Diesel Engines and SVO Conversions
The diesel engine was invented by Rudolph Diesel and was first deomonstrated at the World Fair in Paris running on peanut oill. While this first successful diesel engine looked nothing like modern diesel engines, it is still possible to fuel a modern diesel vehicle with vegetable oil because the basic principal of compression combustion is the same. To use straight vegetable oil as a fuel, the only requirement other than filtering it is that the oil be sufficiently heated in order to flow through the fuel system. Cold straight vegetable oil has a much higher viscosity than diesel or biodiesel fuel but as you warm SVO the viscosity decreases to comparable levels. This simple concept of preheating the oil to thin it is what SVO systems are designed around. There are many different methods to heat the oil but the most common are with engine coolant and electric heaters- we use both in our systems. Diesel engines create waste heat as they burn fuel and the cooling system on these vehicles is designed to remove this heat from the engine. We simply tap into that system and re-direct this heat to warm the fuel lines and tanks. In addition the alternators on diesel vehicle are heavy duty and we use some of the excess power from these alternators to power the electric heating elements that are installed in all the fuel filters we use. Full Circle Fuels offers the full line of Golden Fuels Systems products with identical pricing. We have been installing these systems for years and know how to do the job correctly and do technical support on both new and mature systems. For more information on these products or prices please see: www.goldenfuelsystems.com.
What is an SVO conversion?
A SVO conversion is an aftermarket fuel system that can be added onto any liquid cooled diesel engine, allowing the engine to burn vegetable oil in addition to diesel fuel. Only diesel engines can burn vegetable oil, there is no way to convert a gasoline powered engine to SVO. Cars and trucks aren't the only candidates for conversions - liquid cooled diesels include generators, tractors, industrial equipment, boats and any other piece of equipment that is powered with diesel fuel. The term "conversion" can be misleading though, because no original vehicle components need to be "converted" in order to use vegetable oil as fuel. The diesel engine was designed and originally demonstrated running on peanut oil. A SVO conversion is actually an auxiliary fuel system that enables the vehicle to burn vegetable oil in addition to diesel fuel. The basic idea is very simple - we install a parallel heated fuel system. Every component of the system (tanks, filter, lines, etc...) is heated with engine coolant or electric heating elements. Switching valves are installed which control both the supply and return fuel that flow into the engine. These valves can be either manual or automated. For more information about specific products please see http://www.goldenfuelsystems.com/products.php.
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