Would You Use Biodiesel if Available

Nov 4, 2018
155
Hunter 28.5 Catawba Island, OH
I just finished reading an article on Reuters regarding several US petroleum companies aggressive build-out of biodiesel facilities. They want to beat the Canadians for the biodiesel market.

Would you use biodiesel?
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
Why not? Diesel engines were designed to run on vegetable oil. Petroleum is sorta a second choice to start with.
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Need to do some more research first. If I recall correctly biodiesel is a better solvent than dinosaur diesel and can cause issues with hoses and crud lurking in the fuel system.
 
Nov 4, 2018
155
Hunter 28.5 Catawba Island, OH
I wouldn't jump in with both feet right away. My first call would be to Great Lake Diesel and listen to what they have to say Having my diesel tank pumped and flushed before switching is also a good idea.
 

srimes

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Jun 9, 2020
211
Macgregor 26D Brookings
I'm wondering if anyone here burns waste motor oil after they do an oil change
 

capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
I do not support corn made biodiesel when there are much more efficient plants from which to make it and the corn we used to send to starving people is now used for biodiesel. As I remember corn biodiesel is less than 1:1 efficiency, whereas there is some wild plant that grows easily and almost anywhere that anybody could grow in their yard and make a little extra cash, that is 5X+ more efficient conversion.
 
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Nov 4, 2018
155
Hunter 28.5 Catawba Island, OH
This is the link to the article. The article does speak to using used cooking oils and animal fat. I've read elsewhere that crops such as soybeans could also be used and heard sawgrass mentioned as well.

I'll let everyone make up their own minds about what the big players are doing.

 
Nov 6, 2006
9,884
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
I remember reading some bad stuff about using it in marine diesels..?? seems like it had a lot more propensity to turn to gum and to cause more wear to the HP pump.. Seems like ThinWater had written an article in Practical Sailor a couple of years back that spoke of that, but I don't remember..
 
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Jan 1, 2006
7,039
Slickcraft 26 Sailfish
I wonder what burning biodiesel would do to a typical engine warranty? I'd expect the manufacturer would like to void the warranty for almost any reason, justified or not. It would be a good thing if they would weigh in on this. Alternative fuels is a growing market.
 
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PaulK

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Dec 1, 2009
1,222
Sabre 402 Southport, CT
Our engine is out of warranty by a lot, so that's not a problem. The slow-use/tank critters issue would be one important to resolve for us. We're still on our first half-tank since launching in June, and we're hauling out in a few weeks.
 
Jan 5, 2017
2,263
Beneteau First 38 Lyall Harbour Saturna Island
I wonder what burning biodiesel would do to a typical engine warranty? I'd expect the manufacturer would like to void the warranty for almost any reason, justified or not. It would be a good thing if they would weigh in on this. Alternative fuels is a growing market.
Hard to believe that a company could void a warranty if you use a fuel that the engine was designed for. BC Ferries are using natural gas in their Diesel engines with no problems.
 
Nov 4, 2018
155
Hunter 28.5 Catawba Island, OH
Yeah, I'm in that same situation. Jon and I are planning 15 Oct to pull sails; he has a haul out date of the 16th.

I'm at a 1/2 (out 11gals) tank right now. But please remember, this isn't something that's going to happen next spring. I can't find anyone in my area that sells biodiesel. And, as mentioned before, I'm not pursuing this until I speak with Jim at Great Lakes Diesel.

Also, given the amount I burn, maybe the way to go is to home brew the stuff.
 
Apr 5, 2009
2,774
Catalina '88 C30 tr/bs Oak Harbor, WA
When I was on Lake Coeur d' Alene in Idaho, there was no diesel fuel available on the lake so all fuel needed to be hauled in jugs. As long as I was hauling it, I burned SoyGold B100 which was available at a station near me. That is 100% biodiesel and I used it in my M25XP for about 10 years until I moved to the sound and could no longer get it. The engine started with 10-seconds of glow plugs and ran great. It did indeed smell like a McDonalds fry-vat at the noon rush. Much better than the normal dino-squeezing's smell. They only problem that I had was at first it caused my Arctic forced air furnace to misfire. I found that this was because I had a cool glow plug. I changed out the 12v for an 11v and no more problems. There was a certain grade of fuel line that was required but mine already had the proper hoses.

It did tend to make you a bit hungry though.
 

srimes

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Jun 9, 2020
211
Macgregor 26D Brookings
Can you do that with a diesel?
Yes. You'd want it diluted and mixed with regular diesel fuel if you don't want to make other changes. Some set up to run just waste motor oil (WMO) as they can get it for free.

For bio diesel talk with the supplier. There are different grades, basically ranging from "just to regular diesel fuel" to "strained fryer oil" (waste vegetable oil/ WVO) There's noting to using the consumer-grade fuel. For WVO you need filters and a separate tank to start + warm up on as WVO will solidify at cold temps.

There's a lot of info on the web on burning wast oil. Practicality comes down to your ability to score waste oil, assuming you're looking to save money.
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
I would not use it until all the reserves of petroleum based diesel at a fair price were used up. I got my first microwave oven 15 years after they were out.
 
Jan 25, 2011
2,391
S2 11.0A Anacortes, WA
Beta allows a certain small percentage so why bother. Even after warranty. They must have a reason.