With the ever climbing diesel fuel prices, looking for an additive/ replacement fuel type.

Have heard people using cooking oil (vegetable oil) from their local chippy etc, filtering it and slapping it into their cars.

Besides maybe a legal point of view, is their any preference as to whether vegetable / or / sunflower oil could be used, straight out of the supermarket??

3 litres of vegetable / sunflower oil about £3.20, straight off the store shelf, compared to £3.60 + for pure diesel, which seems to increase weekly.!!

Your views appreciated, especially those already doing similar savings.

Have a read of this old thread and make your mind up

Thanks for that info 'Sausage Roll'

Asda 3 x 3l for £5 - I make this 55p a liter

Main problem seems to be the higher viscosity of vegetable oil breaking the injector pump.

My theory is - a car is designed to operate at -20 deg C, so you should be able to operate with vegetable oil (at a higher temperature) when it's viscosity is the same as that of diesel at - 20 deg C. So what is that temperature?

Found these graphs - and it explains the magic 80 deg C pre-heater figure given for SVO conversion kits.

http://voconversionbasics.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=3578278

Extrapolating these graphs I would guess that operating with 25% vegetable oil during summer should not be a problem.

With the ever climbing diesel fuel prices, looking for an additive/ replacement fuel type.

Have heard people using cooking oil (vegetable oil) from their local chippy etc, filtering it and slapping it into their cars.

Besides maybe a legal point of view, is their any preference as to whether vegetable / or / sunflower oil could be used, straight out of the supermarket??

3 litres of vegetable / sunflower oil about £3.20, straight off the store shelf, compared to £3.60 + for pure diesel, which seems to increase weekly.!!

Your views appreciated, especially those already doing similar savings.

since you seem to be running a PD I wouldn't put this in at any price, you will have trouble eventually with the glycerine not to mention cold weather, if you must use this, convert it to bio' or get an old fasioned car with a Bosch pump cheers nic

Bad info in my previous post

Asda 2 x 3l for £5, I make that 83p/liter

Must put my glasses on next time.

Have a read of this old thread and make your mind up

Good thread although there are loads more threads than that some going into far more detail.

OP - Search is your friend. I know they are there, I must have posted in hundreds of them.

On the legality angle

SVO

It seems that HMRC does not class Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) as biodiesel. You are therefore required to pay full Road Fuel Duty on every liter you use. To stay legal, using SVO will almost certainly be more expensive than using diesel.

BIODIESEL

There is a personal allowance to produce up to 2500l of biodiesel at home without paying any Road Fuel Duty. However HMRC are insisting that your biodiesel meets EN14214. If it does not meet EN14214 then you will be liable for the full Road Fuel Duty on all the biodiesel you have produced over the past 6 years. Again if you have used virgin oil it will work out more expensive than diesel.

If you use Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) the same applies, if it doesn't meet EN14214 you are liable for the full Road Fuel Duty, but if you didn't overpay for your WVO then it may not hurt as much.

If you produce more than 2500l per year then you must pay Road Fuel Duty. However biodiesel produced from waste vegetable oil is charged at 20p less than biodiesel produced from virgin oil. This is why people are paying over the odds for waste oil. Again if their biodiesel is found not to be EN14214 compliant you may get a bill for the last 6 years Road Fuel Duty - and this has happened.

Clearly the tax man is not encouraging us to produce our own biodiesel.

Bad info in my previous post

Asda 2 x 3l for £5, I make that 83p/liter

Must put my glasses on next time.

But they're also doing 15l of veg oil for a tenner, so 66p per litre

Shame I discover this as soon as I trade in my Bosch pumped 1.9Tdi that ran beautifully on veg oil for a 1.6 CR that apparently doesn't

Given that HMRC are holding the sword of damocles above biodiesel producers...

Lets say ordinary diesel at £1.17

Full road fuel duty at 56p

Biodiesel processing costs 10p

That leaves only 51p per liter for the base stock (SVO or WVO)

If you meet EN14214 you win by 56p, if you don't meet EN14214 you still win by 1p. Pay more than 50p and you could be the looser.

(I have seen as much as 99p for WVO on ebay, and the best price I have seen for SVO is 55p)

Just getting into all this myself.

We have a 98 peugeot 306 1.9D with a bosch fuel pump.

I have just put a 75%/25% diesel/veg oil mix in the tank to see how I get on and will be going to 50/50 next time.

I got it from Morrisons. Not the cheapest at 97p a litre but just wanted to grab some to try and it's still 18p a litre cheaper than diesel so saved a few quid.

Thinking of getting myself a barrel and some filters and getting hold of some used veg oil.

Phil

Just getting into all this myself.

We have a 98 peugeot 306 1.9D with a bosch fuel pump.

I have just put a 75%/25% diesel/veg oil mix in the tank to see how I get on and will be going to 50/50 next time.

