generators and veg oil?

dm827430

apologies if this has been posted before, i searched and didnt find anything.
out here on the west coast of scotland we get our fair share of power cuts - at least 4-7 days a year, and of course when the leccy goes so does the gas boiler. so im buying a diesel generator this year to keep the lights on.
is it possible to run one on used veg oil?

any help/advice appreciated

dm827430

70+ views in 24hrs and noone has even tried/thought about this???

D&DD

I seem to remember !!!!!! Strawbridge trying out something similar not sure if he has a site with info?

You'd probably find a how to on one of the american survivalist sites I know on survivalistboards they were talking about multifuel generators after Sandy hit and converting them to propane etc as gas was hard to come by

Lights are better run off a leisure battery set up to save juice on the genny and you can buy battery operated LED's too.

Most people have the generators for fridges/freezers etc there may be some info on the prepping thread that may be of use too

kara7758

Try this:

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=15939

nuatha

Being one of those views, I have thought about it, asked a couple of people who I thought may know and the best answer I've received is "It depends" though clarification on what it depends wasn't forthcoming. Some diesels do run fine on refined waste cooking oil, but, and its a big but, some definitely don't. There's a lot of variables in converting waste veg oil (WVO) even engines certified as suitable for biodiesel may not cope with WVO. As I understand it, the older the engine the more chance you have of success. My exploration of the subject ended when I was told it would be about £2.500 to convert my car for bio and using WVO would invalidate the warranty (which turned out to be only 1000 miles).
Sorry its not the helpful response you hoped for.

ETA: Board went into maintenance mode just as I posted last night.

Badrick

Some diesel engines will run on well filtered/new vegetable oil, but you need to be certain it wouldn't damage the internal pump seals, also veg oil alone will be too thick without thinning down, especially in the colder months.
You're probably safer using agricultural diesel or even central heating oil.

dm827430

ty to those posters who had something positive to say i apologise to those i offended! this forum is usually such a wealth of instant knowledge.
a quick search of google does give a myriad of answers, none of which seem to agree with each other. i guess there is no simple answer.

tori.k

if your in Scotland I would worry that SVO it would gel up your genny. is the expense worth it for the odd day?, wouldn't a camping stove and a few wind-up lanterns be adequate.

dm827430

you think it'd need some kind of external heat source to keep the vo liquid?
straight diesel is the obv answer, but i hate to see a resource going to waste!
just ordered a woodburner to keep me warm, but i work in IT, from home sometimes, and often have a server(or two) and 2 or 3 laptops on the go at the same time, which is why i really need the leccy power.
UPS's that ive looked at wont hold enough charge to get through a day or two.