Just LISTEN, for the love of cheese!

[Lace Neil Singer]

This was an SC from today; read my "We don't have any!!!" thread for an explanation of why the SCs are swarming to the petrol station like flies on sh*t. XD She was really irritating; I kind of got the feeling that she was one of those high powered business people; she was dressed in a suit, as well as her sharp, snappy, "I know best" manner. -.- This woman came in at a time when we'd run out of diesel and were waiting on a delivery.


SC - SC
Me - Me
Lacey - Collegue with same name as me. XD
Emma - Manager


SC: Do you have any diesel?
Lacey: No, we haven't had any all day. There is a sign out front.
SC: Sorry, I didn't see it. Do you have any diesel?
Lacey: No, I said we didn't have any. You see...
SC: *Talks over Lacey* That's not very efficient. You should stock up in preparation for a greater demand.
Me: It's got nothing to do with demand; it's cuz of the refinery having technical problems.
SC: Never mind that, I'm in a hurry. Do you know where I can get some diesel?
Emma: I can go out back and ring up. *does so* The Shell down the road has some, and so does the BP up the end of...
SC: *Talks over Emma* What about the Texaco in the high street?
Me: I don't think there's a Texaco in town...
SC: *Talks over me* Please tell me if the Texaco has any diesel. (is talking to us as if we're all brain dead)
Lacey: (is seriously pissed off) Emma said that the Shell and the BP up the end of town have some. Would you like some directions?
SC: I don't have time for that. I'll just go find the Texaco by myself. *Leaves*
Me: There is no flipping Texaco.
Lacey: Well, if she wants to drive all over town looking for an imaginary petrol station, good luck to her. Hope she doesn't mind sleeping in her car.


I really hate people who talk over you, and don't bloody listen when you're trying to help them. -__-

[elysia]

I would have given up on her the instant she repeated her question about having diesel, about 1.5 sec into the encounter. You are way more patient than I.

[PepperElf]

pffft! Send her to the grocery store.

Apparently the SC also doesn't watch the news or science programs. You can used cooking oil in place of diesel... just filter it if the oil is old.

When Mythbuster's tried it out the diesel was only slightly more efficient than the used (filtered) cooking oil (about one mile per gallon difference)

[DaDairyDruid]

You do have to use different hoses and such for BioDiesel, I am unsure if you can run directly Without risking damage. But the Kit for conversion is supposed to be fairly inexpensive

[Chromatix]

I'm pretty sure the different hoses are required when converting a petrol car to take ethanol - which is corrosive. Biodiesel (and indeed chip oil) is not significantly more corrosive than ordinary diesel, so the main concern is whether your car's injectors will take it.

Older injectors are usually fine, but newer ones might be too finely tuned for standard diesel to work correctly with chip oil. Properly processed biodiesel should still be no problem though. If in doubt, use a mixture of normal fuel and your chosen alternative, and increase the proportion of the alternative gradually while checking for problems. In an emergency, you can even use a certain proportion of petrol - particularly useful if you travel somewhere unusually cold, as petrol is much more tolerant of low temperatures.

There is one very interesting "problem" that biodiesel has, actually. It cleans your engine out. This is definitely a good thing, but all the soot that gets washed out of your cylinders ends up in your oil - or more specifically the oil filter. So if you've been running a car on normal diesel for a long time, and then switch to biodiesel, you're recommended to change your oil filter immediately, and then again about 100 miles later. After that you should be able to go back to a normal schedule.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I was more concerned with the way she was fixated on a petrol station that didn't exist. O.o There has never been a Texaco in the high street.

[Tito]

I really hate people who talk over you

People try that with me periodically when I am covering the switchboard. I don't allow them to, I just keep right on saying what I'm saying.

[Evil Queen]

I would have told her that yes, the Texaco on High street has diesel.

[Broomjockey]

Now that's not very nice. Although...If phrased "When you get to the Texaco on High Street, they'll have it" that would be technically correct...hmm....

[Evil Queen]

If she's not going to listen when you say there no Texaco station in town, then it's her own fault for listening when you say that yes, they have it.

[Broomjockey]

Yeah, I'm just thinking of the whole inevitable complaint to management. It probably depends on what your managment's like. If they're cool, then probably doesn't matter how you say it. If they're okay, then my way is plausible denyability or "It's her fault for not paying attention to how I said it." If management sucks, it still probably doesn't matter, as they won't care what you actually said and just ream you out anyways.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Well as it happened, the manager was just as ticked off as myself and Lacey were, so in retrospect I don't think she'd have cared. XD In any case, the woman was hell bent on searching for Eldorado, errr I mean Texaco, so nothing we said would have made a blind bit of difference.

[Naaman]

I'm pretty sure the different hoses are required when converting a petrol car to take ethanol - which is corrosive. Biodiesel (and indeed chip oil) is not significantly more corrosive than ordinary diesel, so the main concern is whether your car's injectors will take it.

Haven't looked into it too closely but I believe that Chip oil is not good, I believe that most commercial oils (presuming they're already filtered) require the addition of some alcohol to make them burn better. The other thing to remember is that (in the UK at least) chip fat is normally palm oil, that's a solid at room temperature, additives are needed to make it usable in an engine.

[Chromatix]

The process to turn fat/oil into biodiesel isn't hugely complicated - it's just adding the correct amount of lye (cheap) and letting it settle, then pulling the biodiesel off the top. The waste that precipitates out is actually a useful industrial chemical, and not toxic - you can collect it and, in theory, sell it.

The main problem is determining the correct amount of lye to add. If you use fresh oil of a consistent type as your feedstock, you only have to do this once, and might even be able to ask someone else. If you use used oil, however, you have to do it every time. The titration process is much more complex and involves some very toxic byproducts. :-(

Of course, you can guess at the amounts instead of titrating. If you add too little, the oil won't be completely turned into biodiesel. If you add too much, you'll get soap as an extra byproduct!

[Naaman]

I stand happily corrected

Thanks Chromatix