Transformer oil as fuel?

[GTSSportCoupe]

We have a 55 gallon drum of highly refined transformer oil at work that we need to get rid of. No PCBs or anything as it's 80's vintage. I joked with a coworker that maybe I could mix it with diesel and burn it in my cruiser. Looked it up, and see others have done the same with no issues in other diesel engines. It's very clean and clear. Hard to say no to 200l of free fuel...what do you guys think?

 

[slowandsteady BJ]

You should post this in the "Alternative fuels section". I'm willing to bet its possible with an additive of some sort.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

You should post this in the "Alternative fuels section". I'm willing to bet its possible with an additive of some sort.

Good call, I forgot there was that section on this forum. Will take a look.

Saw on a cummins forum someone with a 12V ran 4000gallons 100% with zero issues. I'm sold.

No one has mentioned the need for an additive, but many guys do mix it 50/50 with diesel, which is probably what I'll do.

 

[YardPig]

I burn WMO in most my diesels. It produces more BTU's than regular diesel, making more power, lubes the pump better. Smells different. I would add a fuel additive. Additives in transformer oil to aid in the cooling, not sure good or bad.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

I burn WMO in most my diesels. It produces more BTU's than regular diesel, making more power, lubes the pump better. Smells different. I would add a fuel additive. Additives in transformer oil to aid in the cooling, not sure good or bad.

Does WMO = waste motor oil? Interesting. I've only run diesel the last few years, and hadn't really looked into all the other stuff that I could burn. Now that this opportunity has come along, I figure why not.

The transformer this came out of was a specialty scientific high voltage x-ray transformer. Very very clean stuff. Clear as water.

I do run fuel additive every tank anyhow, and would keep doing it with this stuff for sure.

 

[GTSSportCoupe]

Just an update in case anyone was wondering. Been running the transformer oil up to 50/50 mix with diesel for a while now. I've been adding 200:1 2-stroke oil to make sure there is sufficient injection system lubrication. Also running the power service stuff from crappy tire that I always run.

I gotta say, the stuff burns well. Burns way cleaner than diesel. I almost never see any smoke at night in car headlights behind me on acceleration (with diesel it's fairly easy to see). During the day it's impossible to see smoke at all, but that said my motor doesn't smoke much anyhow. Power is a little down, maybe by 10-15%, but I was expecting that from what I'd read. Anyhow, it's good stuff.

I've got a lead on 1000's of gallons of it from a local engineering company. Though I think I'd have to setup a filter and storage system for the stuff they would have. Not sure if I'm going to go that far or not.