permaculture

[Jenny Katz <jennykatz@sbcglobal.net>]

Britt,

I'm in northern CT; two years ago I bought a 2002 VW Jetta and had it  
converted (greasecar.com; they recommended a mechanic who did the  
conversion for me). I get my oil from a Japanese restaurant in Hartford.

Honestly, while I love the idea of running on trash, and while many  
other people have had very smooth experiences, I've had a frustrating  
time. Partly this is because I jumped in too fast: I don't know  
anything about cars myself and have yet to make the right friends. It  
sounds as if you wouldn't have that problem. I also think my car is a  
bit of a lemon: I've had to have a lot of repairs made, some fuel- 
related, some not. About a year ago, in fact, I had to have the fuel  
pump and some other stuff replaced, and the bill set me back enough  
that I've been scared to run WVO since. The other problem: Most of  
the driving I do is very short-distance--say, to the kids' school and  
back--so during the cold months, the car doesn't even heat up enough  
to switch from diesel to veggie oil.

I'm hoping to get a my filtering system more refined this summer and  
have the system cleaned out--and then maybe things will go more  
smoothly. For the moment, I console myself with the thought that I  
have at least introduced the concept of alternative fuel to this  
fairly conservative suburban mom-town.

Jenny


On Mar 10, 2008, at 1:21 PM, permaculture-request@lists.ibiblio.org  
wrote:
> Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2008 14:13:31 -0400
> From: "Britt Pastor" <spirithouse@gmail.com>
>
> I want to buy a deisel car/truck and convert it to run on used  
> cooking oil.
> While I've read a little about it (and there was an article in a NY  
> paper
> some months ago about a restaurant owner who is doing just that  
> here), I
> really would like to connect with some people in my area who are  
> doing the
> same thing.