Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Not really on the topic, but driving back from my hols last week, I was travelling through Kempsey and I noticed the 'Oasis' servo advertising Biodiesel. I didn't have time to stop as Sydney was still 6 hours away. I think the price was 1.28/L. I regret not stopping, I would have liked to chat with the proprietor to find out their source of supply. I was pleased to notice lots more diesel vehicles in the country areas - I hope at least some of them are running BD.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Actually, you are on topic here. I've also posted up the details of the Kempsy Servo (though I did not know it was called "Oasis") in this sticky thread here just a week or two back. They get their supply from Rutherford and I'm told that they have been doing it for a few months now. Best of luck to them. If you are passing, do stop in and support them

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

GREAT NEWS !

I am not sure if it has been publicised yet, but the "VALUE PLUS" service statrions retail biodiesel.

Here is a link to show there locations;

http://www.volumeplus.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=427

I am not sure of the ORIGIN, or Grade of their Biodiesel, yet.

I hope to go fill up there in a few dys to find out.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

I'm increasingly getting annoyed about this Volume Plus distribution

I'm really happy that there seems to be biodiesel available, but the fact that they are being so secretive about it really annoys me. What have they got to hide? I've just got off the phone to them again after another failed attempt at getting information from them. I've just learned that I have to speak at the Alt motor show tomorrow and I've STILL got no real info to tell people about this other than "buyer beware".

The listing of servos is great, but not all of them stock it and most of the ones that people have reported do, can offer little info to the consumer about it. This really concerns me and I'd hate to see another ethanol debacle happen because of it.

If you can get biodiesel there, then great, but personally, I'm waiting until they can be a bit more honest and transparent with their consumers before I fill up. If it is this hard to get info from them at this point, can you imagine the hassle you may have going back to them if you had any problems with your fuel? I hate to talk like this as I'm all in for promoting biodiesel, but I really think that it needs to be better done than this. See the Future Fuels thread in the industry section for more info on this.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Robert,

sorry if you wanted me to reply to this issue elsewhere but i wish to make comment on a couple of things.

It looks as though 'Volume plus' are selling a 'blend', that's about all anyone is willing to say, this doesn't mean much to the average punter (they probably think the diesel has a little bit of biodiesel in it), anyway my guess is that whoever the distributor is, they are hesitant to speak out because (due to oil prices etc) they are getting their fuel at a lower price and selling it at the same retail price as normal diesel, therefore probably making a decent profit??

Darren

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Yep - nail on the head there!

Having said that, they have now started calling me and actually telling me what is going on, which is a far cry from earlier, so I'm glad they've finally come around.

They do sell some sort of blend, up to B50, but where and when and what concentration is the difficult question to answer. They produce a limited amount, which they make from pure canola (more expensive than other options, but with really good performance in cold temperatures). They distribute it to each station depending on what they've got, so they cannot tell us at any given time exactly what blend is being used in which station. Hopefully they will find a better way to do this and then we can all be sure as to what we are getting.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Hi, great forum -- glad I found it!

I've read through the recent threads but couldn't find a good current summary ... would I be right in gathering that 1) the Marrickville place is still closed and 2) it's worth trying your local Volume Plus outlet to see if they're selling biodiesel and if they do, it's safe to assume it's ~B50? Anywhere else to get biodiesel at the pump in Sydney at the moment?

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Hi All,
I have been using Volume Plus Biodiesel for a couple of thousand k's after finding this post.
Purchasing has been done from Lewisham and Milton. I have been pleased with the results.
Lewisham do not seem to know a great deal about the fuel.
Milton advised it was "a 40% blend, sourced from canola - that's about all I can tell you".
It has consistently been 139.9 at Lewisham over the past few weeks, where I have seen standard diesel ranging from 140.5 - 151.9 over the same period.
Also watch for the auto cut off on the pump not working and having fuel overflow - at least one pump at Lewisham does not cutoff, and I have been advised by a friend that the same happended to him at another VP outlet.
Phil

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

I purchased 2/3rds of a tank full from the Nowra Volume Plus at 141.5 cpl and drove to ACT.
My Jackaroo runs fine, however over the past two mornings (very cold in ACT -3.5 last night) I have had no end of trouble getting her to start from cold.
As for what blend it is, well I took a sample from the tank and put it next to a bottle of Canola oil, and the two look almost identical....

