WVO Blog

There are many WVO conversion systems on the road that need an operation manual to run them.  Wait until this gauge is...then turn this...10minutes before you stop...Make sure....ect.  When I set out to develop the system for my truck, I coined the phrase "wife proof operation".  Now don't get me wrong, my wife is a very intelligent woman; medical degree and everything.  However, in order for her to drive my truck (and use WVO) on occasion, the system really has to do it all. 

 

Fast forward about two years: My wife and I are driving home from a weekend in Florida (1000 WVO trip) and I made the comment.  "I am really impressed how reliable the WVO system is on this truck!".  I almost heard the bell toll.

A week or so later, we were in the process of getting my wife a new car but had just sold her old one the day before. ( My wife is three months pregnant and a new car is apparently part of the process.)  Anyway she had to drive my truck to work about an hour away.  On the way back, she is flagged to pull over because the truck is literally spraying diesel onto the road.  Somehow, the purge solenoid broke off the valve body exposing 70psi fuel which, was getting loose in a hurry.  She of course phoned me (at home without a vehicle) so I could give instructions to the guy that pulled her over to get the truck back in running order.

Now, I need to explain a few things.  I had planned on failure in the design; I had placed quarter turn ball valves on the fuel line at the pump and on the purge line.  The idea being that if something failed, I would be able to simply turn the valve to isolate the veggie system so that it would operate as normal on diesel.  However, the ball valve was behind the solenoid valve.  While I expected it could fail, I didn't consider that it would break off.   The valves could not isolate the leak.

Back at the truck on the side of the road: a man literally walking by stopped to help and was able to thread to solenoid back into the valve.  It still leaked but was good enough to get her home.  Well almost, she ran out of diesel turning into our neighborhood and was pushed to the side of the road (again) by a couple firemen that happened to be behind her.   I got a ride from my neighbor to my stranded wife and, with a crescent wrench and a pair of pliers, removed the broken valve and simply reconnected the two loose ends together.  Since the valve is normally closed the closed ball valve replaced normal operation.  Three minutes later, I was able to start the truck on veggie and drive the truck and wife home.

Is there a lesson to the story?  I don't know, probably if it can go wrong it will.  Expect it and plan for it.  Adding a fuel system to your vehicle should make it more reliable not less so ensure that you can totally isolate the veggie fuel system and return the fuel system back to a stock configuration.  Its nothing short of amazing how reliable vehicles are today.  As far as WVO fuel systems go, mine is certainly among the best but I always bring a tool box and a spare filter, just in case.

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My first mistake was leaving the house without the roll of paper towel, I had it under my arm at one point but must have set it down before it made it to the truck. Oh well, I was on my way now and no turning back. The focus on centrifuge manufacturing has taken my attention from oil collection and now my supplies have run dry. I was headed to meet up with another local Greaser that had an extra tote of oil for me.

I had met Randy about a year previously when we both spoke to a community environmental group at the College of Charleston. Randy is a retired doctor that started using and collecting oil about six years ago. Starting with cubies then moving on to 55gallon drums then finally to 275gallon totes he has a nice clean shop with about 2000 gallon capacity. Randy's collection method is quite unique in that he actually gets the oil directly from the fryers after hours and replaces it with fresh oil. This allows him to have absolute quality control and ultimately, the nicest oil I have ever seen. I spent a couple hours at his shop getting to know him and his operation and even shot some video of him telling his story. (Watch for that on the site soon).

I hit the road home now nicely loaded a 275gallon tote of veggie but still low on diesel and empty in my veggie tank. I past a gas station that was on the wrong side of the road and while I though ominously about it figured that I would just catch the next one. Well, fate was not smiling on me and I didn't pass another station before I hit the Ravenel Bridge (highest point in South Carolina I am sure) and as I started pulling up the grade I knew I had made a mistake as I lost power and coasted to the left margin that is about a foot and a half wide, completely blocking one of four lanes of traffic. Sweet, I ran out of fuel hauling fuel.

