[Shop-talk] Bio diesel question.

[Randall]

> The process of 
> converting used cooking oil into BioDiesel makes it cost more than 
> conventional diesel. 

That depends a great deal on what you pay for the cooking oil.  From
everything I've read, the conversion process itself is relatively
inexpensive, but only produces about 2/3 as much oil as you put in.

There are also ways of running diesel engines on cooking oil directly.  For
example, both approaches are discussed at http://goo.gl/SbH6l

But heating oil is not quite the same as diesel, and I know some furnaces
don't even like to be run on diesel fuel.  Typically it smokes much more,
which can lead to clogged nozzles and chimney fires (not to mention the
smell).  Might work OK for you, but it seems like a significant risk to me.

A better approach might be to build a used oil heater, and use it to heat
the shop or similar area.
Here's an assortment of plans
http://goo.gl/nEJpz

If it will cleanly burn old crankcase oil, then cooking oil should be no
problem.

-- Randall