Biodiesel and Trucks! w/ Stacey David
Posted By RichC on June 13, 2005
Biodiesel was the topic on Trucks! (SpikeTV) this past weekend. The host, Stacey David is an addictive guy to watch, although can probably only be tolerated in small doses. 🙂 He did a nice job of explaining the ‘homebrew’ biodiesel processes and kept it simple; he also does a great job of ‘convincing’ his audience as to the viability of running biodiesel! His excitabilty in explaining how great biodiesel is might make the episode worth watching?
Unfortunately he seems to also be delivering an infomercial for the FuelMeister from FreedomFuelAmerica . It was a little over the top knowing what most do in the biodiesel circles. The “Fuelmeister” product is over-priced and underperforms IMHO. The company does a great job of marketing their product and suckers in the ‘newbie’ to homebrewing biodiesel. (an expensive lesson once you see there are better and cheaper processors) Remember, marketing can even convince some of you to buy products like Billy Bass?
Before you part with $3000, consider the ‘open source appleseed processor‘ as a comparison. Maria (GirlMark) Alovert is straight forward and has strong opinions and reasoning to support the “Appleseed” over the Fuelmeister. If not for cost, for safely and long term reliablity with all sorts of oils. (and eventual problems) You can find a ton of information on her site and I highly recommend both her workshops and book. One of the major disadvantages is that the Fuelmeister has a plastic reaction tank. In producing biodiesel, heat will evenutally be needed; hot oil and plastic are not a good combination especially in combination with methanol and electricity. There are few disappointed Fuelmeiser owners that have experienced a meltdown. That said, with the proper waste vegetable oil and a little care, it is possible to make biodiesel successfully. Read first and you might save a couple thousand and end up with a better processor. If you are interested in biodiesel be it commercial or ‘homebrew,’ I highly recommend the forums over at Biodieselnow.
For those of you interested in downloading a good quality healthy sized 24 meg/12 minute WMV video tidbit of the above show, right-click and save as here.
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