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  • From: Kathyann <knat@sprintmail.com>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] the biofuel illusion
  • Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 18:35:15 -0500

maria morehead wrote:

What a great site! Might you know of a website specifically addressing how
you did the home heating conversion necessary or other leads to the Seattle
area for this?

thanks!
M

Sorry. I've looked for years. Basically, I read everything including a number of engineering school doctorate papers and concluded under 10% would do no harm to my system and the only question was if it would burn cooler and therefore burn longer (I have hot water baseboard heating.) After months of searching documentation I decided to just see. My statistics are minimal enough to be anecdotal on length of burn (but I could not measure a notable difference at 4 different outdoor temperatures.) The other stated concern was needing to change filters more often in the beginning since it cleans things out. I bought extra filters but ours was changed on schedule and did not need an additional one. No conversion was possible since my partner did not agree and I just added it to the tanks while he was out. I did not admit to it until spring and he had no clues (he does our maintenance so that was the real test here.) Last year he agreed to the same level but I'm thinking higher might work too. Remaining concern is I can only add to the indoor tank. Outdoor tank gets cold enough to thicken veggie at 15% (based on experimental cans.)
Several local companies have expressed some interest in biodiesel delivery but none in SVO conversions. The auto shop next door has a waste oil furnace normally so there may not be a conversion market beyond those (and they're expensive.) Let me know if you find anything.

Peace,
Kathyann





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