I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

I've seen several companies advertising home processing of Bio Diesel.
The caveat that I see is that if it catches on, you will soon be paying
McBurgers to take their waste oil due to demand. Some enterprising
burger chain will probably install an on-site conversion facility so
you can fill up while waiting for your burger & shake.G
Incidentally, I happened to get a tank of bio diesel on a trip to CO
last year and I was amazed at the mileage I got.
Bugs

Bugs wrote:
I've seen several companies advertising home processing of Bio Diesel.
The caveat that I see is that if it catches on, you will soon be paying
McBurgers to take their waste oil due to demand. Some enterprising
burger chain will probably install an on-site conversion facility so
you can fill up while waiting for your burger & shake.G
Incidentally, I happened to get a tank of bio diesel on a trip to CO
last year and I was amazed at the mileage I got.

Willy Nelson is on the biodiesel badwagon, owns a company that makes it.
Allegedly it burns cleaner and keeps the inside of the motor and fuel
system a lot cleaner. And the exhaust reportely smells like french
fries (what if you get the oil from Long John Silvers?)
Willy reported in the paper last Sunday that he pulled his Mercedes
diesel into the garage late one night, hit the door closer and promptly
fell asleep, engine running. Next morning he woke up and had gained 5
pounds.

--
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

wrote:

I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.


It's an appealing idea, but I would do some more research first. The
bio diesel that you make at home probably won't have a lot of the
additives found in regular diesel, such as anti waxing. This can create
a lot of expensive problems, especially if you live in a climate with
large temperature changes.

--
__
Pete Snell
Royal Military College
Kingston Ontario


The reasonable man adapts himself to the world;
the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.
Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.
- George Bernard Shaw

Pete Snell wrote:
wrote:

I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.


It's an appealing idea, but I would do some more research first.
The bio diesel that you make at home probably won't have a lot of the
additives found in regular diesel, such as anti waxing. This can create
a lot of expensive problems, especially if you live in a climate with
large temperature changes.

Have you checked out the greasel site?

http://www.greasel.com/

--
- -
Rex Burkheimer
WM Automotive
Fort Worth TX

I do know that various alternate oils were used during the second world war
in areas where there was a diesel shortage. One problems cited in old texts
was that the oils broke down producing acidic compounds that attacked
bearings and such.
With modern materials and regular lube oil changes it might not be such
a problem. Some diesels are more tolerant than others. Indirect injection
engines using precombustion chambers have simpler and more robust injection
systems. The two stage combustion allows for a wider range of centane
numbers. Older Caterpillar diesels could use number two fuel oil regularly
with no problems. I can remember this feature being advertised in the
literature.
I had a neighbour with a Toyota Landcruiser. He regularly bought
furnace oil from people who were converting over to natural gas. I am sure
as the price of diesel climbs the tax man will be watching the consumption
of furnace oil.
An acquaintance of mine uses french fry oil taken from restaurants. He
has two fuel tanks on his International truck. He starts and shuts down on
regular diesel fuel. An electric heating element warms up his vegetable oil
before he switches over on the run. He claimed that it was saving him a
pile of money.
Randy

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

Check here, http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb....rm/f/498605551.

I have made 2 - 4 gallon batches in the last 2 days. It probably isn't
much cheaper than I could buy diesel, but it is a fun process. If you
scale up the price comes way down.

It's very easy and reasonably simple.

Rod

wrote:
I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

Been there, done that. The waste oil from restaurants is loaded with
fine organic particulate matter apx. the same density/weight as the oil.
They will remain in suspension almost indefinitely, unless you ship the
container to Jupiter. Filtering this stuff is a major headache; you
almost need a centrifuge arrangement. Filtering through cloth is very
slow, as the material gets clogged very quickly. Don't even think of
running it unless it's very clean and free of suspended material.
JR
Dweller in the cellar

wrote:

I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.



--
--------------------------------------------------------------
Home Page: http://www.seanet.com/~jasonrnorth
If you're not the lead dog, the view never changes
Doubt yourself, and the real world will eat you alive
The world doesn't revolve around you, it revolves around me
No skeletons in the closet; just decomposing corpses
--------------------------------------------------------------
Dependence is Vulnerability:
--------------------------------------------------------------
"Open the Pod Bay Doors please, Hal"
"I'm sorry, Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that.."

wrote:
I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.


I have seen several articles and regular columns on the topic in "Home
Power" magazine. a very good magazine.

Gene

I just watched a show on food network about fried foods. One potatochip
company runs their vehicles on waste oil from their fryers.
Karl

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

On 29 Mar 2005 05:48:51 -0800, wrote:

I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.
For home production, the infopop forum linked to above is the best
choice.

