Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Learning Curve, Diesel Fuel, Really 20 % Bio?

Copyright 2012, CABS for Reflections From the Fence


Man is still in a serious learning curve with Jolly and all it's toys, fuel requirements, and so much more!

A new experience we are facing is fueling Jolly with Tana in tow at the truck lanes at the big ole truck stops.

One of the issues that Man tries to remember to check out is the quality and specifications of the fuel.  For example while we were in Moab Utah last year with Big Butt (gas engine) we discovered that the "cheap" gas was actually below 87 octane, Big Butt could not use that fuel.  If we had fueled up without reading that very small sign, would have meant nasty results for that gas engine.  It was a close call, he had almost started pumping.

Jolly has similar issues, the documentation clearly states Jolly can run a bit of bio-diesel mixed into the regular diesel, UP to but, NOT to exceed 5 % mix.  That percentage is important.

So, we pull up to a TA truck stop around Richmond Virginia,


Here is all the info from the pump:


Let's look real close, paying close attention to the part that chats about bio-diesel blend:


Yes indeedy, it says between 5 and 20 percent.

Man chatted with several employees, managers and truck drivers at that TA truck stop.  The employees, nor the manager could tell us what percentage of bio-diesel would be pumped into Jolly.  They told Man they get several truckloads of fuel delivered every single day and that they have no idea what the percentage of any given load may be.  It could be no bio, it could be 10%, it could be 20%.  

One of the long haul truckers Man discussed this with told him that there is a premium paid to the manufacturers for the bio stuff they are mixing in.  The reason this trucker gave for the mix was that there was not enough diesel being produced to meet the demand.

Now, did this trucker know what he was talking about??  Your guess is as good as ours.  He did say that his truck will stop dead in the road if he uses 15% bio-diesel.

Is there a mix at those pumps, again, your guess is as good as ours, we are betting there is, and we are not taking any chances.

Buyer of diesel beware.



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2 comments:

Jan Kelpe said...

we have used biodiesel before--if I remember right that is about all you find in Illinois. we have had no problems with it but use it only when we know that we will use it in the next few days. Our GM mechanic doesn't like it because it gets "funny" if it sets in the tank long and can cause the filter to plug. by the way we are pretty religous about changing the filter every 10K miles--maybe your new truck actually has that information on the DIC. I don't remember every seeing that big of a range in the amount.

Joan said...

Sounds like a case of too many french fries! I had no idea that the pumping requirements were so loosey-goosey. Interesting.