Your thoughts on these contents

[BlodwynPig]

For a smallholding (a few acres) you can't go wrong with one of the older small Massey Fergusons like a 60s MF35 (a bloke with a smallholding across the road from work has one). Easy to work on and get bits for (they carried on making thme in India for years afterwards, like the Royal Enfield and Austin Cambridge). They are in 'classic tractor' territory now though and are going up in price.

For somewhere a bit bigger the later Massey-Fergusons like the MF398 or MF550 would do -  still easy to work on and spares are easy to get. A Case 895 or 956 would be good alternatives with decent reliability and thay are also easy to work on with good spares availability. If you need a tractor with a front-loader it gets a bit more expensive.

Are there any tractors that run on biofuel or biogas that could be generated by on-farm anaerobic digesters?

[buzby]

Are there any tractors that run on biofuel or biogas that could be generated by on-farm anaerobic digesters?

Biogas or dual-fuel-powered (biogas+diesel) tractors are only just coming to market and are pretty expensive. New Holland announced theirs in 2017 and Steyr and Valmet have had theirs available for a bit longer. Personally I wouldn't be that keen on being surrounded by 300 litres of compressed Methane at 200bar - the tanks on the NH prototype were on each side of the cab:

Most old diesel tractors can be run on biodiesel (though some rubber seals and hoses may need to be changed as it's more acidic than petroleum-based diesel, and cold weather running can be an issue). There's not many petrol-powered tractors in the UK, so bioethanol isn't really a thing (you can get conversion kits for some newer diesels to run them off LPG though).

[Alberon]

I thought it was biomass for fuel

What the fuck is that? New live-action Thunderbirds with disappointing new vehicles?

[Cuellar]

No thoughts.

[buzby]

What the fuck is that? New live-action Thunderbirds with disappointing new vehicles?

It's a truck dumper, used for unloading bulk cargo (like biomass) into silos quicker than using self-unloading trailers. That type in particular is called an End Tipper Dumper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK2ycO56gTY
They used to have them at the infamous Sonae chipboard factory in Kirkby (now gone, after too many fires and industrial accidents). The platform has a vibration motor built into it to help shake the load out of the trailer once it has been lifted up.

[Replies From View]

Well I hope the driver has to stay sitting inside.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Those sort of angles look like all the fluids and stuff that goes in the engine and that could leak out.

[Shit Good Nose]

Biogas or dual-fuel-powered (biogas+diesel) tractors are only just coming to market and are pretty expensive. New Holland announced theirs in 2017 and Steyr and Valmet have had theirs available for a bit longer. Personally I wouldn't be that keen on being surrounded by 300 litres of compressed Methane at 200bar - the tanks on the NH prototype were on each side of the cab:

Most old diesel tractors can be run on biodiesel (though some rubber seals and hoses may need to be changed as it's more acidic than petroleum-based diesel, and cold weather running can be an issue). There's not many petrol-powered tractors in the UK, so bioethanol isn't really a thing (you can get conversion kits for some newer diesels to run them off LPG though).

A chap I work with leases a small holding (it's actually quite big - 30-odd acres) and the farmer who owns it runs his tractor on used (but filtered, obvs) cooking oil collected from the local chippies - smells of a chip shop every time he rolls past.  I assume the engine is converted somehow to cope.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think it's modern diesel injection engines that are the most fussy. Older Mercs (the vans that predated sprinters) and their cars of a similar vintage will run on chip fat. Someone I know used to buy wholesale stuff fresh and pour it straight into their E-Class estate because it was cheaper than diesel, they could've used chip fat but they couldn't be arsed filtering it.

[BlodwynPig]

A chap I work with leases a small holding (it's actually quite big - 30-odd acres) and the farmer who owns it runs his tractor on used (but filtered, obvs) cooking oil collected from the local chippies - smells of a chip shop every time he rolls past.  I assume the engine is converted somehow to cope.

My cousin had a whacked out plan to use chippie oil for powering his works motor. But as Buzby will tell you, that stuff is contaminated to fuck and needs processing and mixing, i.e. biodiesel.

[Shit Good Nose]

My cousin had a whacked out plan to use chippie oil for powering his works motor. But as Buzby will tell you, that stuff is contaminated to fuck and needs processing and mixing, i.e. biodiesel.

