Heating the WVO/biodiesel

I have read alot on here and other boards about the WVO/biodiesel systems. One common thing is to use the engine coolant to heat the oil fuel. Problem - engine must run a while to heat the oil up and no cold starts on WVO/bio.

One thought bouncing around in my head is to use/fabricate a 24 volt heater for the tank or put a separate 12v system in and use a 12v heater in the tank.

Another idea maybe in conjunction with above, is to insulate the tank and put a 120Vac heating coil around it to plug in overnight(on a timer) so the tank is hot when you want to start up on oil.

thoughts anyone?.

If your truck has a coolant heater for cold starts you could just plug it in on a timer, My m1008 will be getting a 1500Watt heater that mounts inline in the heater hose before winter comes this year. That would be plenty to heat up your tank enough, but be sure to insulate the lines though.

If you are running your truck on a large percentage of WVO, then heating the fuel in the tank only is not going to be sufficient. Think about the cold cooking oil in the filters, fuel lines and IP.
...and you will also need to heat the fuel while driving, so a coolant heater in the tank will be needed sooner or later.
A two-tank system solves most if not all the problems. Run on diesel until WVO mix is heated and switch over.
Shutting down on diesel also leaves nothing but diesel in the lines, filters etc for an easy start in any weather and it also keeps the acidic cooking oil from doing long term damage to the internals of the IP and so on.

Just my 2 cents...

heating

What I am trying to accomplish by this idea is to minimize the time on diesel/idling time.

I would still use the two tank system but for a much shorting time. My driving time to work is only 20 minutes so I need something else besides idling for 30minutes before I drive.

Anyone aware of a 24 volt tank heater?

RE: heating

What vehicle do you have in mind? In your part of the country, heating may not be an issue at all.

heating

In the winter here( Northwest corner of New Mexico) it does get cold and snow. Summer is ok, low of around 50 degrees F. This will be in my deuce I am getting next month and would like to try and save money on my comute by using WVO.

Your articles on this are great by the way, thanks for all the info

RE: heating

I am working on a two tank system myself right now and am thinking about getting an AC tank heater set up so that I can just plug the tank heater up and put in on a timer to start heating early in the mornings before I head out to the hunting camp. I am trying to figure out how to set up a system that would allow me to get the heater started and then circulate the fuel in the veg line back through the tank to heat it up so that I could switch over after just a few minutes of run time on the truck.

RE: heating

Found these guys, they show a 24v inline heater and a 24v tank heater(basically pads on the outside of the tank). They also have 120vac heaters.

http://www.arctic-fox.com/


Maybe with a heated tank, heated line and a heated filter the switch over time would be pretty short.

RE: heating

Any suggestions for level of micron filtering on WVO?

RE: heating

There is some good info over here: http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/groupee

basically I plan on running two different levels - ten and then a 5 or lower for the final filter.

RE: heating

If you filter the WVO through a 5 micron filter, you will have to heat the oil to about 150°F or so, otherwise it will take forever.
I filter the Biodiesel and the WVO through a 100 micron screen now, with the 3 levels of filtering in the deuce it seems to be plenty good.
The only filter problem I have had in a year and a half since I started using bio fuels, has been a partially clogged primary filter, which was due to tiny rust flakes from my second hand fuel tank. I simply wiped off the filter element and reinstalled it. I do carry spares, just in case, though.
The 100 micron plastic screen fits just right in a 5 gallon bucket and is easy to clean. I'll get a picture later.

RE: heating

Does anyone know what the return rate is on fuel?

RE: heating

As in return flow to the fuel tank? I have measured 2 qts/minute at idle, slightly higher for higer rpms.

RE: heating

Thanks, I am trying to decide if I want to set up a seperate return to switch when I switch between tanks or just have all fuel return to the WVO tank. But at 2qt plus per minute I think I should set up a two return system.

I'm sure. Sometimes I run on diesel only and if there wasn't a selectable return, the fuels would soon be mixed. The aux tank would be drained 20 minutes if it had 10 gallons in it.
It takes about 75 seconds to "purge" the system when switching over.

Do you have a thermostat on the tank heater? Or do you just flip the switch when the fuel is warm enough?
Do you think the SVO works better than the BIO? Do you know if there is more BTU's in SVO? Also Is there a milage difference between SVO and BIO? Thanks

The Fuel heater on Bjorn's truck is water from the radiator. He just has a solenoid that'll close and open flow to the fuel tank to heat it.

Ken, the control panel for the dual tank system is shown in the image above. The temp gauge monitors the fuel temp in the tank.
On a long drive, the temperture will hit 120°F or so without heating it at all. the return fuel will gradually heat the fuel.

Based on my "viscosity gauge", the FDC opens up slightly more for BD/WVO at 135°F than regular diesel at room temp.
I use it to time the change in fuel, it takes about 75 seconds for a purge.

Also BD/VO contains oxygen, which helps the combustion process.

I run on "unwashed" biodiesel mixed with WVO, so the extra methanol probably help increase the BTU value. My current mix is about 50-50 and for my cross country trip ,the mix will be 25% BD and 75% WVO.

I notice very little difference in performance and can switch between regular diesel and bio on the fly for comparison.

Bio runs cooler and produces a couple of psi lower boost, but it doesn't seem to effect performance. With bio, I have not been able to get the EGT much over 1,000 °F, but can easily reach 1,150 with regular diesel.
The exhaust sound is a bit "softer" with bio and I don't bother with hearing protection for short runs.

That about sums it up.