Roll Out Solar Panels

[JohnM]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that the English Paraffin and the American Kerosene are pretty much the same thing Wayne. Possibly some minor chemical difference, but I don't know. Rumor has it that it's what they used to run the early jet engines on, but, it's primary use over here is/was to fuel portable room heaters. I haven't seen one for years now though. They have mainly been superseded by Propane gas types. Seems the potential bomb characteristics of a gas cylinder indoors are deemed safer than jerry cans of paraffin in the shed.

Then again I believe 'Propane' is a just one trade name among many others. Many houses have Oil Fired central heating but never having used it, I'm not sure what the 'Heating Oil' actually is, but it is distributed by the same dealers that used to sell paraffin in the '60s.

Whatever it is, it's pretty much pricing itself off the market nowadays, and everyone I know that uses it has been reconditioning their old chimneys, and fitting log burners, or even going back to coal, if it's allowed in their area. Having such wide open spaces and clean air, coal never did get banned up here in the mountains, so every house I know of still retains the coal fire chimneys and grates ... and I have notioced that there's quite a few new coal suppliers to chose from lately.

With a full array of solar panels and a small wind generator, I am 'All Electric' now. There is no 'Town gas' supply available other than Propane cylinders, but we do still keep the coal fired facilities in good order as a back up. I'm not completely 'Off the grid' yet, but I am working on it. There's lots of Survivalist schemes around that I'm looking into. I'll let y'all know if I find anything worth shouting about.

Of course, with all this self-sufficiency, on the odd occasions that the Grid fails, I can't keep the computers running. Well actually I can, but I can't use the internet, 'cos the local telephone exchange shuts it down to conserve it's batteries to keep the phones running. One day I'll have to ask the 'phone engineers why the exchange roof ain't full of solar panels like mine.

[whulsey]

Kerosene was used here for heating and cook stoves before Propane (3 carbon) or Butane (4 carbon) became readily available. Remember our kitchen stove was kerosene and then a wood stove for heating when I was a kid. Was so glad when we finally got butane.

Fuel oil isn't much different from diesel except for the dye they put in it so they tell if you're running it in your vehicle and haven't paid road tax on it. Was the same for farm gasoline for tractors, but we all ran it in the pickups.

Come on solar and wind generation and new better batteries.

[JohnM]

A year or so back there were many tales of the local boyos using filtered waste cooking oil from the restaurants as a good substitute for diesel. No tax and mostly the food joints pay you to take it away. It mainly hit the papers 'cos the revenuers were trying to figure a way of taxing it. Last I heard it was perfectly legal to use it, but it was illegal to sell it on as a fuel. Being very much a petrol head, I've never had any interest in running a diesel engine, so I've not got involved in this, but I am slowly working towards building a Brown's Gas generator for my Range Rover. 15 to 17 mpg is no joke at todays petrol prices.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by JohnM

A year or so back there were many tales of the local boyos using filtered waste cooking oil from the restaurants as a good substitute for diesel. No tax and mostly the food joints pay you to take it away. It mainly hit the papers 'cos the revenuers were trying to figure a way of taxing it. Last I heard it was perfectly legal to use it, but it was illegal to sell it on as a fuel. Being very much a petrol head, I've never had any interest in running a diesel engine, so I've not got involved in this, but I am slowly working towards building a Brown's Gas generator for my Range Rover. 15 to 17 mpg is no joke at todays petrol prices.

A friend of mine had an old diesel car and commented that we needed to stop at Tesco for fuel. I was a bit stunned when he bought Tesco cheapest cooking oil in gallon containers and filled the car up in the car park. It was cheaper than regular fuel and no contaminants that you find in the used oil. He said that every 4th tank full he used regular diesel as it container injector cleaner and helped to keep the car running smooth. I am not sure it is so simple with modern computer controlled engines.

[murphyaa]

I always wondered if you could use new cooking oil, or if it had to be used in a fryer first. I guess they went with used oil cause places were giving it away. Another thing I always wondered was how they kept it liquid, cause when I worked in fast food, our fryer oil was solid at room temperature. It wasn't until we switched to liquid oil that I figured it out.

[Mike1158]

As far as I know you need another ingredient to run cooking oil as fuel, you can get it fairly cheaply if you look for it.

[Don Boose]

When I entered the U.S. Army in 1962, the M35A2 2 1/2 ton trucks were multi-fueled vehicles. I remember being told during a demonstration at the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Georgia, that the techs once ran one of those trucks on a gallon of Arpege.

They did not tell us who paid for the perfume.

Probably not cost-effective for sustained military operations or competitive with solar panels.

Don