Waste Vegetable Oil

After about a month of trying to reach someone at GFS with questions and with my order, I finally gave up on ordering from GFS directly.  Maybe they are swamped, maybe they are on vacation, maybe their voice mail and email systems are a POS?  I’ll always wonder what the deal was.  I sent a single email request on 11/06 and left two phone messages (around 11/06 and 11/24).  I tried calling maybe 5-6 other times, but didn’t leave messages those times for fear of being tagged as high maintenance.  I just never could get in touch with anyone.  The situation is probably for the best.  By now, I’ve warmed up to WVO enough that I’ve decided to tackle the installation myself.

I ended up ordering from Bud at American Green Fuels in Houston TX (http://americangreenfuels.net/).  Bud is listed on the GFS website as an installation site and while they are not nearby either, they are probably the next closest location.  I originally called him around 4PM on 12/02 and left a VM explaining my woes trying to reach GFS and my interest in ordering a kit through Bud.  I received a callback from Bud shortly after 5PM.  He was glad to answer all of my questions.  I was able to put together an email with a draft of what I thought I’d need to order on 12/05 and he was able to respond with detailed clarifications to all of my written questions the same day.  I placed the order on 12/10 and the order was ready for pickup at GFS in Springfield MO on 12/22.

I’m back home on 12/29.  I have access to a heated shop that is closed for 3-4 more days, but I’m swamped with end of the year projects, etc. so the Golden Fuel Systems boxes are going to have to sit in my garage for a few weeks.  Here’s a summary of what I ended up ordering.

• Golden Fuel System Kit, Ford 7.3L 99-03 Base System
• Two (2) 60 gallon Trekker tanks (my “clean” and “dirty” tanks for collection and filtration on the road)
• Integrated One Shot (IOS), Includes Racor 1000 w/ 1 filter element (10 micron)
• Racor 1000 Heated Filter (for second tank) w/ 1 filter element (10 micron)
• 7gpm Eccentric Gather Pump w/ Bracket
• Two (2) spare Racor filter elements (2 micron)
• Five (5) filter bags (7″ ring, 32″ length, 1 micron)

Bud was able to discount retail prices some, but this part of my WVO truck still ended up WAY over budget.  Based on amount of my driving and based on $2/gal diesel, expecting to break even on this system within 18-24 months.  That doesn’t factor in several variables against me (collection and filtering time/costs, per gallon use to sam, blending diesel with WVO, percent of time running on diesel, etc) or several variables in my favor (rising diesel prices, potential use credits from sam).  Planning to track all expenses so that I can share actual break even period, if any.  I am certain that the system isn’t doing anyone any favors while sitting in boxes in my garage.  Hoping to begin install soon.

System won’t go very far on the 5 gallon sample I have.  Need to start working on collections too.