How much have you saved so far?

[powerstroke73L]

Just curious as I'm only on my second tank of veggie and I know a lot of guys on this board have been at this a lot longer. At today's diesel price here in NJ ($4.15 a gallon) I've saved $311.25 (75 gallons of veggie). I figure by the end of the year I'll have saved almost $2000 by not burning diesel.

[triplemoutdoors]

I have saved $1,140 so far. I have been running vegie since July.

[Clay]

I haven't kept records over the last 2 1/2 years of each tank i used and the current price of diesel at that time but if i take a estimated average of diesel prices since i started doing this, i would estimate i have saved 12k - 13k dollars in diesel fuel cost.

Although i have had some setbacks related to contaminated vegi oil that ended up in my tank (that was expensive!), and the initial cost of the vegistroke, i am ahead probably 3 grand.


Stay away from "boil out".

[greasyX]

fuel prices are not a factor in my daily life

$3,500 since 3/17/08,I can finally say the cost of V3 is recooped.Now its all money in my pocket ie:son's college fund,family vacations, and ofcourse new toys for the beloved GreasyX.Next spring I'll let everyone know how much I have saved on fuel for my house.I estimate $5000.00 dollars saved on home heating.

[powerstroke73L]

Although i have had some setbacks related to contaminated vegi oil that ended up in my tank (that was expensive!), and the initial cost of the vegistroke, i am in the hole probably 3 grand still.
But I guess im not in it for the money, i just like doing it.

Stay away from "boil out".

Wait-you saved 12-13K on diesel but with the cost of the Vegistroke plus the injectors you're still 3K in the hole!? How much do those 6.0 injectors cost!?

[Clay]

Wait-you saved 12-13K on diesel but with the cost of the Vegistroke plus the injectors you're still 3K in the hole!? How much do those 6.0 injectors cost!?

oops, more coffee please....i'm not a morning person
I'm not in the hole i'm 3 k ahead...subtracted when i should have added. I'll edit that post.

You just made my morning better!


Ok, i'm going to get some coffee......

[Jack_Toepfer]

Right now... I'm $5700 in the hole.

Yeah, I spent $6,000 on my entire setup with some oil and I've only gone through about 60 gallons of veggie.

[Marv]

Saved almost $550 on fuel since Aug 10. However, I'm still paying on the original investment of about $5300.

By the math, I should recoup my costs in 10-12 months.

[Clay]

Right now... I'm $5700 in the hole.

Yeah, I spent $6,000 on my entire setup with some oil and I've only gone through about 60 gallons of veggie.

[Wilson]

clay- damn! can you share what happened? That sounds like a whole [email protected]! And what is boil out???

[Geodad]

Boil out is a lye-type material similar to oven cleaner that is sometimes used to clean out fryers. You don't want it in your oil, it will eat injectors and other metal parts. Take a small sample of oil, mix with water in a plastic bottle. Shake well and check for foaming. If you want to be real thorough, check the pH of the water after mixing with the oil.

[Clay]

clay- damn! can you share what happened? That sounds like a whole [email protected]! And what is boil out???

i have replaced all 8 injectors in my truck twice.
The first time i was new to this game and didn't know any better, the second time was a fluke and thats a long story but it happened again with a source of oil i was unfamiliar with.
A full set of injectors, parts and labor is a little under 3 grand at the Ford house.
If it happens again, i will consider myself an idiot and keep doing this probably.

From what i understand, this in not common at all...Jason has seen it 3 times and 2 of those were my dumb ass. However it is pretty common with home brewed bio-D when the brewer doesn't get the Lye out from washing enough.

[powerstroke73L]

i have replaced all 8 injectors in my truck twice.
The first time i was new to this game and didn't know any better, the second time was a fluke and thats a long story but it happened again with a source of oil i was unfamiliar with.

Yikes. What were the symptoms that led up to replacing the injectors? Power loss, no start, etc...?

[Clay]

Yikes. What were the symptoms that led up to replacing the injectors? Power loss, no start, etc...?

Lots of fuel in the crank case. If you ever notive your oil level rising, you have injectors leaking into the valve cover area. First time was the worst - had 10 extra quarts of oil, ran poorly, died, loss of fuel mileage, etc. Second time was a mild case comparivively, ran fine but i noticed about 3 extra quarts when i changed my oil, had a die test done and confirmed it.

[skyskijason]

Stay away from "boil out".

AMEN! NOT HARD to do either. "Good" VO has little to no odor, boil out contaminated VO smells like acid (best I can come up with). It has a VERY distinct odor. They add this to water and heat up fryers, then drain. IF yer source uses this crap, jus make sure they don't dump it in YOUR oil. Give'em another container for it or something.

I changed my F-350 injectors end of last year. No issues, but at 240k on factory originals and several trips across country coming up, I didn't want to have to pay stealership or some hack to change (1) injector what (8) 'upgraded' injectors (single-shots KICK ASS) would cost me to do myself with all the comforts of HOME. Anyway, after I sent my cores back to Swamps, I call Jonathon and ask what my old injectors looked like. He asked why I cared? and I told him I was curious what 50k miles on VO looked like on'em. He explained that awhile back they offered to evaluate any PSD injector in VO service, and of the many they looked at the only issue was a few cases eventually traced back to 'boil out'. THOSE injectors had severe corrosion/erosion in the fuel parts of the injector. He says at 50k, I have obviously not had the problem. When he gets back to ask Shawn? what mine looked like, he says "OMG, these things are baaaad!", a few days later I visited the shop and Shawn showed'em to me and said they were'nt THAT bad, but definitely had some exposure. I found out that I had burned maybe 200 gals of 'contaminated' oil just a couple months before injector swap... close call for sure! Btw, otherwise in great shape, lighter than normal carbon deposits, etc.

Since then I have collected more of this 'contaminated' oil, but use it for bio-d. The oil CAN be used for SVO, but must be mist-washed until PH is neutral. (the acid is soluble in water, but not VO)

Oh, back on topic! Currently just over 70k on (2) PSD's and overall average more than 70% VO and prolly 1/2 of the diesel was B100 we also make. More than 1/2 the miles on F350 are towing 32ft 5ver. Add to that I get paid $0.485/mile for nearly all of those miles and its practically a cash cow!!! Now, if diesel would PAALEEESE go back down so people would stop STEALING my VO and harassing my sources - I'd be much happier.