No mixing with anything, just pure used chip oil - he collects it every few days from several chippies in the area, pours it into the filtering thing (which looks like a large-scale food processor with some extra bells and whistles) in his big shed at the top of my work-mate's holding, and empties it into jerry cans.  The filtering takes quite a long time apparently, but he pays nowt for the oil and is obviously saving a fortune on fuel.  What his servicing bills are like, though, I have no idea.  Plus he has to drive around with the smell of a chip shop all day, which I guess either drives you wild with hunger pangs or makes you want to puke.  Or possibly both.

[Twed]

No mixing with anything, just pure used chip oil - he collects it every few days from several chippies in the area, pours it into the filtering thing (which looks like a large-scale food processor with some extra bells and whistles) in his big shed at the top of my work-mate's holding, and empties it into jerry cans.  The filtering takes quite a long time apparently, but he pays nowt for the oil and is obviously saving a fortune on fuel.  What his servicing bills are like, though, I have no idea.  Plus he has to drive around with the smell of a chip shop all day, which I guess either drives you wild with hunger pangs or makes you want to puke.  Or possibly both.

People who work in chip shops manage, and they can't even drive the shops (except for the ones that can be driven).

[Shit Good Nose]

People who work in chip shops manage, and they can't even drive the shops (except for the ones that can be driven).

I suppose it's better than smelling cow and pig shit all day, as well.  Although, living somewhere where muckspreading routinely takes place, it is true you develop a bit of anosmia.

[buzby]

My cousin had a whacked out plan to use chippie oil for powering his works motor. But as Buzby will tell you, that stuff is contaminated to fuck and needs processing and mixing, i.e. biodiesel.

Yes it needs to be filtered to get rid of the crap from the fryers. It is also emulsified from the moisture from the food being cooked in it (veg oil is also hygroscopic).

Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) can be used to fuel some engines with only basic filtering (though cold starting will be difficult due to the moisture content causing waxing, the combustion won't be optimal, and will be putting out worse emissions) , but to turn it into proper biodiesel it needs to have the moisture removed and have the esters transformed into long chain molecules to increase it's thermal efficiency by using a catalyst like potassium hydroxide and methanol or ethanol as a reactant.

Over the past 10 years pump diesel has been blended with an increasing percentage of biodiesel (currently 5%) and most diesel engines made in the last 10-15 years have fuel delivery and injection systems that are tolerant of biodiesel's acidity levels. Most really old diesel engines with mechanical injection systems (like old Mercs, PSA XUD, Ford non-turbo Yorks from old Transits - basically anything that used a Bosch injection pump instead of a Lucas one) will run on it too. The biodiesel rubber rot and injector erosion problems mostly affects vehicles between 10 and 20 years old, when electronically-coltrolled diesel direct injection systems first came along

As well as the acidity issue, there are pros and cons on the emissions too - biodiesel is better for Hydrocarbon, PM particulate and Carbon Monoxide emissions than standard diesel, but it puts out a lot more Nitrous Oxide

[BlodwynPig]

A busy day at ASK BUZBY offices.

:)

I will find something to confound you though. Maltese vinegar??? any tips on processing?

[Shit Good Nose]

Over the past 10 years pump diesel has been blended with an increasing percentage of biodiesel

Is that why there was the big government push to promote diesel over petrol a few years ago?  If so, why the major u-turn?  (note - I've never owned a diesel)

[buzby]

A busy day at ASK BUZBY offices.

:)

I will find something to confound you though. Maltese vinegar??? any tips on processing?

Outside my sphere of reference I'm afraid - the only food I know about is CRISPS. Maye one for Pancreas or Buelligan ;)

[BlodwynPig]

Outside my sphere of reference I'm afraid - the only food I know about is CRISPS. Maye one for Pancreas or Buelligan ;)

STRIKE ONE....GET IN!!!!

LOOOOSER

;)

[idunnosomename]

That is one big pile of shit.

[pancreas]

Outside my sphere of reference I'm afraid - the only food I know about is CRISPS. Maye one for Pancreas or Buelligan ;)

They do make passable wine in Malta, which would lead one to imagine the vinegar is alright. Mainly they grow international varieties, like Cab Sauv/Syrah, but there are two local ones, Gellewza and Ghirghentina, which are red and white, respectively. Based on my limited experience, I can't imagine that either variety is going to become an international superstar, since the ones I tasted had very little flavour. (The red has so little pigment in its skin it looks like a rosé even after full maceration). Nevertheless, it's interesting to try these things.

[Cuellar]

Are you two trying to say 'malt vinegar'?

