I have now fitted the fuel heater to enable the engine to run on vegoil (SVO). It’s fitted between the fuel filter and Kenlowe Hotstart, and uses engine coolant running to the cabin heater matrix to heat the fuel to over 80oC. This means I can now take advantage of the UK government’s decision to exempt users of duty on 2,500 litres of bio-fuel per annum. By gravity filtering used vegoil from take-away food shops, I hope to run on free fuel all year round, just using enough diesel to warm the engine before changing over to run on SVO. I’ll post some photos when I write a report on how it runs on the SVO.
SVO Fuel Heater
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Be careful !! The fuel duty rebate is only on “Biodiesel” and not on SVO. I have heard of some companies that have had a big bill from HMR&C after making this mistake.
Thanks for the warning, David, but don’t worry. I and several other members of the forum I frequent contacted HMRC directly and independently seeking clarification of their contradictory publications. We each received individual e-mails confirming that vegoil fuel will be considered as biodiesel for tax purposes on the 2500l annual entitlement.
Nick.
Snagger
When you use vegoil from the take away shops what do you use to filter it ? Is is filter paper or a finer filter ?
Also do you need to check whether it has water in it ?
cheers
Nalin
Unfortunately, the shop I was going to get the WVO from now has a contract with a recycler (they get paid for the waste), so it fell through. The local pubs and restaurants that were willing to let me take their waste oil were producing a thick sludge that was unusable. As a result, I’m using SVO from Tesco.com, delivered to my door in 25x3L bottles per time. It costs 80p/L, which is a lot more than the 58p/L of a year ago, but still over 35% cheaper than diesel.
All I had planned to do was pour the WVO into the water butt through a standard kitchen strainer to catch the debris, and then give gravity three to four weeks to do the rest. Undisturbed, the water and fats will separate out over that time scale. The fat and scum could just be scooped off the top. A second tap added to the butt six inches from the base would allow good, clean WVO to be drained off without disturbing the sediment or water in the bottom, and periodic draining of the bottom tap would remove the water and sediment from the butt. Contrary to the impression given on this blog, I like simplicity!
Nick.
Nick
That makes sense. thanks.
Nalin
Nick,
We have have been using the exact method you describe for the past 2 years tinstead of diesl and it has worked a treat
Thanks, Tommy – it’s great to get feed back like that and hear that the plan will actually work. I just need to get around to finding a source. If I can do that, then I’ll refit the fuel lines and the second filter to make the system operational again, instead of just having three diesel tanks. The current SVO prices and the alleged impending diesel price drop (supposedly to 85p/l by Christmas) makes the vegoil system pointless at the moment.