With the high cost of fuel Has anybody tried burning used fryer oil from fast food joints. Have heard that it burns good with little to no problems. Any truth to this or is someone blowing smoke

 

Its all true. Ive been burning waste vegetable oil (WVO) in my VW diesel for several thousand miles now, and its one of the reasons I got my dodge CTD. I know of a few people who run their dodges on WVO also.
There are many other websites to answer all your questions about this:

www.frybrid.com
www.greasecar.com
www.greasel.com

There are discussions forums at these sites, as well as many others.

BTW, the stuff from the fast food places is usually the worst type of oil to use (hydrogenated), most of us seek other places if possible.

 

Does it cause hardening of the injector lines?

 

Actually, that is exactly the problem! The heavily hydrogenated oils are solid at normal ambient temperatures (like 55*F or colder) some are even solid at room temp I think.
This makes it harder to heat, filter, and pump the oil as all the veggie fuel lines will be clogged solid until you heat them up.

 

stick to the non tranfatty oils i think its better for the old pumper but it can still clog the arteries and make the truck fat


I burn old drain oil

 

What about mixing in some WVO with diesel to cut costs? Would it be ok in the summer months when temps aren't a problem? What if the oil was well filtered and run through a dessicant to remove water?

I believe Cummins approves using up to 5% used motor oil.

Biodiesel would be the best solution I think and diesels actually like it better although the BTU's aren't quite as high as diesel so mileage will drop some. I've heard that if you homebrew bio it costs anywhere from $.25 to $1. /gallon.

I also don't think hydrogen will be a serious fuel. It isn't more efficient. In fact when you look at the entire system it takes more energy to produce than the equivalent gasoline or diesel. It IS cleaner burning but not when the entire cycle is considered. However if we built nuclear plants to generate the electricity to make the hydrogen then we might come out OK but regular piston engines don't like hydrogen very well. Fuel cells like it so your car will need to be and electric fuel cell car.

Then we'll be talking about ways to reduce resistance in our motors and get more out of the fuel cell.

Edwin