Toothaches & Headaches

Ok, so not a real headache, But the VeggieGen is fast becoming one :-)

I took off the head, and things didn't look so bad. Pistons looked good, valves looked ok, but when I removed the valves we found the trouble. The exhaust passage behind the valves is full of carbon buildup. We believe that it's not so much a veggie issue but one of not putting the engine under enough load, or a combination of the two. It's a 68 hp engine with a 12kw gen head and rarely sees a 8kw load. I'm busy cleaning valve stems and scraping carbon out of the exhaust passages.

Complete disassembly pics can be found in our photo album.

Toothache? Temporary relief was found by soaking a bit of cotton in clove oil and sticking it in the tooth cavity.

Valve cleaning

This morning, amidst a major toothache (Can't eat, Can't drink, Can't close my jaw, it's being pulled tomorrow), I removed the valve cover, and checked for bent pushrods and stuck valves. All looks well from this view, so this afternoon we will remove the head, remove the valves, clean them up and reassemble.

Blowing sparks out the stack

We did it again. Carboned up an exhaust valve, it won't close all the way, and we are blowing sparks out the stack. Did this last year, and paid $300 for a valve job. This year I'm cleaning the valves myself. This comes from running straight V100 without a (bio)diesel startup/shutdown. I ran out of diesel, had no biodiesel made up, and was running straight veggie full time without switching. We tell people not to do this, Oops......

VeggieGen Control Panel

It's an icy day, the kids are off from school due to bad roads, and the State Police say it's a good day to stay off the roads. I finally got around to starting my new project, a control panel for the VeggieGen. I bought an ignition switch, am remounting my fuel selector valves, and picked up a switch for my electric priming pump. I already had an Oil Pressure gauge, but still need Ammeter, Voltmeter, and Water Temperature gauges. I'll draw up a electrical diagram shortly, and load it into our photo album.

UFO Collecting

It got down to -7F last night, so we left the VeggieGen running all night. It's 23F this am, and we are off to do a collecting run at our local restaurants for more Used Fryer Oil (UFO). I'll have more pics when we get back. I've started a book about this stuff.

Filtering Veggie

7:30pm: Luray, Melvin and I started filtering our veggie oil. When we went to bed last night, the boiler was full of 240F WVO, tonight it finally had cooled to 130F. It's 4F outside, and we were filtering at 40 gallons per minute through a 5 micron bag filter. We filtered five 55 gallon drums full. We then filled the suburban and the jetta veggie tanks, and filled 3 drums for the veggiegen. Two hours, start to finish, including a nice hot shower afterwards. More photo's can be found in our photo album.

Let it Snow!

Yesterday we took delivery of 6 facecord of firewood. Since I was out dewatering veggie oil yesterday, it didn't get stacked indoors. Old Man Winter decided to cover it with 6" of fluffy new white stuff. Isn't it pretty ........

The Veggiegen started up fine on 7F veggie today, with some help from Mr. Ether.

New Veggiegen and Geodesic Quonset pics are uploaded to the photoalbum.

Log Home Living

A note from one of our Log Home Talk Members:

Ok! if it's not one thing it's another! LOL!
So, last year it was those nasty "not" ladybugs and they were everywhere (they can get in thru the tiniest of places). Then there were the wasps (& they were BIG wasps) we killed at least three a day, practically everyday throughout the summer. Then, what was I thinking, we had an old hollow tree removed that was next to the house, doing so apparently uprooted a large family of skinks who, (since I had destroyed their house) decided to move into mine.

Now, a mere 23 days into 2006, it's one thing that I have already killed two wasps. So, what do we find laying in the middle of the upstairs floor, but a big nasty (almost 3' long) snake-skin. Now I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but where there is a snake-skin, I'm thinking, it's previous tenant might not be too far away (I just hope it's not on the friends and family plan). I was thinking about doing that food-chain thing – you know bring in something that eats the other and so on, I'm just scared where it might all end. I tried the cats for the mice thing (did I forget to mention the mice). Cat #1 disappeared in October, we tell ourselves it just left home, but… (they were some pretty mean looking mice). I believe Cat # 2 has given up and wants to leave, as another wasp bangs against the light fixture, while I carry the snake-skin to the trash can, the cat just looks at me like "Hey, this wasn't part of deal, I only signed on for the mice"

Say it with me now… we love our log house. We love our log house. We love our log house. :)


Rebekah

Flip & Chilly Pimp Mom's Ride

Check out our friends Flip & Chilly as they "upgrade" Mom's ride to more environment friendly technologies, and Exxpose Exxon's new movie "Toasting the Earth".

