How To Learn More About Vegetable Oil Fuel Systems

In an effort to make life on planet Earth more green, an increasing number of consumers are modifying the fuel systems in their vehicles to operate on SVO rather than gasoline as the means to power the engine. SVO stands for straight vegetable oil, which is used in place of diesel fuel for both personal and commercial automobiles and trucks. But before you mistakenly pour that bottle of vegetable oil into your fuel tank and ruin your engine, there are some key points you need to learn about vegetable oil fuel systems in order to begin using this gasoline alternative.

In order to use a vegetable oil fuel system, you need to start with a vehicle equipped with a diesel engine that can accept using a biodiesel fuel such as vegetable oil.  Because straight vegetable oil is much thicker than diesel fuel, you will need to convert your current engine using an SVO conversion kit.

Converting your engine to a vegetable oil fuel system involves having a tank to hold the vegetable oil in much the same way a tank holds gas. The fuel lines used and the fuel filter in this system need to be heated in order to reduce the viscosity or thickness of the vegetable oil as it runs from the holding tank into the engine. Most conversion kits also install switching valves which allow the driver to switch back from using vegetable oil to using diesel fuel for driving, should the need arise.

Vehicles using a dual-tank vegetable oil fuel system must still start up and stop using diesel fuel in order to give the vegetable oil fuel enough time to heat up to the proper thinness to be in usable condition for the fuel system.

It's easier and less time-consuming to use pre-filtered vegetable oil rather than filtering waste vegetable oil obtained from restaurants and other sources, because this is extremely time-consuming.  The vegetable oil you use in your fuel system must be free from bacteria, water and must have very little solid matter in order to operate most efficiently.

Several German-based companies have introduced a single-tank SVO fuel system which does not require the use of diesel fuels to start and stop the vehicle.

Because every car and engine is different, ask lots of questions prior to installing an SVO conversion kit and ask people you know who are already successfully using vegetable oil fuel systems for their recommendations on the best type and grade of SVO to use in your vehicle.  While saving money using a vegetable oil fuel system may be attractive, it's important to study the different kinds of oils available; you especially need to learn about oils which may not be the cheapest, but won't damage your engine in the long run.