biodiesel?

[mark reed]

One of my crew for last week's passage runs his entire fleet on biodiesel, and was strongly encouraging me to try it with the boat. I know about the environmental advantages, but I have some concerns - compatibility with all the parts of the fuel system for one, and the effect of sitting for months in the tank, for another. Should you use the same kind of biocide as you would with dinosaur diesel? Also, where can you get it? I have heard that its for sale on the Columbia River near where I moor my boat in the winter, but I have no idea if it is available in British Columbia, where I will be spending most of the summer.

Anybody here have any experience with burning biodiesel in their boat engines?

 

[missalot]

I have been running bio-diesel, B100, which is 100% biodiesel, in my older M30 Universal diesel for 2 years now. Last summer the boat sat for 6 months and I have not had any problems. Fuel economy is roughly the same, smells much better (worth the change).

As far as the "conversion", I ran out all but a gallon of regular diesel and poured in the bio-diesel, it fired right up and smelled great. So, since the "conversion" is easy, if bio-diesel is not available just pour in the dino-diesel.

Most of the pump "bio-diesel" available at fuel docks is B20 (20% bio-diesel). If you use a lot of fuel, having a close supplier is needed, I use about 50 gallons a year and pick mine up about 60 miles from home.


Worries about biodiesel:

It has the potential to "clean" your tanks and fuel system more than dino-diesel, so make sure you have some spare fuel filters (I did not have any problems).

If you have any fuel line components, hoses, seals, o-ring, etc. that are NOT compatible with alcohol, you may have problems.

The higher percentage of bio-diesel the higher it's potential to gell up when the temperature gets low. - but if your boat is in the Pacific Northwest, not an issue - Mine ran fine in January - outside temp 25 degrees - but inside of boat never got below 50.

If you have any specific questions about my setup let me know.

-Kyle

 

[rwthomas1]

Be advised, Biodiesel will:
1-Clean out all the crap in the fuel system. The result may be repeated plugged fuel filters until the "decrapping" is done.

2-It is more susceptible to microbes so make sure you are using an appropriate and compatible biocide.

3-It will attack rubber parts making them soft and eventually disolving them. Newer automotive fuel hose for "fuel injection" has a liner in the hose that is 99% resistant to biodiesel so you can replace with that. Seals on the injection pump may or may not be compatible so be warned. IP work is never cheap. Viton rubber hoses and seals are impervious to biodiesel.

Correctly made biodiesel has no alcohol in it. It is the fuel itself that attacks the rubber. Biodiesel links abound on the web so look around and you will find much info on running and living with biodiesel. Personally I think the stuff is great but you need to understand and deal with the few pitfalls that can arise. If you can get biodiesel and it works in your engine then go for it. RT

 

[NateHanson]

Modern european car engines are made with biodiesel compatible seals and gaskets because they have been required to for the past couple years (due to the increasing use of B20 in europe). I wonder if non-automotive diesels have also been converting to biodiesel resistant materials recently. It would be interesting to contact the manufacturers about this.