[jphillips3333]

It's just more taxes Rick.  Just pay it and let the gov't take care of you.  That's what it's all about.

My brother-in-law does this with his Mercedes.  It's messy and the dogs always want to lick him after he's finished...  also, same experience as 77tafrommo - it does not like the cold and he had to heat the crankcase.

[pat]

BTW -- that's why farm fuel is different color than road fuel -- the dye in it indicates whether or not the fuel tax has been paid.  You can be arrested for using farm diesel in a truck operated on the public roadway.

we have farm plates in pa that allow you to run farm gas on the street and no state inspection but you need to own a farm