You can also get a lot of info at http://www.biodieselnow.com/ about
biodiesel in general, vehicle concerns, etc. It's geared more toward
people who buy BD instead of making it

k

Treedweller wrote:
On 29 Mar 2005 05:48:51 -0800, wrote:


I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

For home production, the infopop forum linked to above is the best
choice.

You can also get a lot of info at http://www.biodieselnow.com/ about
biodiesel in general, vehicle concerns, etc. It's geared more toward
people who buy BD instead of making it

k

Fzzzzzzzz, its $3.54/gal here in San Jose, CA.

On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:45:18 -0800, Scott Moore
wrote:

Treedweller wrote:
On 29 Mar 2005 05:48:51 -0800, wrote:


I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

For home production, the infopop forum linked to above is the best
choice.

You can also get a lot of info at http://www.biodieselnow.com/ about
biodiesel in general, vehicle concerns, etc. It's geared more toward
people who buy BD instead of making it

k

Fzzzzzzzz, its $3.54/gal here in San Jose, CA.
we just got to benefit from the new tax cut. Now we can buy B99 for
$2.75/gal. Last time I bought B100 for $3.40. B20 "Biowillie"
available in Carl's Corner for $2.19/gal.

k

Treedweller wrote:
On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:45:18 -0800, Scott Moore
wrote:


Treedweller wrote:

On 29 Mar 2005 05:48:51 -0800, wrote:



I have been reading about making biodiesel at home from wast oil at
fast food resteraunts. Is this easy to do? DOes the diesel made run as
good as regular diesel? Will it harm the car/tractor/etc. I burn it in?
Is it economical? I am not an environmental nut but I drive alot and
the price of gas is gettign scarry.

For home production, the infopop forum linked to above is the best
choice.

You can also get a lot of info at http://www.biodieselnow.com/ about
biodiesel in general, vehicle concerns, etc. It's geared more toward
people who buy BD instead of making it

k

Fzzzzzzzz, its $3.54/gal here in San Jose, CA.

we just got to benefit from the new tax cut. Now we can buy B99 for
$2.75/gal. Last time I bought B100 for $3.40. B20 "Biowillie"
available in Carl's Corner for $2.19/gal.

k

Diesel in California costs more than premium fuel, which is wrong, wrong,
wrong, and I hear the truckers are angry about it.

I have seen references that suggest that it is mainly because CA is requiring
a Biodiesel blend be sold in the state. Anyone know for sure ?

Anyhow, I am not *THAT* environmentally concious. The fuel from Qatar from its
GTL plant should be cheaper and cleaner, so we'll see. I think its funny that
my ugly truck is more on the environmental forefront than the vehicles my
politically correct friends drive here in Caliberialnia.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05047/458356.stm

On Fri, 01 Apr 2005 13:05:11 -0800, Scott Moore
wrote:

Diesel in California costs more than premium fuel, which is wrong, wrong,
wrong, and I hear the truckers are angry about it.

I have seen references that suggest that it is mainly because CA is requiring
a Biodiesel blend be sold in the state. Anyone know for sure ?

No, but IIRC CA has to switch to low-sulfur diesel fuel (below 25
PPM) before the rest of the states do. That, and the overall lack of
petroleum refining capacity in this country would explain it. We have
to import refined products to fill the gap.

-- Bruce -
--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs

Bugs wrote:
My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs


Way before my time. I do have an old Delco
light plant. A single cylinder engine
directly coupled to a dc generator. It also
starts on gas and runs on kerosene. I've
tried it and it works. Kinda stinks and
smokes on kerosene though.

Bugs wrote:

My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs



Could that have been during World War II. Gasoline was rationed but
"stove" oil and
cleaning solvent wasn't.

I knew of one individual that converted his old car to run that way.

Bill K7NOM

"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
the state. Anyone know for sure ?

No, but IIRC CA has to switch to low-sulfur diesel fuel (below 25
PPM) before the rest of the states do. That, and the overall lack of
petroleum refining capacity in this country would explain it. We have
to import refined products to fill the gap.


I am tired of paying through the nose for special fuel in California.
First they come out with oxygenated fuel that contained MTBE, smelled like
bug spray, and turned out the oxygenate was a greater pollutant that the old
gas fumes were. This change also ate away at fuel seals in older cars
costing thousands of motorists with older cars big bucks to fix. I know one
guy had a car in his garage, it developed a small leak when he was away with
the family camping and when the fumes built up to the water heater pilot
light kaboom. The 2 car garage door blew over the house across the street
and landed in the neighbors pool. And for all this grief, it had no net
effect on air pollution as it reduced the fuel economy of the cars so they
had to burn more gas.