Wood delivery, WVO Dewatering, Alternator install

8am: I installed the new alternator. Ok, it's new to us. It works, it was free, and it's got a few miles on it. The important thing is it's charging our new 850 cca battery on the Veggiegen. It was 31F this am and the veggiegen started right up on the second revolution. And that was on semi gelled veggie, not diesel.

9am: The wood truck arrived with 6 face cord of cut and split firewood. $40 per facecord. Dumped it right next to my woodshed. Needed chains to get out of my driveway ....

10am: Lit the fire in the WVO boiler. 300 gallons of used fryer oil, brought to a boil using slab and scrap wood from the sawmill. Was at 240F in 6 hours. Boiled the water off, and let it sit for the night. Will filter it tomorrow.

6pm: Made my favorite dinner; Rice, Black Beans, Corn, and Venison Sausage.

Busy day, and I'm beat. See ya tomorrow. It will be WVO filtering and wood stacking day, provided nothing goes wrong with the Veggiegen.

Water is not fuel

The last few days the veggiegen has been offline again. This time it was repercussions from the coolant leak in the veggie barrel. We have N-60 injectors on the Detroit, and they have cylindrical screens in the injector head as a final filtration point. They were clogged with a creamy white coolant/water/veggie gel. I removed the screens and put the injectors lines back on. We borrowed a submersible electric grid heater from the Martin's down the road, and plugged it into our portable gas generator to heat the veggie barrel, then ran the electric primer pump until the engine was flushed with clean hot veggie. Two quick shots of ether while cranking with our new 850 CCA battery and off she went, no more problems, at least not today .....

We were also given a good used alternator to replace the 6 amp trickle charger we have been using to maintain the starting battery, but that's a project for tomorrow, as the mounting bolts are a different size.

Today is an improvement

So things are looking up at Green-Trust.

We put plastic back on the generator shed, and covered that with slabwood to protect the plastic, which gives the Geoesic Quonset a log house look. More pics in our photo album.

We worked with the bank and they forgave us 2/3rd's of the $3000 we were taken by overseas scammers. They had ordered veggie oil conversion kits with counterfeit money orders. So we are out just less than a grand, and can pay that back on interest free installments. Do not do business with sam_dinho05@yahoo.com (Ricardo Sam) or William Cox of Spain.

Put a new fuel filter on the veggiegen, and all is working fine. It was filled with coolant from a leaky heater hose in the veggie tank.

3 steps forward, 5 steps back

Last night we had a horrific windstorm. It pulled the boards off the bottom off the greenhouse / generator shed, and shredded the plastic to pieces. Back to square one. Today we got a call from the bank, and was told a customer's money orders for their veggie conversion kits were counterfeit. We are liable .......

Life sucks at times. At least the generator is running.

Happy Birthday's

Today we took the day off from off-grid pursuits, and spent the day with family here at Green Trust, celebrating yours truly and my better half's 41st Birthdays. We had a nice ham dinner, cake and ice cream, and a nice wood fire protecting us from the 48F to 22F slide in temperature and the rain, freezing rain, then snow, outside. Played Rage, and enjoyed a home produced dvd of church family photo's.

VeggieGen fixed, Turbine generator, LED Maglight Conversion and More

It was a very busy day at Green Trust. First we installed the new water pump on the VeggieGen. I'm happy to say it's up and running, and smelling like french fries. We have full power once again.

Next we went to our friends the Martin's and worked on their new Gas Turbine Generator. Almost got it to light off ...

Next we continued siding the woodshed with slabwood to keep of the snow and rain off the firewood.

Finally I converted my MagLight to a high Intensity LED. All in all a very busy but satisfying day.

VeggieGen Water Pump Arrived

We are ecstatic! The new water pump just arrived. We have to reinstall the pulley and the fan blades, then put everything (including the radiator) back on the engine. Sometime tomorrow we will be back in business. At my leisure, I can rebuild the old pump with the additional parts that came with this pump. I will document that process.

Found: Water Pump for Detroit Diesel

We found a water pump for the VeggieGen. Daniel Stauffer at Diesel Engine Service - (717) 733-3890 (Ephrata, PA) had a rebuilt unit in stock. $160 with core exchange, $260 outright. We picked the $260 outright, plus a $75 rebuild kit for our old one. It will be here tomorrow. Detroit Diesel direct wanted $600 .........

