Community Forums

mdunner · 09-06-2014, 07:47 AM

I have heard of a guy in Kitchener Ontario,that make Diesel fuel.He has been doing this for 30+ yrs.He supplies all his nieghbors that are farmers with this very cheap fuel..40/per gal.He was a professer at waterloo university and had to fight the goveernment to be allowed to make very cheap fuels.They branded him a moonshiner.It tunes out he makes it from a weed,type plant that grows whiled in land that can't be used for anything else.He formed a co-op with is nieghbors and they share the cost of production.I think the RVing community should be looking at a way of lowering the cost of fuel maybe a large group buying club.

Gary RVRoamer · 09-06-2014, 11:49 AM

Are you suggesting a club that makes its own bio-fuel, or perhaps recycles used oils? Or a club that buys fuel in bulks and re-sells to its members without a mark-up (a co-op)? And are you proposing to form this club, or simply wishing that somebody would?

jtermini30 · 09-06-2014, 11:50 AM

A group buying club would work well for this community. It would be best to have several suppliers throughout North America as partner to the program or some type of credit/debit card that give the discount at the pump or some type of credit to your account. Flying J does something, however, the discount isn't as deep as many of us would like.

2009 Fleetwood Expedition 38F
2013 Scion XB toad

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mdunner · 09-07-2014, 08:30 AM

The power in discount is in numbers.I think if there was a discount fuel staion that catered to Rvers,with the numbers that could potencially be involvled could allow for a better savings. Full time Rv membership club.
I have been looking into making my own fuel. Pipe dream I know.But if I could get to this level,wow.Most of the expence of traveling around north America could be eliminated.

mdunner · 09-07-2014, 08:35 AM

I have never formed of a buying club or co-op. I have no idea how to start.But would be very interested in being a part of this.

mdunner · 09-07-2014, 08:38 AM

Does anyone know how many full time Rvers there are?Or long term Rvers.

Steve Ownby · 09-07-2014, 09:12 AM

The existing national clubs like FMCA or Good Sam have the best opportunity to develop a program. Good Sam has acted with the Pilot/Flying J card. Pilot/Flying J is the only company who is doing anything for the RVer business and many can't wait to complain about them. The truckers are much less trouble and spend much more money.

I'm not a fan of Bio Diesel at all. The major engine manufacturers were strong armed by the EPA into giving the ok for B20. I used a couple of tanks of B20 and ended up parking for a few months over the winter with that in my tank. Never again if I have any choice. My AquaHot struggled all winter and I changed fuel filters several times and used a triple dose of anti gell.

Someone will have to explain to me how Bio Diesel has any tangible benefit. My MPG dropped noticeably and power was reduced.

Steve Ownby
Full time since '07

**Petro** · 09-07-2014, 09:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mdunner

I have heard of a guy in Kitchener Ontario,that make Diesel fuel.He has been doing this for 30+ yrs.He supplies all his nieghbors that are farmers with this very cheap fuel..40/per gal.He was a professer at waterloo university and had to fight the goveernment to be allowed to make very cheap fuels.They branded him a moonshiner.It tunes out he makes it from a weed,type plant that grows whiled in land that can't be used for anything else.He formed a co-op with is nieghbors and they share the cost of production.I think the RVing community should be looking at a way of lowering the cost of fuel maybe a large group buying club.

What farmers do for off road use is one thing but when it gets put into a over the road fuel tank the State & Feds will be standing there with their hands out. The money is needed to maintain and build highways. Bio diesel does not work well in freezing weather. It gels up readily and plugs filters.

Don

rvjimmy · 09-07-2014, 07:12 PM

It sure does clean out your tank and lines from all the gunk. That's why you have to change fuel filters till it gets all the junk out

Jim

Ray,IN · 09-07-2014, 08:03 PM

That sounds like a myth. The initial outlay has to be recouped somehow, and the only way is selling the product for more than production costs. The U.S.A. has different rules than Canada, federal road tax, and state taxes must be paid on every gallon produced.

super_rep · 09-08-2014, 05:09 PM

I had some room on my farm so a friend and I build a bio-diesl production plant (hobby sized-150 gallons per week). We would get used frier oil from local restaurants. We both had Dodge Cummins B 5.9 trucks. They were run for about 3 1/2 years on 100%bio with no problems other than a fuel filter change when we first started. My friend had a delivery route taking drugs to hospitals and pharmacies and did 200-300 miles/day.

I also had a Beaver Marquis with a CAT C-12 engine. I ran it on a 15% bio/diesel mix with no problems. The Cummins actually ran better on bio. The engines were quieter and the mileage improved 1- 1.5 mpg. Our exhaust did have a noticeable odor of french fries.

Friend got out of the delivery business so we sold the plant. Here's some photos of what we built. We made the bio every Saturday and consumed beer and pizza in the process. DW said it was a "guy thing".

ElvistheKing · 09-08-2014, 05:28 PM

I used to run my VW Passat on biodiesel, it run fine, in fact felt a little more torquey, BUT being a VW it was German (they have been using it for 20 odd years) and so the plastic in the fuel system was not affected like it can be in vehicles not designed to use it.

Biodiesel is reasonably popular over here in the UK because our normal fuel is so heavily taxed, in fact our tax people got so fed up dealing with people making and using small amounts they have essentially said if you drive less that 35,000 miles a year its (fuel) tax free. The only problem is that it's got so popular that takewaways etc. rather than paying you to take it away are now selling their used oil and the price to produce it has crept up!

I actually know of a lot of people that head to costco to buy cooking oil to put straight into their cars!

jtermini30 · 09-08-2014, 06:52 PM

super_rep, that's system is very impressive. Did you design the system or obtain the plans from a source?

2009 Fleetwood Expedition 38F
2013 Scion XB toad

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super_rep · 09-09-2014, 05:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jtermini30

super_rep, that's system is very impressive. Did you design the system or obtain the plans from a source?

One of the bio diesel equipment vendors was offering a one day class. My buddy and I took the class to get framiliar with the chemistry and then designed and built the system our selves. Easy, since I used to design industrial water and waste treatment systems.

Should add, when we were making the bio-diesel, the cost of chemicals was about $.51 per gallon. Oil was free. Now the restaurants are selling it for up to a $1.00 / gallon.