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Flavored fuel--Culver's owner dips into waste oil to run vehicle
The Country Today ^ | 6-26-05 | Sara Bredesen

Posted on 06/26/2005 8:41:02 AM PDT by SJackson

ANTIGO - The smell of french fries is all in a day's work for Ben Hoffman, owner of Culver's restaurants in Antigo and Minocqua.

But some travelers might be surprised to catch a whiff of fries when his truck passes them during his commute.

Earlier this spring Mr. Hoffman converted his 2004 diesel Ford Excursion so it could run on waste oil from his deep fryers.

"Everybody jokes about it and asks if they can get a Butter Burger with that," Mr. Hoffman said. "But that's OK. I'm saving money, and that's all that matters."

Mr. Hoffman's fuel source saves him an estimated $100 a week and uses up waste oil.

The conversion kit cost about $2,500 and includes a heater for the vehicle's 45-gallon main tank, and a second 24-gallon tank for diesel.

"If you forget to run it five minutes or so on diesel before you shut it down, you're going to be in tough shape because it's going to be coagulated in the line," he said.

The extra filters and inconvenience of filling his tank with a funnel and bucket is worth the savings, he said.

"(With diesel), I was spending $80 every time I filled it up," he said. "Now it only costs $50 for the extra tank, but it lasts me a couple of weeks."

Mr. Hoffman drives about 1,000 miles a week. His Excursion is the second vehicle he's converted to use fryer oil.

"I read an article in Car and Driver about a guy out in California who was driving his VW on fryer oil. They were kind of making fun of him, but I looked into it more on the Internet and it looked like a pretty good idea - especially since I have a lot of grease I can use," he said.

He put a conversion kit in his own Volkswagen Beetle and put 20,000 problem-free miles on it. Mr. Hoffman sold the Beetle to the Stevens Point Culver's owner, who also fuels it with fryer oil.

Mr. Hoffman said conversion kits for most cars cost $600 to $800 and owners can install them.

There's a lot of waste oil at restaurants and food processors, Mr. Hoffman said.

Last summer, the father of one of Mr. Hoffman's employees mixed fryer oil with diesel to run in his tractor without using a conversion kit.

"Think of all the fuel you go through in the summer as a farmer," Mr. Hoffman said. "If you can save 10, 20 percent, that's quite a bit."

"You can also run straight diesel, but it wouldn't smell as good," he said.

Mr. Hoffman grew up on a farm and would like to see crops grown exclusively for fuel production.

"Anything that can help American farmers like that would be great," he said.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: douwantfrieswiththat
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Earlier this spring Mr. Hoffman converted his 2004 diesel Ford Excursion so it could run on waste oil from his deep fryers..."Everybody jokes about it and asks if they can get a Butter Burger with that," Mr. Hoffman said. "But that's OK. I'm saving money, and that's all that matters."

Another selfish, self centered individual, no concern for the condition of his Expedition's arteries at all.

1 posted on 06/26/2005 8:41:04 AM PDT by SJackson
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To: SJackson

too bad you cant run a motorcycle on biodiesel.... :(


2 posted on 06/26/2005 8:44:51 AM PDT by Nat Turner
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To: Nat Turner

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1462


3 posted on 06/26/2005 8:48:08 AM PDT by stylin19a (Suicide bomber ??? "I came to the wrong jihad")
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To: SJackson
"If you forget to run it five minutes or so on diesel before you shut it down, you're going to be in tough shape because it's going to be coagulated in the line," he said.

I wouldn't get that crap anywhere near my engine.

4 posted on 06/26/2005 8:51:33 AM PDT by SIDENET ("You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred.")
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To: Nat Turner

In response to the new NATO requirements of "One battlefield fuel", Hayes Diversified Technologies of Hesperia, California, a supplier for more than twenty years of motorcycles to the US military, decided to explore the possibility of a diesel engine for their combat motorcycle.

5 posted on 06/26/2005 8:52:37 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: Nat Turner
Ive driven a diesel powered lawn mower, a motorcycle cant be too far behind.
6 posted on 06/26/2005 9:01:25 AM PDT by Husker24
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To: stylin19a; JoeSixPack1; blackie; Tijeras_Slim; BraveMan; uglybiker

Get a load of this (link @ #2)

7 posted on 06/26/2005 9:02:08 AM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: SJackson

The country burns something like 20 million barrels of oil and oil products a day. That would be a lot of french fries.


