Bio-Fuel

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PicassoPigeon
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Bio-Fuel

Post by PicassoPigeon »

Does anybody here use Bio-fuel? http://www.bio-power.co.uk I am going on holiday to Norway in August, sailing from Newcastle, just wondering if anybody knew of somewhere near there to fill up with cheap fuel.
Thanks.
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

Red diesel is always overpriced when you buy if from a marina, because if you can afford to run a boat you can afford to be overcharged for your fuel.
Unless you're buying large quantities of the red stuff, you'll not get it cheap, if you knew a farmer you'd have a cheap source of red diesel but you've still got to get it to your boat. I do know of the odd petrol station that sells red diesel.
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Post by ralph »

Come on Kowalski, I know Xantias are good, but I don't rekon it would get our Gav across the North Sea - even if it is powered with red diesel!! [:p][8D]
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Post by Stinkwheel »

Yes, i think maybe a re-read is in order. I think Gav is asking where he can fill the xantia cheap once he's arrived on the ferry. :-)
martyhopkirk

Post by martyhopkirk »

Gav - red diesel is VERY illegal and will result in your car being cubed if caught.
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Post by dnsey »

I think he wants legal biodiesel.
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

Maybe I've interpreted "Sailing from Newcastle" a little differently from the rest, I assumed he meant sailing himself in his own boat, boats qualify to use red diesel.
Obviously if he's taking the car on the ferry, that puts a different slant on things (i.e. red diesel would be out). I wonder how the prices of diesel in Norway compare with those over here, bearing in mind that the rest of the world doesn't tax fuel quite as harshly as our Gordon.
If you're driving through Newcastle, the cheapest place that I know of is a Shell station in Blaydon. Biodiesel isn't available at the pump (that I know of).
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fastandfurryous
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Post by fastandfurryous »

Actually, scandinavia is about the only place that fuel can be as expensive at that in the United Kingdom. In Iceland, Diesel is over £5 per gallon (I believe) Certainly Denmark has highly expensive fuel (actually it's a very expensive place to live no matter what)
That said, Fuel has gone up by about 3p a litre locally to me in the last week or two. At this rate it's heading for the squid-a-litre faster than ever. Time to get my Preheater SVO conversion sorted I think.
Edit: Interesting page: http://www.see-search.com/business/fuel ... europe.htm
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Post by Forth »

It was 99p a litre tonight for the better grade of BP diesel in the Workington area.
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

Diesel is <i>only</i> 51.9p per litre in Luxembourg. Somehow I can't see driving to Luxembourg for my diesel being viable, not unless I got a car with a really big fuel tank.
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Post by Forth »

<font color="green"><i>From the manual for McCULLOCH TrimMac T3000 brushcutter, in "operation" section :</i></font id="green">
<b>IMPORTANT</b>
<font color="blue">Experience indicates that alcohol blended fuels (called gasohol or using ethanol or methanol) can attract moisture which leads to separation and formation of acids during storage. Acidic gas can damage the fuel system of an engine while in storage. To avoid engine problems, empty the fuel system before storage for 30 days or longer. Drain the gas tank, start the en­gine and let it run until the fuel lines and carbure­tor are empty. Use fresh fuel next season. Nev­er use engine or carburetor cleaner products in the fuel tank or permanent damage may occur.</font id="blue">
Theirs is a 32cc two-stroke... so don't know if the above info is relevant to car engines with that kind of fuel.
<i><font color="red">
Incidentally, though quite irrelevantly.....
tried two of the above brushcutters (with normal petrol); the first packed in almost immediately with a starter-cord fault, and a replacement machine cut out halfway though its first tank of fuel and couldn't start again... returned it for a refund. The McCulloch had been meant to take some strain off a 24cc hard-working Tanaka TBS 2501S. So on Friday I'm getting a Stihl FS130 instead -- will be interesting to see how their 36.3cc 4-stroke runs compared to the 2-stroke of the Tanaka.</font id="red"></i>
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

Separation is a problem on a two stroke because all of the lubrication comes from the fuel / oil mix. If the oil separates from the petrol / alcohol and the engine runs on just petrol / alcohol it'll die pretty quickly. The strength of the oil in the mixture gives you your engine life, lots of oil makes them smokier but they last longer.
The manual for my Dad's Jeep Cherokee warns against using fuels with a lot of alcohol in them, but does say that it can use low percentage fuels (this doesn't actually apply to my Dads anyway because his is the diesel which the handbook denies even exists).
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Post by Forth »

It's interesting that Tanaka say use a 25:1 mix in the rest of the world but 50:1 for California... and I noticed that most manufacturers now tend towards the lower oil ratio for their later models. The mix for the McCulloch was 40:1. Wondering if it would be wiser to run the Stihl on a slightly more oily mix than is stated.
<font color="red"><i>If the leaner ratios are a forced response to "greenie" campaigners, it would seem yet another example of these pc urbanite anti-environmentalists false (or corrupt?) logic; they're forever claiming to be against "waste", yet in reality they do wonders for shortening the useful life of a product -- as seen for example in the EU legislation which brought about the closure of so many scrapyards, which you'd have thought "greenies" ought to have been citing as a fine example of recycling and reallocating still-good components instead of junking them and forcing people to buy brand new bits instead.</i></font id="red">
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Kowalski
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Post by Kowalski »

California has tighter emissions regulations than almost anywhere else, thats why you have to put less oil in your two stroke there.
Apparently 50:1 is the recommended mixture for a lot of two stroke engines now, even high performance ones, they're designed for it and the oils have improved over the years. My Dad had to put a new piston and barrel on his Husqvarna chainsaw and for running it in, 50:1 is recommended.
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