Anybody ever run Biodiesel in an Espar heater?

[Veg Hed]

So without even thinking about the Espar heater I topped the tank off with Biodiesel today. After topping off I estimate that I'm running around B50, 50% biodiesel/50% dino-diesel, in the van. It runs well on biodiesel and the exhaust smells great. I know this might be a long shot, but I was wondering if anyone else has experience running any blend of biodiesel in these heaters. I have logged probably about 30,000 miles on WVO, SVO and biodiesel in my 1982 Mercedes without any problems but have never dealt with a diesel furnace. Thanks.

[Jeffrey]

At first, I was about to yell NO (I'm the guy in espar hell), but after more thought, I think that these heaters will run fine on a variety of fuels or mixes. You can check the espar site or write them.

[Veg Hed]

Espar hell....That doesn't sound like a fun place to be.

I have a lot of experience with various blends of biodiesel in my Mercedes and from hanging out with a whole crew of people who run WVO and biodiesel in various vehicles. But I have never even though about using biodiesel in a diesel furnace until about 2 hours ago. I think the combustion temperature of dino-diesel is around 120 degrees F, while biodiesel is somewhere around 220 degrees F (WVO is somewhere around 700 and the combustion chamber of a diesel engine gets up to 1000 which is why it is such a good candidate for biofuels). I guess it would really depend on what the combustion chamber of the Espar heater gets to while in operation.

[scatter]

I've never used Bio, but when I had an Espar heater problem and went in to the Espar tech, he told me to NEVER use additives or Bio diesel in the heater. This is just what I was told, no experiance with it myself.

[daveb]

One guy had problems with his fuel tank...I don't know if bio was the true problem but I would want to know before running it. That was some time back.

http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/spo ... sage/21033

Like I said this could be old info but it had to do with Quigley tanks or certain tanks SMB installed in Quigley conversions I think. Worth a look anyway.

[Veg Hed]

Yeah, like I said...No experience with running biodiesel in these as well. I do have a bunch of biodiesel in the tank right now. So I'm not going to switch on the heater until I get this thing figured out...

[John and Dana]

Veg Hed

We have both the Espar furnace and hydronic unit and regularly run B20 in our rig. We use only commercially produced bio that meets the ASTM standards and have had no problems to date..

When I had our van built I had SMB run bio compliant fuel lines to the Espar units, otherwise they use standard rubber fuel lines. Standard rubber fuel lines will be slowly dissolved by running bio, so if you intend to run bio diesel you will need to change these lines.

I did a lot of research on the web and did find reports of people having problems with bio-diesel in the Espar units. The reported problems were that the bio-diesel creates a build up of carbon on the atomizer screen. Unfortunately it did not specify whether they were running straight bio or a blend. It also did not specify if they were running home made bio or ASTM grade bio. Also, if you read the literature that comes with the furnace you will see that Espar specifies that the atomizer screen should be cleaned and the glow pin changed annually anyway.

The general consensus seems to be that most equipment designed to run on diesel should not see any adverse effect from a B-20 blend but only time will tell.

If thats not enough there is also the problem that if you are still under warranty and Ford finds out you have been running bio-diesel over B5 they may void your warranty. So be sure to fill with Dino diesel before dropping your rig off for service.

John