[PlanktonSideburns]

Unabomber was right, tear it down

[buzby]

Is that why there was the big government push to promote diesel over petrol a few years ago?  If so, why the major u-turn?  (note - I've never owned a diesel)

The push for diesel came because the road fund licence tax classes were based on the amount of C02 the car put out - if you could get your engine down to less than 100g/km you qualified for zero tax. Realistically, the only way manufacturers could do this was with small capacity diesels with small, low-pressure turbos, and these became the company car to have as you paid less tax on that as well (company car tax was also based on emissions classes)

Unfortunately diesels get best fuel economy when they are run lean (diesels use heat to combust the fuel under pressure rather than a spark, and running lean keeps the engine hot), but lean burning diesels also produce loads of of Nitrous Oxide (NOx). To reduce the NOx levels  then have to put a catalyst on the exhaust (or inject urea into the exhaust) to absorb and convert the NOx (into Nitrogen and water), but also inject more fuel, which cools the combustion but also makes more soot (or PM - Particulate Matter), so you also have to firl Particulate Filter to trap the soot, which has to be periodically burnt off by injecting a load of extra fuel into the exhaust stroke (known as regenerating the filter). This all keeps control of the emissions, but means the main advantage diesels had compared to petrol (fuel economy) has been vastly reduced.

The current diesel bashing is due to a crackdown PM and NOx emissions, which from a modern diesel built in the last 5 years with an LNT (Lean NOx Trap) or SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction, i.e. urea injection) catalytic converter and  DPF for Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions compliance is quite low*. It's the older diesel vans, taxis, trucks and buses belching out black smoke that are the main culprits,  but outside of specific areas like London's Low miEssion Zone there is no incentive for people to replace them, especially when the emissions-based tax system has been shifted in favour of petrols and EVs now. It's why in a lot of cases private hire cab companies are shifting from diesel Skodas to Priuses and Hyundai Ionic hybrids.

* The VW diesel scandal was because they installed cheat routines in their engine management software that basically ran the engines rich to reduce the NOx emissions when it detected it was on an official test routine cycle, but then leaned  the fuel off in real world driving to get better MPG and produce more power, (but generated more NOx in the process).

[Alex9]

The push for diesel came because the road fund licence tax classes were based on the amount of C02 the car put out - if you could get your engine down to less than 100g/km you qualified for zero tax. Realistically, the only way manufacturers could do this was with small capacity diesels with small, low-pressure turbos, and these became the company car to have as you paid less tax on that as well (company car tax was also based on emissions classes)

Unfortunately diesels get best fuel economy when they are run lean (diesels use heat to combust the fuel under pressure rather than a spark, and running lean keeps the engine hot), but lean burning diesels also produce loads of of Nitrous Oxide (NOx). To reduce the NOx levels  then have to put a catalyst on the exhaust (or inject urea into the exhaust) to absorb and convert the NOx (into Nitrogen and water), but also inject more fuel, which cools the combustion but also makes more soot (or PM - Particulate Matter), so you also have to firl Particulate Filter to trap the soot, which has to be periodically burnt off by injecting a load of extra fuel into the exhaust stroke (known as regenerating the filter). This all keeps control of the emissions, but means the main advantage diesels had compared to petrol (fuel economy) has been vastly reduced.

The current diesel bashing is due to a crackdown PM and NOx emissions, which from a modern diesel built in the last 5 years with an LNT (Lean NOx Trap) or SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction, i.e. urea injection) catalytic converter and  DPF for Euro 5 or Euro 6 emissions compliance is quite low*. It's the older diesel vans, taxis, trucks and buses belching out black smoke that are the main culprits,  but outside of specific areas like London's Low miEssion Zone there is no incentive for people to replace them, especially when the emissions-based tax system has been shifted in favour of petrols and EVs now. It's why in a lot of cases private hire cab companies are shifting from diesel Skodas to Priuses and Hyundai Ionic hybrids.

* The VW diesel scandal was because they installed cheat routines in their engine management software that basically ran the engines rich to reduce the NOx emissions when it detected it was on an official test routine cycle, but then leaned  the fuel off in real world driving to get better MPG and produce more power, (but generated more NOx in the process).

I had an Accord and I kerbed the nearside front wheel badly, and put the tracking out. The Honda dealer charged me 80 quid to put it on their tracking rack and then told me I needed to spend 2 grand to replace the nearside suspension.


[Locking this as it's a 2 year old thread, bumped for no good reason, by another dodgy looking new account who weirdly decides to necropost shit - BAdmin]

[holyzombiejesus]

What/ who is the initial photo of? And the subsequent b&W for that matter please?