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Basically when you heat oils -
they become less viscous. Cooking oil can be made to flow and
combust with similar properties to diesel fuel if it is heated
sufficiently. So, by heating vegetable oil, it can be burned in a
diesel engine.
Next is the servicing of a vegoil
vehicle. The service intervals should be reduced - the engine oil
and filter should be changed more regularly to prevent engine
damage while the fuel filter should be changed more regularly to
avoid it clogging. It is good practice to always carry a spare fuel
filter in the vehicle...
And finally this leads us on to
the fuel. The biggest savings by far, both financially and
environmentally are to be had with used cooking oil. This is a case
of collecting the oil from a local restaurant, pub, hotel, canteen
etc. filtering it to remove the microscopic particles (to say 5
microns) and pouring it straight into your fuel tank. You need
to make sure the oil is 'lightly' used to prevent it from being
fatty, watery or acidic. It must also be kept clean and dry. It can
take some effort to start with but this can be a slick operation
with the cooperation of an understanding chef. You visit regularly
to drop off some empty containers and collect some full ones. Good
clean dry oil with no waste at all. The oil is collected for free
and since you can use 2,500litres per year before paying duty then
it is potentially completely free, a saving of £50 to £80
per fill up in a typical diesel car.
Another option is to
buy vegetable oil in bulk like you would heating oil
(either pumped into your storage tank or delivered in a 1m³
container). We do not recommended that you buy cooking oil from the
cash and carry or supermarkets (for many reasons including the
amount of waste packaging, extra journeys, inconvenience to other
shoppers and for ecological reasons).
Much more info regarding
conversion requirements for specific vehicles and issues to
consider before converting to vegoil can be obtained from the UK's
most active messageboard http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php
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