Hi all, I’m sure many people like me hate giving the government so much money, been looking at running my car on Waste Vegatable Oil, you know the stuff thats dumped round the back of the chipshop etc
Apparently Customs and Excise will allow you to manufacture up to 2500litres of fuel a year before you have to pay tax, which in a car that does 40-50mpg is 19000-25000miles. Technically if you had a car capable of running on this stuff you could have virtually no fuel costs. I understand you might need some additives and maybe mix it with diesel for cold weather, been looking at these conversion kits which you put a small 10l tank in the boot for diesel and fill your main tank with veg oil, then start on diesel and switch over when warmed up.
Does anyone else do anything like this or have any info ? Or could offer advice for DIY conversions. Ta very much
Lycanthrope:
Hi all, I’m sure many people like me hate giving the government so much money, been looking at running my car on Waste Vegatable Oil, you know the stuff thats dumped round the back of the chipshop etc
Apparently Customs and Excise will allow you to manufacture up to 2500litres of fuel a year before you have to pay tax, which in a car that does 40-50mpg is 19000-25000miles. Technically if you had a car capable of running on this stuff you could have virtually no fuel costs. I understand you might need some additives and maybe mix it with diesel for cold weather, been looking at these conversion kits which you put a small 10l tank in the boot for diesel and fill your main tank with veg oil, then start on diesel and switch over when warmed up.
Does anyone else do anything like this or have any info ? Or could offer advice for DIY conversions. Ta very much
What car is it and age? Unless it’s a good 10-15 or more years old you should think twice. Modern diesels are VERY susceptible to fuel quality and putting bio diesel in it will guarantee you needing new injectors and nozzles at the minimum, and quite likely a new engine as well. Modern diesels like to be run on high performance diesel (optimax, ultimate etc) and don’t even like to be run on normal derv (gunged up injectors) so anything less like bio-diesel is just suicidal. Oh and another thing - if the car is still in warranty it’ll invalidate it if you run it on anything other than pump diesel (and yes the garage will know).
Hi Rob K My car is a 2001 Skoda Fabia, its the 1.9SDI engine so not a lot of power, 64hp or something. After reading around a bit I think its old enough to be okay, but at this stage I’m just compiling ideas to be honest, not going to do it tomorrow It could even wait until I bought an old banger for testing purposes, quite easy to find something basic like a Peugeot 205 for a few hundred.
If after finding I can aquire some oil for free to satisfy my needs and could make it work for a reasonable cost I would see about putting it together, after all if your getting fuel for free, it won’t be too long before you have recouped your costs and are making a profit I’m sure I can find something better to spend £50 a week on or however much it is
I compare it to winemaking or homebrew beer, yes you can save a few quid and even treat it as a therapeutic process, but after a long hard day at work do you really want to be gathering drums, pumps and stirring paddles then mixing old oil with methanol, drain cleaner, vinegar and water?
Or would you really rather nip in the friendly local boozer and grab a couple of pints on the way home for your tea?
I am for the easy life, if its a diesel Skoda I would risk a drop of cherry, even if the customs take the car away, you haven’t lost much
I have a Chinese, a Chip Shop, and a Pizza/Burger place 100m from my house, its not that far to go to get some if they will let me have it
I think you only need to do additives for cold weather, or you mix a small amount of white spirit or petrol with it to thin it down. Lets face it England don’t get that cold usually Most of the year it should be fine just on its own, if all I have to do is get the oil, pour it into a filtering contraption and go back later to retrieve and poor in the car its not that much of an effort, and £50 a week would go a long way down the pub, or on pies
44 Tonne Ton:
And customs still want their pound of flesh! I’ve looked into it and to do it LEGALLY isn’t worth the trouble.
It’s not worth the trouble illegally either. As Alan says, if your motor is a common rail variety (which is the vast majority of motors over the past decade) then it’s a surefire way to kiss goodbye to your engine. The immense pressure the diesel pump and the injectors work at simply can’t cope with the gooeyness of old chip fat.
I think the 2000 quid that the car scrappage scheme gave people was a better bet, my friend has just got a diesel Megane that does 120mph and 60mpg, another friend just bought a new car and the road tax is zero nil, nought.
During a short spell amongst the car trade we were fitting gas conversions to 4x4 and people carriers, with modern engine management and tolerances in engineering they were more trouble than they are worth.
It may work on an old range rover using 1950 technology but anything with a bit of electric wizardry shows up niggling faults most of the time.
44 Tonne Ton:
And customs still want their pound of flesh! I’ve looked into it and to do it LEGALLY isn’t worth the trouble.
Since 2007, any person can legally produce their own fuel for vehicle up too 2500litres. If you make 2501litres or more you have to pay tax at 34p a litre, including the initial 2500litres.
2500litres should be okay for the average motorist traveling to work, thats 19000miles in a car doing 40mpg. So if you can aquire some waste vegetable oil from the local takeaways, filter it and heat up remove the water your laughing. Can’t see why more people don’t do this ? Surely every tankful you use is pure profit instead of giving 30p to the fuelcompany per litre and 90p to the government in tax.
44 Tonne Ton:
And customs still want their pound of flesh! I’ve looked into it and to do it LEGALLY isn’t worth the trouble.
Since 2007, any person can legally produce their own fuel for vehicle up too 2500litres. If you make 2501litres or more you have to pay tax at 34p a litre, including the initial 2500litres.
2500litres should be okay for the average motorist traveling to work, thats 19000miles in a car doing 40mpg. So if you can aquire some waste vegetable oil from the local takeaways, filter it and heat up remove the water your laughing. Can’t see why more people don’t do this ? Surely every tankful you use is pure profit instead of giving 30p to the fuelcompany per litre and 90p to the government in tax.
Do you have any kids and are they at private school?
44 Tonne Ton:
And customs still want their pound of flesh! I’ve looked into it and to do it LEGALLY isn’t worth the trouble.
Since 2007, any person can legally produce their own fuel for vehicle up too 2500litres. If you make 2501litres or more you have to pay tax at 34p a litre, including the initial 2500litres.
2500litres should be okay for the average motorist traveling to work, thats 19000miles in a car doing 40mpg. So if you can aquire some waste vegetable oil from the local takeaways, filter it and heat up remove the water your laughing. Can’t see why more people don’t do this ? Surely every tankful you use is pure profit instead of giving 30p to the fuelcompany per litre and 90p to the government in tax.
Lycanthrope:
No lol I’m completely single, whys would that be relevant ?
Fuel tax provides hospitals, schools, social security, and free health treatment, you are gonna drive round with a heap of scrap metal pumping carcinogens into my lungs, who will pay for my asthma sprays?
But as Rob said, do it then, would welcome your diary of woes in bullies bar
Or could offer advice for DIY conversions. Ta very much 
My car is a 2001 Skoda Fabia, its the 1.9SDI engine so not a lot of power, 64hp or something. After reading around a bit I think its old enough to be okay, but at this stage I’m just compiling ideas to be honest, not going to do it tomorrow 
