(OT) Your car can run on cooking oil

[Guest guest]

- lionscroft

An eco-friendly future?

 

Last October police carrying out spot checks in Llanelli, Wales found seven cars with tanks filled with cooking oil. They were using it as a substitute for diesel. It was considerably cheaper at 42p a litre against 75p cost of even discounted diesel and seemed to work with no loss of performance. Whats more, instead of diesel fumes, the cars gave off a rather pleasing odour. If Asda's sales figures were anything to go by, these drivers were not the only ones. Wind down your windows in a Swansea traffic jam last spring, the rumour went, and you'd think someone was having a barbecue.

The Welsh appreciation that diesel vehicles could run on cooking oil began during the fuel price disputes in the autumn of 2000. A blockade of the oil refinery at Milford Haven was so sucessful that, after a few days of panic buying almost every garage in the area had run dry.John Nicholson, in North Wales, was one such driver. He tried central heating oil which worked quite well. Then he tried vegetable oil. "It mixed with the diesel left in the tank," says Nicholson. "Not only did it work, but the car behaved better." He used the oil (tweaked to his own recipe) to tide him over and was so happy with the performance he decided to use it full time.

He set up a website to share information on bio-power and found there is a sizable bio-fuel organization in Germany, supported by tax breaks - its better for the environment to use sustainable fuels made from rape and sunflower seeds than fossil fuels.

In a few months, more than 300 drivers had joined Nicholson's web network. One member, engineering student Chris Dovey, runs his Ford van entirely on used cooking oil, which he gets free from his local county hall canteen. He puts it through a sophisticated filter, adds a drop of white spirit and after a little modification to the blades in his fuel pump, his van runs like a dream.

However, like Nicholson, Dovey is doing something other Asda buying drivers were not: paying duty. He contacted the local customs people to find out the implications and they were very helpful. An excise inspector came to visit and he pays 26p in duty and is obliged to list every litre of fuel he filters through the modified oil drum in his garage. "The government makes it difficult," he says. "The thing to remember is that its not illegal to run your car on cooking oil"

As long as duty is paid, that is, the relevant tax form is downloadable from

www.northwales.org.uk/bio-power

Meanwhile Asda has announced that its delivery vehicles will be converted to run on fuel containing waste cooking oil collected from its stores. (They fry a million doughnuts a day, apparently)

 

While we realize you may be already reaching for your nearest bottle of cooking oil, be careful. Your warranty will be invalidated and only older, simpler engines will run without clogging.