Silly question..ULP with Elsbett?

[overdriver Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close overdriver]

Is it safe to add a little ULP to my SVO if I have an elsbett conversion? I have a Hiace, non-turbo, single tank conversion.

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

Re: Silly question..ULP with Elsbett?

I canot see adding 5-10% wpould cause any problems, unless you are adding additional heat on the fuel suction line.

Tony

[W123 x 2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close W123 x 2]

Re: Silly question..ULP with Elsbett?

Heat and petrol/biodiesel/kero/avgas/etc are thinning agents for veg oil. Applying heat to the veg oil is well known to work well with a two tank set up like Tony recommends. Additives to thin the oil work as well BUT no long term studies have been done to determine the effects on fuel systems/motors.

Combining the two, heat and blending, is what I am going to do this winter (David of this forum is doing likewise). The trick will be to get the blend thin enough to enable hassle free start ups, but not too thin that she runs poorly when up to temp.

You run an Eslbett system, so why not ask them the question? I know they are slow in responding, but I'm sure they have been there before.

cheers, Michael

[Guest Close David]

Re: Silly question..ULP with Elsbett?

In my limited conversations with Elsbett I get the impression like every other company, they tend to be very cautious and safeguard themselves even if the question asked has a 99% likelihood of working just fine.

I would think you are likely to get a reply along the lines of " Elsbett don't recommend this" rather than what they see the problem may be such as the potential for vapor lock if you live somewhere with an average temperature of 45 oC. OTOH, they may approve. One way to find out.

When it comes down to it, an elsbett system is just a kit for a single tank system. There main thing is to put heat into the oil. The question therefore becomes, will heating an unleaded blend be safe in my car.

My experienced opinion is a definite YES.
All you would be doing is thinning the oil so that has to be a plus at start up. The only possible trouble you could have is the fuel boiling out and causing some vapor lock. If this happens, the worst is you may have to wait for the engine to cool down before restarting. I would suggest that this is also most likely to happen when the engine has been shut off and can heat soak to temps it would not normally reach while it were running. while the engine is operating, the fuel circulation and its ability to bleed off any vapor that may form would prevent any problems unless the engine was experiencing much greater ones anyway.

I have tried ULP with a heated system and had a problem which I put down to the fuel boiling but have since come to the opinion that it was more likely a blocked filter. In any case, I was using what I now regard as too high a blend for my car at that time being 20% ULP and it was an extremely hot day, 40 oC+.

I have noticed on many occasions that my car runs much better when it has been at operating temperature for a while. I put this down to the engine and importantly, the IP getting hot enough to add heat to the fuel and thinning it more allowing it to flow easier. There is no doubt that in my car (300D) that significant heat is added to the fuel through the IP. I believe that if any problems were going to occur due to the unleaded in the blend, they would have well and truly shown themselves by now. The fact the car runs better after getting thoroughly hot would seem to me to show that heating a blend is helpful rather than detrimental.

As Michael says, I will be installing a heater ( this weekend hopefully) on my car to use with my blend. My main reason for this is to further thin the oil before it reaches the filters, to add enough heat to melt any fats that may block the filters and as part of the 2 tank system I am working towards installing anyway.

[overdriver Biofuels Forum Newbie Find all posts View Profile Close overdriver]

Re: Silly question..ULP with Elsbett?

Thanks, guys for all replies.

Michael.