Tips for the Travelin' Veg Head
These are a few of the lessons we learned while on the road that we would like to share with you to help make your trip a little easier.
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1. Filtering WVO goes a lot faster if the veggie oil is warm (75-90 degrees). Before putting WVO into our tank, we filter it through 5 or .5 micron ‘"sock filters". (These are sold by Greasel, Grainger and others) We have come up with three methods of warming the veggie oil before pouring it through the sock filters. From least technical to most technical (and most sustainable to least sustainable) here they are: |
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a. Keep containers of unfiltered WVO next to the warm veggie tank and pull over and filter them while they’are hot. We started out with this method and still employ it for small amounts of veggie (5-20 gallons). However, since we have a 50 gallon tank and storage room for another 100 gallons, filtering in this small amount is not efficient for our purposes. For small passenger cars filtering 5-20 gallons of oil using the heat from the veggie fuel tank might be worth your while.
b. Use a solar oven. We actually did this during the sunnier summer months and still love to display this method whenever it is prudent. We were able to heat 10 gallons at a time (took about 15 minutes) and then the oil would pour right through our filter bags. This method is super eco-groovy and a great example of combining sustainable technologies. Thanks again to Martin Solar Nix for designing, constructing and donating a beautiful oven to our cause. (Reminder: we have a school bus and have room to strap a solar oven on the roof. Smaller vehicles on the move might not be able to afford this luxury). You can contact Martin for stove information, or orders at solarshack@earthlink.net.
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2.Cantonese or Mandarin translation would be helpful in explaining our actions and mission to the Chinese restaurant workers.
We wish we had a small sheet about biofuels and the re-use of deep fry oil written in Cantonese and Mandarin for communicating clearly with restaurant workers, managers and owners. Although, we have only been denied oil 3 times from Chinese restaurants, we believe the reason was the language barrier. They just didn't know what the hell we were talking about. So, if you speak Chinese or have any friends that do, get a translation of what you would want to say before you get on the road. It could be quite helpful and may aid you in spreading the word about the viability of this fuel source. Quite often when we are pumping grease, the whole restaurant staff comes out to gawk at our activities in disbelief. We feel impotent in our inability to effectively convey information about what we are actually doing and therefore are not achieving our full potential as subtle missionaries. Don't be an impotent missionary. Learn Chinese.
3.Respect the area where you grease hunt and filter This should go with out saying, but we want to make a point of it anyway. We do our best to not spill veggie oil on the pavement or sidewalk and if we do spill, we clean it up. We believe that this is a key behavior to give veg heads a clean reputation and keep good and respectful relationships with restaurant owners and workers. We lay out an old Persian rug, which does a great job of sopping up spilled veggie. Using a tarp is good and we'd suggest that you paint the corners of one side for identification so you can consistently keep the greasy side up. To be safe, carry some grease absorber just in case you have a spill. It happens. |
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4. Call ahead if you plan to purchase biodiesel
Biodiesel listings are great, but sometimes do not specify the blend that is available (b5 vs. b100). It is helpful to call in advance to find out if it is worth a visit. In addition, some homebrewers may not operate within your time schedule or may not have very much biodiesel available on short notice.
5. Take a short test trip before you set sail for an extended journey.
We worked out a fair amount of kinks on a few incidental trips before we actually set off on our official voyage. In hindsight, those annoying and out of the way trips really helped us to button down our system. If we were further from any sort of home base, it would have been much more difficult to correct for our own human errors. So, try out your system on a short trip or two. Make sure you've got your fittings tightened adequately, your solenoid works, you know how to clean your Racor filter and remove any air from the lines, etc… Don't forget your screwdriver.
6. Learn how to clear air from your fuel lines.
Your best bet is to not get air in your lines. When cleaning our filter, we find that parking on a slope that inhibits air flow to the engine really helps. If air has gotten into the lines during a filter cleaning, a seven dollar hand pump can be used to remove it. Our engine is quite sturdy and we can generally rely on her strength to pull air through the injectors and send it back to the diesel tank, where there is a vent. But if too much air gets into the fuel system, you could have a bit of a time getting it out. This happened to us at the beginning of our experience and we resorted to removing the fuel line that goes to the injectors, and siphoning a little diesel into the engine, while turning the key. This has always worked for us, but is a bit of a nuisance and it would be best to avoid this scenario if you can. We haven't looked into it yet, but we are thinking of inserting shut off valves in our fuel lines on either side of the filter to prevent oil loss and air invasion.
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