A "smug" TDI guy!

[stinkindiesel]

And as far as the price of ownership comparison goes, my fuel cost is 1.24cents/mile. Oil change interval is 10k. I don't know how much $$ you're into your car, or your operating costs, but I AM catching up. Quickly.
Check this: 100K of fuel cost me @$1500.00. YEAH, BABY!!

[skewbe]

I don't know about quickly, I figure you'll be caught up in 27 years LOL. But certainly that is not the point (though the fact that you ARE catchin up is something). The example you set by living an alternative fuel lifestyle IS downright admirable.

I do need to understand the byproducts equation a little better. Do you extract some of the methanol from it? Do you use it for fertilizer? Do you just roll around in it?

[Bill in Houston]

Ya, "drain the resultant" was not quite the level of detail you were looking for on by-products and disposal methods, huh?

[mrmad]

Welcome to the site, we need some more demented people here. I know little about diesels in general, and almost nothing about bio diesels, so having you here should be an education. One question I had is how much of a fire hazard is it to have the equipment you have and the storage tanks on your property? Probably wouldn't be a good idea to live next door to a meth lab. And does a diesel car still have pass CA emissions?

[cfg83]

skewbe -

Originally Posted by skewbe

I don't know about quickly, I figure you'll be caught up in 27 years LOL. But certainly that is not the point (though the fact that you ARE catchin up is something). The example you set by living an alternative fuel lifestyle IS downright admirable.

I do need to understand the byproducts equation a little better. Do you extract some of the methanol from it? Do you use it for fertilizer? Do you just roll around in it?

What would happen to the waste oil otherwise? I think it would be recycled for re-use or ???????

CarloSW2

[skewbe]

I understand your point Carlo, I wasn't trying to bust your chops Stinky, just trying to understand the whole picture. 25 gallons of methanol/lye/glycerine mixture per batch is the only thing keeping me from a serious conversion effort to bio diesel, I want to know if/how others have solved that problem because it is something I really want to do, not because I think it is more hazardous than 4 times that much used cooking oil.

[Bill in Houston]

Originally Posted by cfg83

What would happen to the waste oil otherwise? I think it would be recycled for re-use or ???????

This must be one of those things that varies a lot by geography.

Around here, the waste oil is quite valuable and we have had problems with rings of thieves stealing it. Most restaurants sell it back to a recycler.

But in some places, it must be expensive for the restaurants dispose of, since guys like stinkindiesel are encouraged or even rewarded for taking it.

[stinkindiesel]

The goo (mostly glycerine, some uncatalyzed methanol and lye) is DISPOSABLE at the city dump. It's chemically a C-H-O molecule that looks and acts like a starch (sugar) and is biodegadable. Josh Tickell, a noted tree-hugger and pioneer in bio-d in the USA, says to pour it down the sink. It's just glycerine (soap), with a bit of alcohol and drain cleaner mixed in. He equates it to spilling a little sippin' whiskey into your bathwater before you drain it.
I think it's a little more soapy than bathwater. My effluvia comes to @ 18-gallons per batch. The local dump freaked the first time I brought it in, but they've gotten used to me now. The shmutz looks like molasses but smells like concentrated "whatever was cooked" plus poo.
Don't spill it.

[Hockey4mnhs]

you should make a garage for your cars!!! so we can check um out!

[stinkindiesel]

Out here in Cali, there's grease collectors who sell WVO for a buck a gallon of clean, dry oil. Most big collectors (Baker Commodities, Darling, JNC grease) charge between $30 and $80/ visit for picking up oil. I do it for free. They are happy, I am happy. My three-year-old likes eggrolls, so he is happy. My wifey likes not having a balance on our gascard, so she is happy. Happy happy, joy joy.
They only bee in the boquet is the occasional mumbled "observation" that she can sometimes smell the Mercedes' exhaust inside the car even with the windows rolled up (see previous note on wifey's dislike of Chinese food). I remind her REAL diesel is over three bucks a gallon. She gets happy again.
Funny, isn't it- it'd be cheaper to run a car on milk or Pepsi. Anyone explore THOSE alternative fuels yet!?
I'll try to get through my (what's the opposite of being a savant?) regarding uploading pix on the web and post some stuff.