Elsbett Workshop

Tonight I would like to welcome my first ever Celebrity Guest Columnist to the Energy Blog. Welcome Rachel Burton.

This is a dramatic entry. It is packed with mystery, fear, uncertainty, and power. It’s long, but well worth it. It’s a journey of conquest over skepticism, glow plugs, and dashboard computer systems. For those of you who generally “skim” the blog, this is the one time you need to slow down, and read it word for word. I have made gentle edits along the way.

“In a brief whirlwind amidst the auto shop of Central Carolina Community College- we hosted the first-ever East Coast Region-United States Elsbett Workshop.

“Between Thursday night and today, Saturday afternoon at five o’clock, we (Rachel and Leif) facilitated the conversion of two different vehicles to operate on straight vegetable oil. On Thursday, March 18th, Rudolf Diesel’s Birthday, I picked up Alexander Noack from Elsbett Technologies at the Raleigh-Durham airport. Unfortunately, I headed to the airport in the Grease Goat, my dodge truck, running on dino diesel due our low production rate on biodiesel lately. None the less, I thought it appropriate that on Diesel’s birthday we bridged a new international relationship between Germany and Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro, North Carolina.

“A few months ago I began an email conversation about the possibilities of having a vegetable fuel-training workshop with Elsbett technology in North Carolina. We had just returned from the California biodiesel conferences and thoughts were all on biodiesel. Weather at the time was hindering SVO operation in the Piedmont.

“Lyle was skeptical to say the least- which I think it was a matter of a few things:

1. I tried to convince Tami & Lyle that they should convert their new TDI Jetta wagon with an Elsbett conversion kit. No go there.

2. They decided to schedule their vacation in Key West during the possible dates of the workshop. I even offered them a free ride to the airport and house sitting services, but they would not let us convert the Jetta.

3. Lyle thought it inappropriate that I would go out of my way to sell some else’s product ( i.e. Elsbett kit) even if it was an opportunity to learn the latest & greatest on straight vegetable fuels technology.

“Leif on the other hand was supportive of the idea. Learning new things is not a problem for him. I was completely bullheaded and determined to make it happen. Leif knew not to get in my way. Lyle still played no comment.

“So here’s the deal. We had to have at least two SVO conversion kits purchased to get a training workshop. It costs 1650 in EURO for parts and labor for an Elsbett kit. Depending on the currency conversion rate that is a steep 2k rounded up or down.
I think it’s around 900 Euro for the kit, the rest is labor. So I went on a mission to find people interested in Elsbett technology who also had a diesel vehicle to convert.

“Eric Henry from TS Designs and I were having a swirling conversation about SVO possibilities for his 2000 VW TDI Golf- we talked Greasel, Greasecar, diy-built, etc. It has been on my technical to-do list- the workability of Elsbett’s single tank svo solution, since I heard about it. So I said let’s check out Elsbett. They are cutting edge on diesel technology from the heart of Deutschland. They have been working on vegetable oil – diesel technology since the 70s. or earlier. (Meaning they actually learned from the oil crisis) And that’s where my curiosity has been on the SVO front. Eric Henry was in and so was his VW Golf! His goal is to let his vehicle be a demonstration of new technology and sustainable choices in transportation. And of course we support that!

“The next customer was a little harder sell. But the idea for the for the whole ‘ bring Elsbett to NC’ originated from a biodiesel workshop up in Swannanoa, NC at Warren Wilson College this past December.

“Clark G. from the Earthaven community was a participant in the biodiesel workshop that Leif and I put on, and he proposed the idea after seeing a kit from a friend and hearing word of a workshop in California last year. Conversations between Clark and I got us thinking about the Elsbett kits and the possibility of hands-on training.

“Side note- Earthaven is where Leif and I crashed the night before the Warren Wilson biodiesel workshop- a very cool eco village/ community near Black Mountain working on a sustainable forestry cooperative, natural building, organic gardening, permaculture, and other modes of sustainability. It looks like Leif and I might be holding a workshop on biofuels there this summer.

“Anyway, I am not sure whether Clark knew that he had been clued into the cosmic waiter when he crossed paths with Piedmont Biofuels- he asked for an Elsbett workshop and I (via cosmic waiter) delivered. Clark has a 1983 Mercedes-Benz 240D that he was thinking of tinkering with on the biodiesel and straight vegetable oil front. Little did he know by the end of March that he would be riding back to Black Mountain burning clean, canola oil! Clark and I were hoping his local Mercedes wiz mechanic would join us in the Elsbett adventure. The mechanic could not make it but Clark himself got a chance to make the conversion go off without a hitch.