I am still trying to figure out if it is a gelling problem or something else causing my hard cold starts... but none the less I would like to see BioD become increasingly popular, damn shame cant get it in Canberra yet...

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

I have a jerry can full from VP Wandandian (and a fuel tank). I asked what blend it was and was advised "E10 - it comes stamped on the delivery notice. That's about the maximum they recommend isn't it?" Yes - E10, not B?? Looking at the fuel, I agree it looks like straight oil.

For those with more experience with biodiesel blends, at what point does petrodiesel start to look/smell like canola oil? Surely a 10% blend would still seem mostly like petrodiesel?

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Try www.renewablefuels.com.au for list of Bio Fuel retailers in Sydney area. Addresses and phone numbers are shown so you could call first to check which fuels they have in tanks. I noticed cold starts a bit more slower on BD than Petro Diesel as one of the other Forum members noted. It was about -3 at the time but it is probably normal allowing for the flash point of BD.
Happy Motoring.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Hi Jack,
Don't discount that at this time of year batteries can start to die that had previously seemed fine. A weak batery can give you a bit of trouble kicking the diesel over especially if yours really does need to be glow-plugged first. Mine has been having a little trouble kicking over in the mornings lately and as I only had some dino in the tank it clearly wasn't bio related. I am going to be fitting new batteries into my vehicle as they are old now and I have some camping trips coming up that I want maximum power and storage in the battery department!

That being said I am the guy who wrote the big sob story elsewhere in the forum about having a load of non-winterized bio on board and getting up well before dawn on a bloody cold morning in winter a couple of years back and finding that she started fine but just as I was heading down into the even colder harbour tunnel she started to clag - big time!

Made it to the pull over part in the tunnel, swore, got it started again, revved the crap out of it until I finally made it into the servo in Wollomolloo a very relieved chap indeed! Swore a bit more, thanked my lucky stars to have made it out of the tunnel without too much drama and then set about putting approx 5% unleaded into the tank (ie about 5% of what I guessed I had in there) and then topped up with dino diesel and it was fine after that.

That afternoon I added the right amount of kero into my drum of bio at home and winterized it and it was all OK once done.

I have a biofuels heat exchanger for my fuel system on order from Helton (www.helton.com.au) at the moment as I flagged some time ago (finally got around to it) and once that is in I will get some photos and give a bit of a write up of my findings for the forum.

Cheers,
cameron

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

I've just contacted renewable fuels to get answers from them as to which servos do supply biodiesel and in which blends. Hopefully they will give me some real answers, unlike the recent annoying case with Volume Plus/Future Fuels. If I can get some good answers from them, I may compile a proper list and publish it in the forum here.

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

Here is my story of trying to buy BD from VP on the south coast this weekend / this week:
Sunday, Nowra VP - not open
Sunday, Wandanadian VP - open. asked about blend and told B10. I said "the more the better as far as I'm concerned" but still got the B10 answer.
Sunday, Milton VP - B40, great I finally to get to fill... but diesel pump's not working... "be fine by tuesday / wednesday"

Soooo, coming back up the highway:
Wednesday (6:15pm), Nowra VP - pump still not working
Wandanadian VP (I would have settled for B10 by now) - already closed
Nowra VP (7:30pm) closed.

Grand total of blended BD bought on south coast: NIL!!!!

Re: Where to buy biodiesel in Sydney?

I almost guarantee that the "B40" at Milton is the same fuel as the "B10" at Wandandian. It looks and smells the same to me, and is almost definitely delivered out of the same truck.....
Dissappointing to be unable to get reliable info.
Diesel pump not working... Or diesel tank empty? VP Lewisham has been out for a week.