[Vwdiesel] Burning Used Crankcase Oil

[Tony and Lillie]

This has thus far been a very interesting thread. I've run as much as 1/2 
waste oil to diesel in a VW diesel, as much as 1/3 in the current Jetta. 
I've not had a significant problem with plugging filters. I replaced the one 
on the current car when I got it, and have not changed it since.

Now, as for cold weather, this is not recommended. The car starts a bit 
harder at high (70+ amb) temps, I can only imagine when it's cold outside. 
However, if you do long commutes, the cold start/drivability issues aren't 
significant. I do mostly short stints, but still, the trade-offs are worth 
it. Mostly, it's easier to put it in my tank than leave it sitting around 
only for me to spill it-BTDT!!

I don't notice much of a difference in smell/smoke. There is a slight smell 
of burnt oil in the exhaust (duh) but not bad. Milage really hasn't changed 
dramatically, maybe down 5% or so.

Anyhow, just my $.02 on the subject,
Tony Hoffman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Keith Family" <familykeith at vtrocket.com>
To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Sunday, July 08, 2007 12:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Vwdiesel] Burning Crankcase Oil (Val Christian)


>I have burned waste crankcase oil in the 1980 Rabbit Diesel I
> owned back at that timeframe.  I did it only once.  The resultant
> purchase of a new diesel fuel filter for at the time $18 (which
> exceeded the cost of a full tank diesel fill up) seemed counter
> productive.  I'm not sure I would do it in my current 03 Golf TDI
> since fuel filters have hardly gotten cheaper in the interim and
> if anything, the car generally is more finicky and "precise" than
> the Rabbit was.
>
> Instead I elected to go in another direction.  Contrary to a lot
> of perceptions, burning waste crankcase oil on site is in fact
> endorsed by the EPA since they view the clean efficient
> combustion of oil preferable to spilling in transport even one
> tanker truck full of waste oil headed to the recycler.  They
> throw out numbers of one drop of oil can contaminate 10000
> gallons of water or similar to justify their stand.
>
> And if you think of it, the minor heavy metal contamination of
> waste oil is severely overshadowed by the contamination by carbon
> as "blow by" to the combustion process.  The oil may look dirty
> and in fact it is but primarily with particulate carbon -
> especially for diesel engine waste oil.
>
> The farm where I worked had 12 diesel powered tractors (up to and
> including an IHC 3588) and elected NOT to burn or fuel dispose of
> their waste oil.  With tractor fuel filters running upwards of
> $25 each, the farm would rather not gamble operability of a
> tractor on the marginal cost savings of burning their waste oil.
> Instead the waste oil is donated to the town who does have a
> commercial waste oil burning system in the town barn and is
> always pleased to receive more grist for their mill.
>
> I've always had a personal interest in alternate energy schemes.
> I've tried burning waste oil in both the Mother Earth News (MEN)
> waste oil burner and the revised version by Roger Sanders shown
> at
> http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html.
> The downside to both of these is that oil and air must both be
> precisely "metered" to support combustion properly.  Too much air
> and combustion is too cold to occur properly and can "blow" out.
> Too little air and you get smoking.  These are stove for those
> who like to "tinker" literally.  Almost constant attendance is
> required to keep the thing on an even combustion keel.
>
> Others have converted #2 oil burners to burn waste oil and
> generally these conversions are more successful but typically
> involve an air atomising Delavan nozzle and preheated/metered
> oil.  Various versions of these can be seen at
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wastewatts/ but you have to join to
> see the messages.   The downside of this methodology of waste oil
> burning is the large amount of "support" necessary to make
> efficient burning of waste oil possible.  (It's not unusual for
> nearly a thousand watts of electrical support energy to be
> required between, burner motor, oil heater, nozzle preheater, and
> controls - all this for perhaps 100K btu per hour heat output.)
>
> And of course there are the multitude of "online" instructions
> available for a fee including Ebay, Heco, Benjamin Little Dragon
> and some others.
>
> Or you can bite the bullet and buy a full fledged waste oil
> burner from Lanair, Econoheat or a bunch of others.
>
> Best I can say for myself now nearly 20 years after my first
> efforts in this direction is that burning of waste oil continues
> to be an ongoing experiment usually undertaken when the woodpile
> begins to show the effect of a cold winter.
>
> Best,
> Joe
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