Greetings all,
As far as generating electricty, my thoughts are, solar and wind are do(able) but somewhat costly with the batteries, charge controlers, and all. However if you need to generate an "American" amount of wattage you better get a generator. Given that, if you have an "umlimited supply of veg oil from Kevin's work" consider the MB engine, running on vegetable oil coupled to a generator head.
Since I am running a school bus office/garage operation, we end up useing a fairly large amount of electric power. My plan is to run a MB diesel, on waste vegetable oil, or a MB gas engine running on natural gas. I would like to use the "waste heat" to heat the office building.
My only 4 cyl. MB engine is in "Miss Daisy", a 240D with a 4 speed manny tranny. I really don't want to disable Daisy, however I do have a couple of spare 3 litre turbo diesel engines. I could swap one of the 3 litre engines into Daisy. She would like the increase in power, but I hesitate to mess with her because she works so well, even if she is a little slow.
The advantage of the gas engine, running on natural gas, is, I don't have to handle the fuel, the fuel will not "run out", and it burns cleaner. Disadvantage(s) include increased cost over veg oil and the natural gas is still a fossel fuel so it will be adding extra CO2 to the air.
I am getting way too long winded so let's wind it up here.
Conservation will get you more, for the least amount of effort or money. Get the bugs worked out of the 'Benz (bucket list) and then seriously consider running the car on veg oil. I foresee a good cash flow savings there.
Again, it's just my $.02.
Cheers,
Bill aka "kipsinc"
--- In diesel_mercedes@yahoogroups.com, Bobby Yates Emory <liberty1@...> wrote:
>
> Trish,
> Using SVO - the waste oil Kevin is collecting - in a MB diesel is a
> wonderful idea, whether it is your car or the future generator.
> BUT:
> Other than a five minute demonstration - do not use room temperature or
> colder SVO (Straight Vegetable Oil) to fuel your MB.
> Bobby
> > I have an unlimited supply of veg oil from Kevin's work.
> >
> > On Mon, Jan 23, 2012 at 7:46 AM, BStromsoe <bstromsoe@...> wrote:
> >> My 300d (Mary) that I found in Minnesota on a farm, was destined to become a generator for the farm. But, I moved quickly and voila, I just did 185 miles on Saturday - as we near 195,000 on the body, and 205,000 on the engine.
> >>
> >> brian from laverne, ca Mary (195K) Martha (280K) 1983 w123 300d's
> >> ------------------------------
> >> *From:* Bobby Yates Emory <liberty1@...>
> >>
> >> Trish,
> >>
> >> To back up what Bill was saying - the MB diesels were originally designed to be stationary engines, so if you find a 240D engine in fair condition, it would make an excellent engine for backup when making you own power. And it will be enough like your car that it will be familiar to work on.
> >>
> >> Bobby
> >>
> >> On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 9:36 AM, kipsinc <kipsinc@...> wrote:
> >> Trish and all,
> >> Okay, here is my $.02 on the subject.
> >> 1. Start small, a couple of solar panels, charge controler, and
> >> batteries. Wind is more complicated and is more to maintain. Save wind generation till you get your feet wet with solar.
> >> 2. The most efficient way to get away from the grid is to use less electricity (conservation), so you will need to generate less.
> >> 3. My Mercedes diesels are a big part of my plan. Notice that I am keeping this thread on topic!! I can make fuel for them. I am a school bus contractor and we run all diesels so I end up supplementing the fuel with bio fuel. I just love my MB's.
> >> 4. It is possible to grow oil crops, press them. to extract the oil, and use that oil to run the Benz.
> >>
> >> Small steps.
> >> Cheers,
> >> Bill
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