Then they reformulated diesel and thousands of big rigs had to replace their
o-rings in the fuel injection pumps. That is no small expense.

We also get to pay more road tax than other states, and get to pay a sales
tax on top of the road tax. Often they are not even using the road tax to
build and maintain the roads.

Don't get me started, I might tell you how I really feel.

--

Roger Shoaf

About the time I had mastered getting the toothpaste back in the tube, then
they come up with this striped stuff.

On Sat, 02 Apr 2005 09:24:06 -0800, GrumpyOldGeek
wrote:

Bugs wrote:
My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs


Way before my time. I do have an old Delco
light plant. A single cylinder engine
directly coupled to a dc generator. It also
starts on gas and runs on kerosene. I've
tried it and it works. Kinda stinks and
smokes on kerosene though.
I have a '39 Ford 9N tractor. Somewhere I also have some documentation
that I think came from Ford that tells how to run the tractor on
kerosene. This required a kit which had a tube that wrapped around the
exhaust manifold. The kerosene ran through the tube and then to the
carb. So as soon as the tube was hot enough, and the engine too, the
now much thinner kerosene would work with the gasoline carb.
ERS

On 2 Apr 2005 06:13:07 -0800, "Bugs" wrote:

My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs
The sawmill where I worked as a teenager had two Massey Harris
tractors which had small tanks for gasoline and water and a larger
tank for kerosene. The son of the owner and myself worked on one of
them till we got it running on gasoline. we had lots of fun with it
till the owner came home and demanded his turn driving. He hauled a
load of slabs away back in the yard and ran out of gas - gave us the
devil for not putting enough gas in it. We never did try to run it on
kerosene.
Gerry :-)}
London, Canada

Roger Shoaf wrote:
"Bruce L. Bergman" wrote in message
...
the state. Anyone know for sure ?

No, but IIRC CA has to switch to low-sulfur diesel fuel (below 25
PPM) before the rest of the states do. That, and the overall lack of
petroleum refining capacity in this country would explain it. We have
to import refined products to fill the gap.



I am tired of paying through the nose for special fuel in California.
First they come out with oxygenated fuel that contained MTBE, smelled like
bug spray, and turned out the oxygenate was a greater pollutant that the old
gas fumes were. This change also ate away at fuel seals in older cars
costing thousands of motorists with older cars big bucks to fix. I know one
guy had a car in his garage, it developed a small leak when he was away with
the family camping and when the fumes built up to the water heater pilot
light kaboom. The 2 car garage door blew over the house across the street
and landed in the neighbors pool. And for all this grief, it had no net
effect on air pollution as it reduced the fuel economy of the cars so they
had to burn more gas.

Then they reformulated diesel and thousands of big rigs had to replace their
o-rings in the fuel injection pumps. That is no small expense.

We also get to pay more road tax than other states, and get to pay a sales
tax on top of the road tax. Often they are not even using the road tax to
build and maintain the roads.

Don't get me started, I might tell you how I really feel.


So what accounts for the fact that in CA, diesel costs more than regular,
whereas in other states it costs less ? A refinery shortage (which certainly
exists), would affect everyone evenly.

I had a friend who believed that his allergies had got worse since MTBE
went into the fuel, to which I of course replied that he could determine
that by walking over and taking a good whiff of a car's exhaust and see what
happens.

In any case, you got your wish, MTBE is gone now (in CA at least).

CA has had its head up its rear with respect to current events. Very refinery
hostile, CA has been/is also diesel hostile, but has had to backpedal wildly
in the face of Biodiesel, which our own Caltrans agency uses. I can't prove
it, but I am convinced from the news I have read of late that half of the
government in Sacramento is pushing to stop diesel usage entirely, and the
other half is working to promote it.

Hey, we are working hard to pass New York and Massachusetts as the most
over regulated, overtaxed, screwed up states in the union. Against considerable
competition.

In article , Scott Moore says...

In any case, you got your wish, MTBE is gone now (in CA at least).

And in NY state as well.

At one point the state DEP made a statement that they were not
going to prosecute any gas stations for contaminating private
wells with MTBE, and they were not going to force any cleanups.

At this point the citizens got out the torches and pitchforks
and the DEP changed its mind. One step ahead of a lynch mob.

