Didjya Know...

that a large percentage of waste veg oil is used by the cosmetics industry? Called "yellow grease" and culled from the grease traps from restaurants world-wide, it is turned into fertilizer, animal feed, and cosmetics. Personally, I'd rather use it as fuel than rub it all over my face.

Reflections on WVO

The irony of wistfully writing about thoughts on used fryer oil is not escaping me.... but anyway.

Conversations lately inevitably begin with "Howz the car running?" My answer is typically "amazingly well" and I continue to talk, watching for the eye glazing to temper my answer. But here's the rub... it really does amaze me that after about 40,000 miles so far on WVO, I've not had a single issue related to using WVO as a fuel. In short, it works.

I continue to scan for driver reactions to my well-marked car and by and large I am met with indifference. There just doesn't seem to be many Fry-Geeks out there. Most interesting to me is the indifference met by Toyota Prius drivers. They just don't seem to notice another type of hybrid on the road which makes me ponder who they are and why they bought a hybrid.

There is one driver demographic that seems to be tuned to alternate fuels. Contrasting with the well-healed indifference of the Prius drivers, the Enthuse-O-Meter waves and thumbs up affirmations invariably come from the elements of society largely given to individualism. Those drivers of skanky, rusted out cars with the blanket tail falling out of the rust hole in their trunk seem to be a kindred spirit. I don't know if it is because they see a car powered by garbage as beating The Man, The System, or The Pocketbook but these kind folk ARE enthusiastic. The future of our energy independence rests with all of us changing our ideas on consumption and conservation. If my informal roadside survey is any indication, those having less to begin with have a jump start on all of us.

Ice Boating

A new winter sport for our family is iceboating... a sailboat on skates that skims over the ice. More pics to follow!

THANKS Backyard Bar-B-Que!

This is so Win-Win....

There's a delicious new restaurant in Bemidji run by James Sutton featuring real smoked pork made right onsite. Their pulled pork sandwich topped with cole slaw served with a side of sweet potato fries is to die for. What makes this especially sweet is that James really wants to do things that conserve energy and reduce waste in his restaurant so he has graciously donated his used fryer oil to be reused as fuel.

From a fuel geek standpoint, James' oil is premium! To maintain quality control over his food, he changes the fryer oil frequently and doesn't fry chicken or other meats that can contribute different high melting point fats.

So thanks to the Backyard Bar-B-Que in downtown Bemidji for donating to the cause and 100% re-using a waste product.

Winterizing

A project that I was going to do this summer, when it was warm and dry, was add additional heat to about 8" of veg oil line that are unheated. Well, it is now cold, wet, and I am finally getting to the project.

Those unheated 8" can prevent me from switching over to veg oil when it is cold, which in Minnesota can be as low as -40F every winter. My solution for this winter will be to wrap the exposed veg oil line with heat tape and insulate. Just enough heat has to be added to liquify the plug of solid veg oil so the aux fuel pump can get the oil moving. There is enough heat in the rest of the system to keep things toasty but these short sections of line have been a show-stopper. I use 120v heat tape and an inverter which works well.

One Year on WVO

This October marks my one year anniversary for running on waste vegetable oil. Here's some stats:




Approximate gallons veg oil used: 500
Miles driven @ 45 MPG: 22,500
St of MN taxes paid on veg oil: $100
Gallons of diesel saved: 500
Cost equivalent: $1,825
Pounds of CO2 saved from entering atmosphere from fossil fuels: 11,200
Amount of human food displaced: Zero

People ask how the car is running and I am continually surprised by how well it continues to run on WVO. No smoking, hard starting, or rough running. No mechanical damage. Just a greasy garage and stained clothes mark this anniversary... along with a big smile.

I'd like to thank my supplies for all the effort they have put in to providing me with oil...

ARAMARK Food Services of Bemidji State University
Itasca Community College Dining Services
Concordia Language Villages

KAXE Reception Issues and solutions

The FM band is becoming crowded and many listeners are losing reception of KAXE's signal on our translators at 105.3 and 89.9 in addition to our main signal on 91.7. The cause of the signal degradation is beyond KAXE's control, however there are some products out there that have recently come on the market that can help you recover a listenable signal once again.

Because the band is so crowded, it has become imperative that your radio is digitally tuned and with high selectivity. But tuners, including digital ones, differ TREMENDOUSLY in quality and their ability to separate signals. There is a new one on the market, the Sony XDR-F1HD that I've bought to test and it may be the answer to many reception problems.

This new tuner, and it is just a tuner that you must hook into an existing stereo system as it has no speaker outputs, uses a very sophisticated Digital Signal Processing algorithm to separate close signals. It is "Black Box" electronics and will never be held dear like a classic Sansui receiver of days gone by. However, this little monster performs extremely well and when used with an external antenna, is about the best FM receiver money can buy. Here's the amazing thing... this tuner costs about $100 including shipping.

A very thorough, high tech review of the tuner is here..
http://www.ham-radio.com/k6sti/xdr-f1hd.htm

There are things not to like about this tuner... it loses the station presets when unplugged for more than a few seconds, the LCD backlight stays on continuously, it runs very warm, and it feels and looks cheese-y and does not integrate well visually with existing stereo equipment. Sigh. But it does work nicely and really does a fine job of separating KAXE from other stations close by on the dial.

I've not mentioned this radio also receives HD Radio (TM) broadcasts... KAXE has choosen to not broadcast in HD because of the interference it would cause to our existing analog listeners on our signal fringe. HD Radio (TM) is a whole 'nother discussion that I'll take you down sometime.