I stepped out of the truck onto the center divider and into the truck bed to survey what I had to work with. An empty 90gallon bed tank, a full 275gallon tote, a 120V transfer pump, 3/4” hose with cam loc fittings and no inverter...Almost immediately a police officer pulled up behind me with lights on helping to divert traffic. By the time he approached me I had decided that it might be possible to use a 5' section of hose to siphon from the tote to my veggie tank. He watched as I played Hover on the hose and managed to get a steady flow of veggie into the bed tank without even getting a mouth full of oil. Good think that tote was full! We chatted about vegetable oil, engineering and southern ladies for a minute until I noticed that the level had dropped in the tote showing that I had transferred 20 gallons or so then went to give it a try. I recall the officer saying “Do you think this is going to work”. I primed the veggie pump and line with the purge override and the system confirmed that I had fuel pressure. When I turned it over, she fired right up but died when my veggie controller recognized the loss of power (from the starting relay) to be a shutdown and then initiated a purge. Normally, I don't start on veggie and if I did, the diesel pump would maintain pressure during this time. However, since there was no diesel the engine would die from lack of fuel (again). This was disappointing, and my mid raced to solve the problem of how to disable the purge valve. I probably would have disconnected the wires from it except that it is under the vehicle on the passenger side and towards traffic. It was still early afternoon and I didn't want to get run over yet. Fortunately, I had a better idea and pulled the fuse panel to access the controller relays, after a moment of “do I pull the green wire or the red wire”? I disconnected the relay for the switch and she fired right up.

The officer helped me enter traffic and across four lanes so that I could make the next exit on the other side of the bridge. While the truck ran, air in the line robbed me of full power and it was a bit of a nerve racking mile or so till I could pull off the highway to a gas station (which didn't have diesel). My truck was now happily running on veggie now so I thanked the officer for his help and he went on his way. Total time blocking traffic on the bridge was maybe 5 minutes, the taste of vegetable oil in my mouth was not unpleasant but I did wish I hadn't forgot those paper towels.

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Here is an interesting tidbit of a WVO observation.  Mid summer, I put a sample of oil that I ran through the centrifuge next to a sample of oil that I had not.  Both samples where “clear” but you could see particles in the pre centrifuged sample and it had a darker look.  Both of these sample came from the same source restaurant.  Average temperature was mid to high 80s.

The interesting part is when I looked at the samples recently.  Now November, the average temperature is high 50s or so and you can see that both samples have started to solidify but the un-centrifuged oil has solidified much more.  I am interested to hear some theories out there but my thought is it a “snow flake” effect where the solidification or crystals start with a piece of contamination.  Either way, it would appear that now coming into winter, a small amount of contamination could be a much larger problem than it was in the summer.

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Leon

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I am off to spend the week in Nantucket with my fiancé and her family so I apologize in advance for not getting back to anyone. None the less, I thought that I would leave a little teaser of what I put together this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last announcement is that I can immediately provide the Centrifuge rotor for a delivered price of $400 including the trantorque bushing. (I see little value in the machined cap) Once again let me know via the form on this site.

 

Finally, feel free to add your comments to this and any article on this site.

Leon

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With such a short time frame, I took the “Shock and Awe”approach and broke out the nastiest picture I could find: A greased TDI that had severe coking and led to engine failure. I followed that up with test report after test report of failed engines due to Vegetable oil. Severe Engine Damage, carbon buildup, rings sticking, lubrication oil contamination and catastrophic engine failure. I rounded off my opening tirade with pictures of a severely coked and scoured piston and a pile polymerized engine oil that looked like Jello.

My conclusion is to acknowledge, without prejudice, what you will find in any alternate fuel forum; different people, in different places with different motivations. I am, and this site is, open to cater to the whole spectrum. I believe it is somewhat self regulating as most “shoe string” conversion will be for the inexpensive vehicles and the comprehensive and automated systems will be developed for the more expensive vehicles. As an engineer,I will always be drawn to the failures as that is where improvements can be made.

Leon

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