Jim


--
==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at pkmfgvm4 (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

On Mon, 04 Apr 2005 15:07:44 -0700, Scott Moore
wrote:


I had a friend who believed that his allergies had got worse since MTBE
went into the fuel, to which I of course replied that he could determine
that by walking over and taking a good whiff of a car's exhaust and see what
happens.

In any case, you got your wish, MTBE is gone now (in CA at least).

That's a great story, too. AIUI, they were working on a
reformulated gas to meet emissions without MTBE, and Unocal was very
helpful, working with the state to come up with a good way to do it.

Problem was, Unocal had another team in the next lab over patenting
that very method. And right after the state came out and said "You
have to make reformulated gas this way", Unocal said "And that method
is patented, you have to pay us royalties to use it. Surprise!"

-- Bruce --

--
Bruce L. Bergman, Woodland Hills (Los Angeles) CA - Desktop
Electrician for Westend Electric - CA726700
5737 Kanan Rd. #359, Agoura CA 91301 (818) 889-9545
Spamtrapped address: Remove the python and the invalid, and use a net.

So what accounts for the fact that in CA, diesel costs more than regular,
whereas in other states it costs less ? A refinery shortage (which certainly
exists), would affect everyone evenly.

You can find any number of theories about this that are quite damning
to the powers that be, but the most plausible one seems to be this is
a seasonal thing. Every summer, diesel costs less than unleaded.
Every winter, as northern heaters fire up with fuel oil (basically the
same as diesel), demand goes up and so do prices. If it makes you
feel better, diesel here in TX is costing about the same as premium
unleaded (more than "regular"). It's nationwide. Now, it may be that
you will still pay more in CA after the prices go down here, and I
can't offer any special insight there. Except to say that the filthy
garbage fuel sold in this country as #2 diesel has caused people who
should be in favor of efficient diesel technology to demonize it and
attempt to legisate it out of existence.

All points in favor of biodiesel, IMO. Locally produced,
clean-burning, biodegradeable, CO2-neutral, farm-grown fuel that
lubricates the engine better and keeps it cleaner internally. What's
not to like? (easier said in TX, I grant you, since we have little or
no concerns about fuel gelling in cold weather).

keith

Treedweller wrote:
So what accounts for the fact that in CA, diesel costs more than regular,
whereas in other states it costs less ? A refinery shortage (which certainly
exists), would affect everyone evenly.


You can find any number of theories about this that are quite damning
to the powers that be, but the most plausible one seems to be this is
a seasonal thing. Every summer, diesel costs less than unleaded.
Every winter, as northern heaters fire up with fuel oil (basically the
same as diesel), demand goes up and so do prices. If it makes you
feel better, diesel here in TX is costing about the same as premium
unleaded (more than "regular"). It's nationwide. Now, it may be that
you will still pay more in CA after the prices go down here, and I
can't offer any special insight there. Except to say that the filthy
garbage fuel sold in this country as #2 diesel has caused people who
should be in favor of efficient diesel technology to demonize it and
attempt to legisate it out of existence.

All points in favor of biodiesel, IMO. Locally produced,
clean-burning, biodegradeable, CO2-neutral, farm-grown fuel that
lubricates the engine better and keeps it cleaner internally. What's
not to like? (easier said in TX, I grant you, since we have little or
no concerns about fuel gelling in cold weather).

keith

I wouldn't mind, however, I suspect that qatar's GTL solution is far
more practical. The reason why: Brasil. Brasil went in for Ethanol,
derived from natural sources, in a big way. All the cars where (re)fitted
to run on pure Ethanol.

What they found out was that this is a great way to pay high (huge) prices
for fuel, and to suppress food production for people because it was being
used to make cars run.

I'm a convert, probally because I just got my first diesel truck. So I say
bring on the biodiesel, the blends, the GTL, everything that makes sense.
Diesel engines are more efficient, and their wide appetite for fuels make
them a worthy and practical way to move forward into better and cleaner
transportation. Europe figgured this out a while back, USA has not, but
I suspect the times they are changing.

On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 11:30:34 -0700, Scott Moore
wrote:


I wouldn't mind, however, I suspect that qatar's GTL solution is far
more practical. The reason why: Brasil. Brasil went in for Ethanol,
derived from natural sources, in a big way. All the cars where (re)fitted
to run on pure Ethanol.

What they found out was that this is a great way to pay high (huge) prices
for fuel, and to suppress food production for people because it was being
used to make cars run.

