WVO FAQ
From WVO Designs Wiki
Contents |
WVO/SVO/PPO?
Waste Vegetable Oil, Strait Vegetable Oil, Pure Plant Oil. On this site I will use WVO exclusively butfor practical purposes it is interchangeable with the others.
Can I run mycar/truck on WVO?
Yes, if it is has a diesel engine. That said some vehicles are more readilyconverted than others.
What makes some vehicles better for WVO than others?
- Cost: less expensive vehicles are inherently more acceptable to modify and have a good risk/reward quotient. Older vehicles typically have less complex and more over designed components.
- Fuel Pump: The higher viscosity of WVO is hard on fuel pumps. Stock mechanical fuel pumps are typically tougher than stock electric fuel pumps. Stock electric fuel pumps will most likely fail prematurely from WVO use.
- Injection Pump(IP)/Injectors: The robustness of the IP and injectors will come to test. Also to consider is the fact that the IP is a heat sink for the fuel; it would stand to reason that the temperature of the IP itself will have significant impact of the temperature of the fuel exiting it, regardless of fuel temperature at the inlet.
- Direct/Indirect Injection: It is widely considered that indirect injection engines are more acceptable to WVO use. The thinking behind this is that with indirect injection, fuel is injected into a pre-combustion chamber and unspent WVO would not be directly contaminating (coking) the piston and cylinder walls. Contamination of cylinder walls and piston rings would lead to blow-by and lubrication oil contamination. This will most certainly lead to premature engine failure.
- Use: Vehicles/engines used for long continuous duration are more suitable for WVO than one used occasionally for short duration. Engines should not be started on WVO and hence, the required purge/shutdown procedure makes short duration use impractical.
What is required to convert my vehicle to run on WVO?
This depends on your evaluation of the cost/benefit ratio. ie.The system “required” for a $2000 300D is going to be quite different than what is “required” for $45000 F350. That said, this is the spectrum:
Single tank Just put it in and go/blend it with diesel/blend it with something else. There appears to be some merit to “thinning” the WVO however, it is general opinion of the community that while this is the lowest cost “conversion” it is also the most risky and should be avoided if possible. Single tank with heated filter, injector line heaters and fuel/coolant heat exchanger. This is very popular with the 300D crowd and provides good usability with acceptable reliability. Weakness in this system is in the initial startup, cold un-burnt WVO will be in contact with cold combustion chamber and cylinder walls. Ultimately, piston ring contamination and coking will occur and leading to lubrication oil contamination and pre-mature engine failure.
Two Tank system with manual switches Engine can be started on diesel or biodiesel then, when the engine is to running temperature, can be switched over to WVO safely. The heat in the engine will produce higher combustion temperatures and more completely consume the WVO drastically reducing contamination. At the end of the trip, the engine must be switched back to diesel/biodiesel and residual WVO must be consumed leaving only diesel in the engine and thus ready for cold starting. Weakness of this system are the human factor in switching over to WVO before the engine is sufficiently heated and back to diesel without allowing sufficient time for complete purge of WVO from the engine.
Two Tank system with automated control Same as above except electronics using sensors and timers control the switching on to and off of WVO. This will provide the highest degree of reliability when combined with a completely independent WVO system from the stock diesel fuel system.
That's not just the best aesnwr. It's the bestest answer!
I am ready, how do I get started?
Secure your source of WVO. Recent elevation in fuel prices has also elevated interest and use of WVO. It is getting harder to find and youmay even need to pay for it. Until you secure your WVO source, everything else is academic.
You have shed a ray of sunshine into the forum. Taknhs!
Very true! Makes a chnage to see someone spell it out like that. :)
What does WVO cost?
You can expect to pay a restaurant anywhere from nothing (if you are really lucky) to $1/gallon, cleaned fuel ready WVO goes for $2-$2.75 and roughly correlates to a $2/gallon mark up for cleaning.
