wally is sold out... what next?

[rancherman]

Mike, has anyone actually determined what the gel point of soy bean oil is? Here in Oklahoma we are surrounded with soy bean fields, and not a bio pump in sight.. from what I gather from other posters they are everywhere up north. I know they are trying to market bio as high as 20%, but as far as lubricity is concerned 2% is more than sufficient

the 20% "bio" diesel marketed is actually 80% 'regular dino diesel' and 20% of the soybean/alcohol/dino diesel (blended altogether) to make up the 'bio-diesel' marketed. Total soybean content on the as-burned is not 20 % Funny thing about Texas and Oklahoma, and probably Wyoming as well.... 'Big Oil' doesnt really welcome soybean and corn byproducts elbowing out 10-20% of sales! My son was down there a year ago, and noticed a LOT of signs reading: NO ALCOHOL IN OUR GAS! I had some 'blended' fuel in an irrigation engine, which was fine because irrigation season is usually quite warm... The left over stuff that had to sit in the tank until next spring was cloudy, and plugged filters quite fast. I'd venture to say when it drops lower than 30* for an extended time, you are treading thin ice. That cloudy fuel still pumps, but the filter will stop it! (and foward travel too!) I've heard of people needing to run bio-cide to prevent the black gunk. ( algae which can grow in bulk tanks that has too much h20. (which the alcohol based 'bio diesel' will hydroscopically attract) It (bio diesel) has it's places, but you better know how to manage it

[dripley]

I put a 2 acre parking lot on Love's truck stop in Hooker OK about 2 years ago and they had bio out there. Wasnt much of anything else out there though.

[angus]

The guys from the Farm supply said they run the bean oil in all their equipment, and did`nt seem too concerned about temperature with 2% blended.. A cold winter here is in the single digits, and extremes are anything that dips below -0A guy told me he attended a seminar on bio products, and at the beginning of the presentation the speaker placed a handfull of rusty nails in a jar of bean oil.. at the end of the show he dumped the nails out and the rust was completely disolved.The big warning they give you around here is to change filters more frequent until the system cleans out.As for storage I plan on only mixing what I can burn in the summer then switch back to some two stroke for winter.. which is pretty slow around my place.

[rancherman]

The guys from the Farm supply said they run the bean oil in all their equipment, and did`nt seem too concerned about temperature with 2% blended.. A cold winter here is in the single digits, and extremes are anything that dips below -0

A guy told me he attended a seminar on bio products, and at the beginning of the presentation the speaker placed a handfull of rusty nails in a jar of bean oil.. at the end of the show he dumped the nails out and the rust was completely disolved.

Was this a demonstration for the good or evil side of Bio products??? LOL

Oils and fats are alkyd 'stripped' (basically a lye solution ) to break down the lipids, separates the glycerins... which makes it easier to 'bind' with the alcohol carrier.

I can imagine a caustic 'batch' could sure polish up a bunch of nails!

Sounds like you have a good handle on what to expect. If I was on a road trip, and knew it would be burnt up in a day to two.. even in the dead of winter.

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[angus]

yeah I`m going to err on the side of caution here.. Hay season is rolling around and we are typically in the 90-100 degree range.. So I`m mostly concerned about getting a clogged filter if their (de) corrosive claims are true.I have also read some good information about "optilube". Its a little pricey, but if their claims of 2-3 mpg increase are close to acurate the cost balances out, and you get the second best lubricity additive available.The only way to know for sure is to do your own study, and see what really works.