Ice Harvesting

Today was Ice Harvesting day. We were over at our friends the Martin's helping them collect ice for their ice house. The ice is cut from the pond using a chainsaw, and delivered in a veggie powered suburban. A diesel loader is used to carry the ice to the road, but we are looking at running that on veggie oil as well. More pics of the operation and the ice house can be found in our photo album.

We need a water pump for the VeggieGen. Contact us if you have a line on one. It's a Detroit Diesel 2-71. See pics in the Photo Album.

Spotlight on Sustainability - Grindstone Farm

One of the things that came out of yesterday's sustainability meeting at Woodhenge was the realization that we need to promote each others abilities to the local community. With food and other goods traveling in excess of 1500 miles to get to the consumer, we need to let folks know there are local alternatives. Today's spotlight is on the Grindstone Organic Farm in Pulaski NY.

Grindstone Farm is proud to be a certified organic vegetable and fruit grower. We offer a full range of organic produce that can be delivered to your home or office.

We have farm updates from our 2004 season and our weekly newsletter, including a thoughtful essay by our friend Gabe. We also have pages devoted to recipes and nutritional information. If you have any recipes, etc. let us know! It would be a great help to have your input.

Visit to Woodhenge

Today we visited Woodhenge in Adams Center, NY. Jim Juczak, Owner/Builder of this cordwood research and training facility was host to a North Country meeting of the off-grid minds set up by Al McMahon of Autonomous Housing. Pics of the tour can be seen at our Photo Album, and other I-81/Rt. 11 Corridor off-gridders are encouraged to contact us for upcoming meetings.

Focus on Piedmont Biofuels

I'm taking a break from replacing the water pump on the veggiegen. What was a wobble turned into a gusher yesterday as the water pump let loose. The bearings are shot and it's leaking coolant like Niagara Falls. It's -4F at 6am, and I'm out there wrenching on the beast. Arggghhhh .....

I want to point everyone to some new friends who have a cool mission, Piedmont Biofuels. Piedmont's Lyle Estill wrote "Biodiesel Power, The
passion, the people, and the politics of the next renewable fuel".

In their words:

Piedmont Biofuels is a worker and member owned cooperative. Our mission is to lead the grassroots sustainability movement in North Carolina by using and encouraging the use of clean, renewable biofuels.

We are involved in a wide variety of undertakings in support of this mission:

* We provide pure biodiesel (B100) to the community.
* We provide a space where worker members can make their own fuel from waste vegetable oil.
* We have a USDA Research Farm where we do oilseed crop research.
* We have an elaborate glycerin composting facility.
* We do education and outreach on both biodiesel and engine modifications that enable people to use straight vegetable oil (SVO) as fuel.
* We lobby the North Carolina legislature, as well as our national representatives, on behalf of biodiesel and alternative fuels.
* We have an intern program that allows people to live on site and learn about all facets of our operations.

Please check them out, and if you are local to them, visit and participate. Those who aren't local can learn from them on how to start a co-op in your area.

Oil Pressure gauges and slabwood siding

A couple of days ago we sided the woodshed at a friends with 8'+ lengths of slabwood. We have a bunch of snow and ice heading into the area and wanted to keep the firewood dry.

Yesterday I added a Oil Pressure gauge to the veggiegen. Although there is a Hobbs Oil Pressure shutdown switch, I needed a gauge to see actual pressure and oil viscosity differences. The engine starts out at 75PSI, and drops to 45 as the oil heats up. We are good. We are losing coolant and the water pump is wobbly, so I have a new project on my list.

Pics coming shortly.

Veggie Week

This week has been Veggie Week. We use a veggie powered diesel Suburban (6.2L) with a trailer full of 55 gallon drums to go collecting used fryer oil. At some restaurants we get it by the 4.3 gallon jug, at others we swap an empty 55 gallon drum for the full one or pump them out, but at these cold temperatures, more than likely we have to scoop with a 5 gallon pail. It's a dirty job, but it needs doing. Then it's back to the shop where the grease and oil get dumped into a 300 gallon wood fired boiler. The oil is brought up to 250F using scrap slabwood from the sawmill, and then settled overnight. The next morning the still hot oil (100F or more) is pumped through 5 micron filters into 500 gallon propane tanks and 55 gallon drums for storage until needed for the Suburbans or our VeggieGen.