Used Cooking Oil Conversion supplies

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

I have started this thread to try to group in one place, the components needed to do a conversion to a diesel engine, allowing it to run in a 2 tank configuration, on Used Cooking Oil.

the first component I would like to list here, is the fuel selection valve.
I have used the Pollak motorised valves with no issues, for a number of UCO conversions and currently have 3 in use (one for 2.5 years, the others for around 9 months so far.

Contact:
paulgriffiths [at] narva [dot] com [dot] au and he will advise current prices and freight cost for you.

[Guest Close David]

Re: Used Cooking Oil Conversion supplies

Hey Tony,

I used to deal with Narva years ago when I ran a spare parts shop. They were just round the corner and had just started in business then. I looked at their site and didn't see the valves listed. Does the chap you mentioned import them himself or as a special order? Do you know a ballpark price for the things?

Please Keep adding info to this thread. It always seems finding the odds and ends to do the job is often the hardest part and I know of a couple of other sydney siders that are looking to do an SVO conversion.

[Cheeky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cheeky]

Re: Pollak Valves

Just a word of caution on the use of these valves. I have been using a 6 port valve since completing my conversion in May and while the valve itself is still quite OK (despite my initial concerns about its temperature limits) I have experienced significant problems with cross contamination or more specifically veg oil in my diesel. This was probably worse in my case due to a 120 L long range diesel tank. In the first months after my conversion I would fill the diesel tank completely and drive for several months without refilling it. I started to have trouble with the vehicle and this was diagnosed as injectors, these were removed and checked and weren't real good, the nozzles were also a little distorted (which is unlikely to be related to veg oil, simply age). The nozzles were replaced, injectors reset and $500 later I was on my way, car running better than ever, BUT, my joy was short lived, actually around 200 Km and the engine was running as rough as ever with the same symptoms. The injectors were cleaned and reset, and as the diesel tank was close to empty I refilled it and decided not to run veg oil until I could figure what was going on...........

After carrying out some temperature testing just prior to getting the injectors re-done I was pretty concerned about both the temperature and the time taken to reach temperature so I fitted a 2nd hand FPHE condenser which I tested heat capacity at ~7kw while idling at ~1500 RPM, this gave me plenty of heat and after more adequate testing proved to me that I had sufficient heat and I was happy with the heat up time after switching.

After thinking I had resolved what I thought to be the cause (lack of sufficient heat) I returned to normal driving practices only to have the same injector symptoms return in days ..........

After annoying the crap out of Aaron (my oil guy) who has converted the same vehicle without these issues we could only come up with a few things (differences) :-

1. His vehicle has a standard tank which he fills several times a week
2. He purged for ~ 5Km unlike my 1-2Km OR occasionally idling 5min on turbo timer if I didn't allow enough time.
3. He also noticed that my diesel was really golden and more like cooking oil than diesel.

This sort of sealed it for me. I drained a sample of diesel and it did look a lot like veg oil but without the viscosity, I put it in the freezer overnight and it gelled to almost solid.

After running the tank right down and then running several 1/4 tanks through it without using any veg oil the diesel came clean and the engine returned to normal with none of the previous injector problems. I started running veg oil again but stayed with small fills on my diesel (25-30 L), I also began purging for 5 Km and this has kept the injectors clean.

IMHO, the cross contamination can be a problem, and if I converted another vehicle OR this Pollak failed I wouldn't use another, I'd go for 2 separate 3 port valves and control the sequence on shutdown so that proper purging could be achieved with practically zero contamination of the diesel.

Anyway, thats 2 cents worth, if it saves someone else some grief my half hour of 2 finger typing has been worth it.

Cheeky

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Used Cooking Oil Conversion supplies

The last time I heard, they were around $80 each plus freight.

I first heard about them being imported by Narva back in '04. Paul was importing them only on order. I started making bulk orders and after the third order, he conceded that it would be good business to hold them in stock.
I have forwarded his email address to over 100 people.
Tony

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Pollak Valves

Cheeky,
The amount of veggie which returns to the diesel tank depends on the configuration of the conversion. If the conversion shares the fuel filter, a LARGE amount of vegetable oil will go to the diesel tank at every switchover to diesel.

I support your choice of separate fuel valves for fuel supply and return line selection, especially if your conversion results in significant contamination of your start fuel with veggie oil.
Manual valves located on the floor, can be an inexpensive, low tech, alternative.

In both of my veggie converted 300Ds, the only common fuel paths are the heat exchanger and the fuel lines connecting the HE, IP and valves. I have used over 500 litres of vegetable oil since putting in a half tank of biodiesel into the stock fuel tank. I now have just over 1/4 tank of biodiesel and have no cold starting issues.
Tony

[Cheeky Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Cheeky]

Re: Used Cooking Oil Conversion supplies

Hi Tony,

My system uses a looped return with separate filters for each fuel, the only common components are my Vegtherm (supplementary electric heat), the IP and the short supply and return lines between it and my 6 port Pollak.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still using this valve, I just want to point out that I have experienced a problem with the cross contamination with the simultaneous switching of supply and return and it was problem which took some time and grief to figure out and I hope my post might help anyone with similar problems. Certainly I think my long range fuel tank may have made matters worse than the average conversion with standard capacity fuel tank. I have pretty much solved the problem by changing the frequency and quantity of diesel filling.

Regards,

Cheeky

[Captain Echidna Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Captain Echidna]

Re: Used Cooking Oil Conversion supplies

Mt thoughts would be, using a looped return for 1-2ks would not get much veg oil from the IP. As the veg oil comes out from the pump, it is fed back into it (via the loop), requiring it to be flushed again. My 300D (which does not start cleanly on 50/50 veg oil/diesel, I think the pump needs an overhaul) needs at least 2-3 ks to flush properly, and the diesel reurn goes back to the tank, so it is getting straight diesel through it) My diesel useage is high, so is reasonably fresh)

Keeping this a bit more on track, I got my CAV copy filter from a hydraulic shop for under $40 (I dont remember if it was 28 or 38) as well as a pile of hose type fittings.