I got it from Morrisons. Not the cheapest at 97p a litre but just wanted to grab some to try and it's still 18p a litre cheaper than diesel so saved a few quid.

Thinking of getting myself a barrel and some filters and getting hold of some used veg oil.

Phil

Apart from the fuel cost in pence per litre and the extra fuel filters (and possible engine effects), how does the energy per litre cost stack up? I've no idea - it's just a question. If you get less mpg then this might alter the costs considerably. In the 'old days' many makers of fuel economisers claimed customers having great improvements; actually it wasn't the device that made the difference, it was the change in driving style as the user had become economy concious.

I've been running my Octavia SDi on Straight Vegetable Oil ( SVO) for 4 weeks now and it runs like a dream!

You are legally allowed to use up to 2500 ltrs per year without having to pay duty. To quote HMRC:

4.2.1 Exempt producers/users

If you have produced or used less than 2,500 litres of:

any biofuel, or

any other fuel substitute or additive

within the last 12 months, and/or expect to produce or use less than 2,500 litres in the next 12 months, you are an exempt producer and do not need to register with us and account for duty. However, there are simple record keeping requirements, which are described in paragraph 4.9.1.

Production includes the manufacture or processing of road fuel, and the setting aside of any product that has not been charged with duty, with the intention of using it as road fuel.

4.2.4 Can vegetable oil be used or sold as motor fuel free of excise duty?

Vegetable oil (unused and used, processed or unprocessed) that is set aside or intended for use as motor fuel is liable to duty unless the producer is exempt as described in paragraph 4.2.1. Vegetable oil producers and retailers who make and supply their oils for cooking are not liable to register and account for duty on their sales if the oil is subsequently used as, or to produce, motor fuel. Cooking oil producers and retailers who supply direct to fuel producers and distributors are not liable for duty unless they have set aside all or part of their production as motor fuel. In these scenarios it is the fuel producer or distributor who is liable to register and account for duty.

Ok so just decided I will only use new vegetable oil as processing the waste is just a hassle!

I now have access to a Bookers wholesale so can get veg oil at 82p per litre wuich isn't too bad and using a 50/50 mix will save me £9.47 per tank at the moment. Not a great deal but hey... that's a few pints of beer there!

Glad to hear everything is going well on pure veg oil. Just watch for any fuel leaks around the fuel pump apparantly this can happen with pure veg oil and also you WILL need to mix it down with some diesel in the winter I reckon.

Do you have any problems with pulsing engine revs from cold? This is quite common too.

In regards to the power you get from veg oil apparantly it's no worse than diesel and no worse on fuel consumption either. My car certainly isn't any slower and just covered 265 miles with just over half a tank left and it's been thrashed around no end the last few days!

Phil

Edited 7 September, 201015 yr by philje123

Costco KTC cubies work out at just under 75p per litre!

Edited 8 September, 201015 yr by TouranMan

A guy at work had an Astra Van, he started off with mixing Vegetable oil with Diesel and found it good going, he then got greedy and went full Vegetable oil, few weeks later it stopped and refused to run, everything was clogged up took ages to clean out. He admitted it was a Bad idea going full oil.

I've done almost 1500 miles on SVO now, changed the fuel filter twice as a precaution. I've been mixing it with around 10% 'misfuel' the past couple of weeks too to thin the oil out a little.

The car cost me £500, spent about £150 getting it through the MOT, water pump, cam belt and in a few months, the car will have paid for itself on the fuel SAVINGS alone from my previous car (mk3 golf 1.8)!!

I did my research beforehand and there are lots of people running on pure veg for LOTS of miles. Just make sure you do your homework!! Www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk is a very informative website!

Edited 9 September, 201015 yr by TouranMan

Well i'm now on my 6th filling of veg oil!

Been putting 2x 20 litre bottles in then topping up with diesel (it's a 60 litre tank and normally takes about 15-20 litres of diesel).

Still doing well on fuel consumption and it's no slower either.

The only problem I have had is a 'pulsing' from cold but reading on the pug306 forums this is normal and is related to the auto advance mechanism inside the fuel pump.

Phil

Have a read of this old thread and make your mind up

I thought the S stood for swill, either way I love both

Veg oil is NOT bio diesel

Running a PD diesel on Veg oil is a bad idea

Know someone who runs 70 veg 30 diesel on an SD no problems at all over three years (once or twice paid by a chippy to take the used oil away, however this is messy, you have to filter it and let it settle then drain water off)

VEG OIL HMRC want full exicse duty in addition

Bio diesel HMRC allow 2500 ltrs per year

Veg oil available at Lidl or Aldi at 30p pl on offer though a bit like the PC's and TV's offer Thursday arrive ten minutes after opening and none left :-(

RED DIESEL available at £50 per 50 gallon drum delivered, I have never dared this route, but in 47 years driving and over 3.5 million miles I have NEVER ever been stopped and checked unlike white van man

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