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.
there are a LOT of french fries.
I don't know how many, or how big a dent using waste oil can make, but I don't see how it can hurt for private citizens to do what they can.
Fuel lubricity of the 80/20 biodiesel blend in a little better than straight diesel. There is also no problem that I have heard of with cold weather gelling of the biodiesel blend - there is however with straight biodiesel.
It's kind of amazing this is even viable, given our Wisconsin winters.
Used fry oil left outside in Wisconsin in December would have the viscosity of pavement!
Same goes for regular diesel fuel. But,they "blend" it to stop gelling.ie "winterized fuel"
I briefly worked in motor fuel tax enforcement about a decade ago.
The tax is paid at the pump, but what mechanism is in place to tax someone that is using an alternative (non-taxed) fuel.
The tax used to be paid at the distribution level until fraud made them move collection to the pump, at least in the Northeast. FYI, they do have forms for companies who have their own pumps to fill out to pay the taxes in my state. They'd work for individuals, too. The reality is that the reporting requirements and pumping requirements are so difficult and annoying that most people wouldn't want to tackle it. In fact, I visited one company that wasn't paying taxes on their private pump and after they looked at all of the paperwork and other regulations they decided to pull the pump out of the ground.
To the best of my knowledge, there isn't one.
Call your state's taxation department. I think the odds are good that they do. If they don't, I bet they'd get them mighty quick if this became widespread enough to make it worth it for them to collect it.
Don't get me wrong. I would have no problems buying biodiesel if as long as it doesn't have the possibility of coagulating in my fuel lines or injectors. However, with an engine that was a 5K option, I wouldn't go the route of the guy in the article. Heck, even running my engine on "farm diesel" will void the warranty.
They are less smelly because they are putting catalytic converters on them. I think the manufacturers have to install them now. My diesel truck has one and it doesn't smell like the older diesels at all. The exhaust smells a bit like vinegar.
Oh, Yeah! F1 Engineering ( http://www.f1engineering.com ) takes a Kawasaki KLR650 rolling frame and plunks their diesel engine into it. I have heard that once they are done with the USMC and the UK contracts, they are going to explore building a version for the civillian market.
"catalytic converters" are about useless on a diesel in the US because of our high sulfur fuel.
Don't States have statutes against vehicles burning untaxed fuel on public roads? In the agriculture areas of NC some gas stations have two diesel pumps, one for highway use and one for farm use. The farm use diesel is sold without the state road tax.
Back in my trucking days I used common alcohol in my diesel fuel to thin it to prevent gelling. I didn't have heated tanks but I never had a problem in 8 years of running I-80 & 90 from sea to shinning sea.
Now mountinside chain inspection stations were a different story. :-)
So reading about Bio-diesel is encouraging as I can get an extra gallon of fuel after I fry up a couple hundred chicken wings. It's a win, win, situation!! :-)
Burp.. oops excuse me.
Yes.
But states have self-reporting fuel consumption tax requirements for commercial vehicles. SO you can run whatever fuel you want and pay the taxes quarterly with your state-by-state mileage filing.
Privately owned vehicles have no such requirement so taxes are collected at the pump.
This is not for the average suburban homeowner.
"Privately owned vehicles have no such requirement so taxes are collected at the pump."
Thanks for the info.
This french fry oil fuel substitute is has a limited local supply. There's only so many places that produce waste oil. So long as the market stays within the demand that old fry oil can accomodate it will be a boom to those driving the fry machines.
If industry ever supplies bio-diesel at the pumps, look out, it's gonna be taxed the same as the other fuels.
Load up on the Pepto-Bismol. ;);)
like the marines are gonna give a biodiesel bike to a dog face GI LOL
That's a USMC-spec Kawasaki KLR. The gas version is a 650-cc thumper for on-road, off-road use. I believe the diesel version is the same displacement.
You can, actually, if you can find an Enfield Taurus. They're euro-market bikes and rare in the US, but they do indeed run on diesel.
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