“Alexander from Elsbett held a wealth of knowledge on diesels, conversions, and vegetable oil properties. He was a graceful, well-tempered, and amazingly efficient engineer to witness. A man of a few but power-packing words, Alex always took time to answer questions even in the midst of wiring relays, bleeding fuel injectors, and passing out instructions for the next step in the conversion process. Here is a brief or not, brain dump- Leif and I threw while waiting for our delayed flight to Iowa and the weeklong biodiesel course to follow…

Things we learned this weekend-

“Soybean oil is bad. Whether it is straight vegetable oil or soybean based biodiesel. It is a no-go in diesel engines. Why? In diesel engines you have slight mixing between fuel and lubricating oil. There is a fuel property in soybean oil that makes it reactive when in contact with engine lubricating oil. It supposedly has a polymerizing action with the engine oil, which is detrimental to the life of your lubricating system.
What they do in Europe is use a vegetable-based lubricating oil for the engine to prevent any problems with fuel-lubricating oil intimacy. What else? They do not use soybean oil; They use rape seed also known as canola.

“One good idea came up- let’s bulk purchase vegetable-based engine oil lubricant from Europe or wherever it is accessible!

Technical details to the Elsbett system;

* They use wider diameter fuel lines on the supply side to injection pump. Wider than the OEM or stock fuel lines. Allowing for more fuel available for starting.

* Using a Back up fuel filter or manual secondary
• There is no heat exchanger in tank why? Possibility of leakage in tank or melting of plastic tank. And with their experience customers want to run a liquid fuel
(i.e. not animal fat that needs heating prior to pumping)
• Elsbett uses a Coolant–powered Heat exchanger positioned as close to fuel filter-
• This is a secondary heat source for the vegetable fuel utilized for specifically warm engine operation- not cold start-up

*Longer, hotter glow plugs that are energized longer than the original manufacturers time setting

*Temperature sensor on either the cylinder head (MB) or oil pump (TDI Golf)

*Electric heating band on filter
*Injectors are cleaned and pressure tested on TDI
*Injectors on the MB are cleaned & modified with new nozzles and washers that vary the
fuel pressure for the fuel
• The fuel pressure was increased on TDI while the fuel pressure was maintained as stock pressure for MB
*Watch the accumulation of biodiesel soaps in the fuel-sending unit and clean thoroughly

*Use same micron rated filter as OEM for auxiliary fuel filtration b/c fuel injection is
designed for a certain resistance that is developed by specific filter ratings. Meaning if
your original fuel filter is 2 micron that means your fuel injection pump runs best with
fuel that has been run through a 2 micron filter. It is an optimal situation.

*Incoming veggie oil- CLEAN, QUALITY! QUALITY! QUALITY! The veggie oil
should be filtered to 1 micron- and should not contain water or fryer contaminates like
salt/phosphorus. Another Constant at Piedmont Biofuels – QUALITY Oil feedstock!

“For very cold weather operation- blend vegetable oil with petroleum diesel at least 50%. For best cold weather blending, put diesel in the fuel tank first, then vegetable oil.

“I believe the biofuels class in general has a new understanding of Straight Vegetable Oil conversion and its installation –operation procedures. In fact, a good group of us got hands–on experience with the Elsbett system. Leif and I both learned how to disassemble, measure, rebuild, and pressure test injectors for Clark’s MB. It was a highlight for me on Friday. I know Murat and Adrian from the biofuels class got down and dirty – turning wrenches; Zack from Greensboro was the master on workshop video. Honorable mentions go out to newcomers Isaac and Jim Rodell prepping for their own svo conversion on a Benz….as well as Ward assisting with his diesel experience. It was great see some folks from last semester Angel and Amanda recently back from Nicaragua and ready for SVO conversions in Central America.

“The workshop itself got started around noon on Friday as planned. I busted to bring together all the necessary tools requested by Alexander. We had first hand experience with “Tool Lost in Translation.” Last week, he spent some time in Dublin, Ireland and asked those guys “what should I call this wrench to the American mechanic?” So Alex and I went back and forth over spanner wrenches and ring keys only to find out he just wanted box-end wrenches, open-end wrenches or combination wrenches. I searched far and wide among mechanic friends and school for a set of spanner wrenches with no real need. Luckily, the injector pressure tester that I had given up on was dug out from the old diesel days at the Sanford campus. It is a handy tool to see injector spray pattern and pressures.

“Eric Henry’s Golf and Clark’s Mercedes pulled into the shop at half past twelve. Alexander pulled out a laptop to do a preliminary computer check on the VW – it was cool to see an OBD II (On Board Diagnostics systems) in german computer-mechanic geek in me talking here. Due to a computer interface problem with Eric's aftermarket radio, we had to pull the radio to complete the computer check. We got busy with the engine mechanical portion of the conversion- pulling injectors, glow plugs, & fuel lines. After the injector cleaning and new pressure setting- Alex went into the zone and I became a guest in my own shop, as Matt said. It became more of a watch and learn scenario as Alex floated from each car.

