Cooking Oil and Diesel.

[ginaa68]

Found this and thought I would throw it open to the "Bio Boyz" on the forum to elaborate - HCR do you know anything on this?



"There was an article is todays ST about the Police mixing 5% cooking oil
with 95% diesel, which apparently is fine in an unmodified vehicle and
results in slightly greener/more sustainable operation.

The odd bit is that they got the idea during a clampdown on drivers who were
using this technique to avoid fuel tax.

This seems very strange to me. If you own a car, and if you buy some cooking
oil, what exactly makes it illegal to pour the cooking oil into the car's
fuel tank? Not that I would try it myself, as I don't drive a diesel and in
any case I would take a bit of convincing to do something that extreme just
to save a few percent of my fuel bill.

This doesn't seem much different from "avoiding" fuel duty by cutting out
non-essential journeys or easing of the accelerator a bit.

Incidentally, the article does point out that the Police pay duty on the
cooking oil they use. Fine example of joined up government. Not sure exactly
how Joe Public is supposed to do this, our local Tesco doesn't have a
customs desk. People can just walk in their, buy foodstuffs and then just do
what the hell they like with them without anybody checking whether there are
any additional taxes to pay based on what they intend to do with the goods
once they get them home."

Gaynor

[mike tilley]

Well I'm not HCR (I believe he's the expert around here on fuels) but as far as I'm aware as soon as you put the oil in your tank you are now using it as a fuel. When you then drive that vehicle on the public roads that makes the fuel taxable if you havent paid the tax already.

If you wish to run your vehicle on vegetable oil/Biodiesel you have to inform customs & excise and they will send you form EX103. I believe the duty is 27.1p per litre on top of what you've already paid for the oil. Once you've registered they send you a form each month and you tell 'em how much you've used and then they bill you.

Hope that answers some of your questions :)

[HCR]

Well I'm not HCR (I believe he's the expert around here on fuels) but as far as I'm aware as soon as you put the oil in your tank you are now using it as a fuel. When you then drive that vehicle on the public roads that makes the fuel taxable if you havent paid the tax already.

If you wish to run your vehicle on vegetable oil/Biodiesel you have to inform customs & excise and they will send you form EX103. I believe the duty is 27.1p per litre on top of what you've already paid for the oil. Once you've registered they send you a form each month and you tell 'em how much you've used and then they bill you.

Hope that answers some of your questions :)

Correctomundo.

H

[discodrew]

I'm thinking V seriously about converting my 200 tdi disco to run on PPO using a system from www.elsbett.com (http://www.elsbett.com)

HCR, have you had any dealings with them at all?

They reckon I'll need a 2 tank system but I'd rather not have the diesel tank in the boot using up space so I'm thinking just the fuel heater side of things and making my own single tank type.

I'd be interested to hear of anyone's stories regarding the use of veggie oils as a fuel.

discodrew

[ginaa68]

Well I'm not HCR (I believe he's the expert around here on fuels) but as far as I'm aware as soon as you put the oil in your tank you are now using it as a fuel. When you then drive that vehicle on the public roads that makes the fuel taxable if you havent paid the tax already.

If you wish to run your vehicle on vegetable oil/Biodiesel you have to inform customs & excise and they will send you form EX103. I believe the duty is 27.1p per litre on top of what you've already paid for the oil. Once you've registered they send you a form each month and you tell 'em how much you've used and then they bill you.

Hope that answers some of your questions :)

I wondered how the tax man dealt with this. I know kids from years back used to experiment with stuff like this on motorbikes so it isn't a new idea so I guess then you have to find the cheapest bulk source of veg oil then do your maths. How much cheaper does it work out comparing it to a full tank of petrol/diesel??

Gaynor

[mike tilley]

...How much cheaper does it work out comparing it to a full tank of petrol/diesel??GaynorIt all depends on how you go about it.

If you use straight vegetable oil (SVO) you can buy 20ltrs of it from Costco for about £8.80 which works out at 44p a ltr. Plus 27p for C&E = 71p per ltr. As diesel is about 90p a ltr where I live your saving 19p, which I guess aint too bad if you use your motor alot.

Trouble is because SVO is thicker than diesel so you can quickly knacker your fuel pump if it can't take the extra viscosity. Most people recomend you do some kind of mix, say 50/50 SVO/Diesel which helps thin it out. Either that or you can fit a seperate tank which has a heater to heat the oil to make it thinner. Of course buying a tank or doing a mix means the expense goes up.

The other option is to make Biodiesel. This can be made from waste vegetable oil (WVO) or SVO but requires some extra chemicals to remove the glycerin from the oil. The beauty of this method is that if you can find a local chippy or take away who are willing to give you their used oil for free (as they normally have to pay for waste disposal), you only have to pay for the chemicals and C&E which often works out cheaper than the other route.

Of course all of this is perhaps secondry to the environmental benefits...I believe that adding just a small amount of biodiesel or SVO to your tank can greatly improve it's emissions :flower: :)

[HCR]

I'm thinking V seriously about converting my 200 tdi disco to run on PPO using a system from www.elsbett.com (http://www.elsbett.com)

HCR, have you had any dealings with them at all?

They reckon I'll need a 2 tank system but I'd rather not have the diesel tank in the boot using up space so I'm thinking just the fuel heater side of things and making my own single tank type.

I'd be interested to hear of anyone's stories regarding the use of veggie oils as a fuel.

discodrew

Elsbett is a well regarded company, and one of the early leaders in SVO kits. I would really go for a heated system in a 200TDi as otherwise you may be tempting fate a little.

There are plenty of people running on neat WVO too, by the way -0 you just need to filter/wash/neutralise it first. Imagine driving for 27ppl!

H