I'm a convert, probally because I just got my first diesel truck. So I say
bring on the biodiesel, the blends, the GTL, everything that makes sense.
Diesel engines are more efficient, and their wide appetite for fuels make
them a worthy and practical way to move forward into better and cleaner
transportation. Europe figgured this out a while back, USA has not, but
I suspect the times they are changing.
One of the BD benefits is NO retrofitting--unless your car is so old
it still has rubber fuel lines, you can pour any proportion of
BD/petrol into the tank of any diesel engine and it will run virtually
the same.

The low-sulphur fuel we've been about to get for a few years now will
help a lot. First, people will not have as much black smoke coming
out of their tailpipes, so others won't get turned off. Next, the VW
diesels that have been around for awhile but don't like our rotgut
fuel will perform better with less intake clogging, making them more
appealing (if more people drove a TDI, there would be a lot more
diesel converts already). Third, more diesels are becoming available,
and they are light years ahead of the old 1970's monsters (I hear the
new diesel Mercedes is about as good as it gets, but won't personally
be testing that theory any time soon because of budget). All the big
mfgs have diesels in other parts of the world, so if the demand goes
up it would not take long to see more choices brought over.

Also in light of the low-sulphur fuel, (back to my pet project) BD
will be a natural even if used only as an additive. At B1 or B2, the
veggie fuel serves as a supplement to the lost lubrication, while
yielding a more complete burn of the petrol. That doesn't sound like
much, but if one out of every hundred gallons of diesel sold was BD,
it would add up to a huge dent in our petrol deficit. Once we get
more people to understand it (the worst part of using BD is that
mechanics want to blame every problem on the fuel without even testing
their theory, so you have to become your own mechanic unless you are
lucky) it could easily become common to find B20 or better at service
stations, as it currently is in certain parts of the midwest and
elsewhere. Down the line, local production facilities could take
crops straight to the "refinery" and we'd save even more in terms of
transport costs/waste.

Not that I'm pushing an agenda, or anything ;-)

k

Dad and Grandfather's John Deer A (on iron wheels until about '48) had a
small gas tank and a main fuel tank for "power fuel".

Pain to start it cold if it had not been shut down running on gas even with
the the fuel drains to bleed off the power fuel and cylinder petcocks. At
least for an 8 year old.

Hugh





"Bugs" wrote in message
oups.com...
My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs

Hugh Prescott wrote:
Dad and Grandfather's John Deer A (on iron wheels until about '48) had a
small gas tank and a main fuel tank for "power fuel".

Kerosene. At today's prices it's starting to look like a good idea again..

Pain to start it cold if it had not been shut down running on gas even with
the the fuel drains to bleed off the power fuel and cylinder petcocks. At
least for an 8 year old.

Hugh

Heh.. You started an "A" at 8 years old? I'm impressed. I could start my
Grandfather's "B" when I was about 12, don't think I could have done it
at a younger age. I wasn't exactly a strapping lad though..

I got a Minneapolis-Moline out back with the kerosene tank, gonna get it
going and use it someday.. it's an "R", I guess it to be about equal to
a Farmall "H", maybe not quite equal power. Cool little tractor, has the
hand clutch like the JD's.

Dad had a "D" John Deere with the same arrangements for fuel. To start it.
you opened all the petcocks, made sure it was connected to the petrol ,not
the power kerosene tank,grabbed the flywheel, put one foot against the rear
wheel and pulled as hard as you could. Then you repeated it until your
shoulders gave out. It was a milestone in your youth when you finally
managed to start it un-assisted.



Tom


"Hugh Prescott" wrote in message
...
Dad and Grandfather's John Deer A (on iron wheels until about '48) had a
small gas tank and a main fuel tank for "power fuel".

Pain to start it cold if it had not been shut down running on gas even
with
the the fuel drains to bleed off the power fuel and cylinder petcocks. At
least for an 8 year old.

Hugh





"Bugs" wrote in message
oups.com...
My first vehicle was a Model T Ford that had two tanks. One small tank
held gasoline and the big tank took kerosene. You started up on
gasoline and warmed up the engine, then switched over to kerosene for
driving. Gasoline was considered pretty expensive back then, 13
cents/gal. Kerosene was 6 cents.
Anyone else reckymember those days?
Bugs

JohnM wrote:

Heh.. You started an "A" at 8 years old? I'm impressed. I could start my
Grandfather's "B" when I was about 12, don't think I could have done it
at a younger age. I wasn't exactly a strapping lad though..

I got a Minneapolis-Moline out back with the kerosene tank, gonna get it
going and use it someday.. it's an "R", I guess it to be about equal to
a Farmall "H", maybe not quite equal power. Cool little tractor, has the
hand clutch like the JD's.

Posts like this are one reason I read usenet, and in particular, RCM.

Thanks John and Hugh

~D