“Wiring on the TDI golf took some time- we learned that Elsbett in a sense are car computer hackers. They hacked into the Fuel injection computer/ PCM and tricked the computer to think the vehicle is colder than usual allowing the glow plugs to stay on longer therefore shooting enough heat for the vegetable oil to combust. Leif loved the idea of hacking a vehicle’s computer! Meanwhile on the Mercedes, we were busy mounting the heat exchanger and new fuel filter. The one tool we did not have in stock at the auto shop- was welding equipment believe it or not. I guess the school is not ready for the high school kids to be welding as well as loading up their low-riders with subwoofers. That’s when Moncure Chessworks came to save the day. Adrian with his metalworking expertise and Leif headed down to Moncure for bracket- building expedition. From what I hear, Tuesday, our expert welder sat back getting her haircut letting the guys fabricate a rustproof, stainless steel welded bracket for a heat exchanger on the Mercedes.

“Friday’s part of the Elsbett workshop was all-business. We stayed until eight o’clock, right through an awkward moment with CCCC administrators escorting my recently “let-go” co-worker from the campus, with his multitude of tool boxes. After a brief cleanup- we headed to the general store for beers and food.

“I could not sleep Friday night. Neither could Alex – I was too worked up about whether we would be able to complete both vehicle conversions, especially by 3:30 pm Saturday -which was the latest possible time to make our flight out to Iowa. So he and I headed back to CCCC at 6:30 am on Saturday, fueled only with some strong coffee to get a head start before the workshop crowd trickled in around 8- 8:30am…

“I finished up mounting relays on the Mercedes while Alex prepped the TDI for coolant hose and fuel line routing. Next thing was siphoning existing fuel from TDI, and guess what the tank was three quarter full of homebrew biodiesel! To siphon this fuel, we had to pull out the fuel sending unit/gauge, which got a good inspection & cleaning. On the plastic fuel-sending unit, there is pre-filter area where we found an interesting accumulation of soaps from biodiesel. Not bashing Eric-because we too have had our experience with soaps and not properly washed biodiesel. But it was an excellent example of what you do not want in your fuel system. Alex was extremely concerned and commented jovially that the vehicle should not be fueled with soap. Next was installing a new supply fuel line – followed by a fuel system bleeding, and computer system check! And before you knew it, Eric was in the driver’s seat cranking his golf on vegetable oil! The shop roared with applause and Eric was off on a test drive!

“Now time to finish up the Mercedes, Leif and Clark had started early on coolant hose rerouting. Now all that was left was the same fuel siphoning, new fuel supply line, and a slightly modified bleeding procedure. Alexander utilized the original bleeder valve on the Mercedes as well as cracking the injectors to purge the air. And there we were with another round of applause complementing the purr of a diesel engine, it was one o’clock on Saturday afternoon and another vehicle was running on vegetable oil! Clark took a cruise around the block with a few workshop participants with no problems at all. The rest of afternoon was a barrage of questions for Alexander, a hurried cleanup, and celebratory lunch before the mad dash to the airport.

“On Thursday night when I had picked up Alexander from the airport, on our rainy ride down Hwy 751, I had asked him whether he knew much about the south of the U.S. It was his first time in North Carolina much less anywhere else in the southern U.S. For the most part, I am used to people not from the south having strong stereotypes about racism and backwardness. Once again, with an American-centric viewpoint I thought of course he has heard about the south. But no--he had no preconceived notions to my surprise. On Saturday afternoon, before Leif and I hit the road… we strolled back to the truck, I asked Alexander about his impressions of Pittsboro and the people in general. I believe he commented on the warm and friendly demeanor of the people in the class, something different than his experience in California. I plainly said that’s what we call ‘southern hospitality.’

“Yet, one of the best comments & feedback about the Elsbett workshop comes from Tim, our resident mechanical engineer specializing in ethanol. He said that the workshop was “ Shit Hot!” Which by Leif’s explanation is a slang term from the Air Force that crossbreeds adjectives like awesome, amazing, hot, and badass! On that note, I agree. Elsbett was shit hot and hell, after the last two days of hardcore, injector- building, glow-plug swapping, fuel ling dancing, and tank siphoning fun, hands on conversion, I am satisfied and sold. Well worth the effort.

“Thanks to everyone in and around the biofuels class for their patience and support. Thanks also to Scott for back up guest hosting, airport taxi, and hopefully party cleanup from the kegger we had at Tami and Lyle’s house while they were in Florida. He took care of the tail end of the Elsbett weekend. And thanks to Tami and Lyle for lending us the biofuels bed and breakfast- No worries. We didn’t heat up any rancid oil in the kitchen—this time.”

Editor’s Note: I am so glad I was not aware of this when I was in Miami. Had I known what was going on down at the College, I might have dropped my paper umbrella onto the patio, rather than into my fruity drink.

Posted by Lyle at March 22, 2004 10:04 PM