8 posted on 06/26/2005 9:03:59 AM PDT by RightWhale (withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty)
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To: SJackson

So is bio-diesel bad for the vehicle? There's some fuel out there called "grassoline" that's basically vegetable oil for use in diesel engines.


9 posted on 06/26/2005 9:05:57 AM PDT by GVnana
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To: GVgirl

I was actually reading about biodiesel on the net last night, it is actually better for your engine than regular diesel, and can be made at home three different ways.


10 posted on 06/26/2005 9:11:27 AM PDT by Husker24
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To: Husker24

Well, if that's true I think this is a great alternative for a lot of applications. Pickup trucks, farm equipment..


11 posted on 06/26/2005 9:13:43 AM PDT by GVnana
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To: GVgirl

I would keep my Ranger on gas but the F150 is getting a bit expensive to drive lately.


12 posted on 06/26/2005 9:17:29 AM PDT by cripplecreek (I zot trolls for fun and profit.)
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To: GVgirl

Its also a realistic one, im just afraid the Gov't is going to waste too much time looking into Hydrogen fuel cell tech. With the Biodiesel, gas stations wouldnt have to be retooled, and you wouldnt have to waste huge amounts of energy creating Hydrogen.


13 posted on 06/26/2005 9:22:51 AM PDT by Husker24
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To: martin_fierro

I'll bet kick starting one of those diesel bikes is a b!tch.


14 posted on 06/26/2005 9:45:33 AM PDT by Hardastarboard
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To: Husker24
..waste huge amounts of energy creating Hydrogen...

Anything that wastes huge amounts (money, energy,whatever) the government is in favor of.

All kinds of better examples of energy could be developed if that were the goal.

That's not the goal.

15 posted on 06/26/2005 10:53:24 AM PDT by norraad ("What light!">Blues Brothers)
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To: Nat Turner

too bad you cant run a motorcycle on biodiesel.... :(

You can if you are in the military. USMC to be specific.

Several years ago a Japanese bike company--forget which one-- got together with the USMC and Brit's military technical college, Cranfield University--began working on a diesel bike.

The engine is a modified Japanese bike engine, the frame and running gear is a standard bike structure.

One reason to go diesel is that the economy is great.

The second is that the military wants to keep diesel as the main fuel because that simplifies the logistics tail.

And finally, diesel is more available in most overseas locations than gasoline.

There is a lot of work being done on diesel bikes. Also with Computer Aided Manufacturing, (CAM) new diesel lightplane engines are being successfully built and tested.

Isuzu has a new generation of automotive diesel engines that are designed to be quieter and less "smelly" than present engines are. Chev trucks use these engines under the tradename of "Dura-max," or something similar.

Diesel, whether fossil fueled or biodiesel is what is happening these days.

You'll be able to buy a diesel bike pretty soon.


16 posted on 06/26/2005 11:13:01 AM PDT by doxteve
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To: SJackson

Ben and I are good friends. I helped him make the "white lightening" to spike the bio-diesel.


17 posted on 06/26/2005 11:31:00 AM PDT by STD (Evil White Man)
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To: SJackson
If he's not paying motor fuel tax, he's probably breaking the law. You can run a diesel on waste oil or heating oil but I bet your state expects you to pay motor fuel taxes if you use your vehicle on the road.
18 posted on 06/26/2005 1:06:16 PM PDT by Question_Assumptions
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To: martin_fierro

I'll stick with 92 octane gasoline. :):)


19 posted on 06/26/2005 1:27:39 PM PDT by blackie (Be Well~Be Armed~Be Safe~Molon Labe!)
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To: Question_Assumptions
Good point. What is your source for this?

The tax is paid at the pump, but what mechanism is in place to tax someone that is using an alternative (non-taxed) fuel.

To the best of my knowledge, there isn't one.

20 posted on 06/26/2005 1:33:45 PM PDT by Bear_Slayer (DOC - 81mm Mortars, Wpns Co. 2/3 KMCAS 86-89)
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