Is it possible to run a home furnace on Vegetable oil or Biodiesel?

Question

Oil hit $100/barrel today, my oil bill was outrageous (I live in the Northeast) before the price was this high. Since home heating oil is essentially diesel, and you can run Biodiesel/refined vegetable oil in a diesel powered automobile with virtually no modifications. Would it be possible to heat your home with these?

Answer 1

My brother has an auto repair shop and has a furnace that burns used motor oil, and fryer oil from the restaurant next door.He basically heats his shop for nothing,

Answer 2

i know they sell oil heaters that can use waste oil from oil changes etc, but im not sure if you can use a regular oil furnace.  i know this doesnt answer your question, but it might give you another option.

Answer 3

yes, but they don't want you to know that

i also am from the northeast, and i know that many people with above ground tanks, run it on kerosene because the oil jells in the extreme cold where kero does not.

you may have problems with bio oil jelling in the extreme cold but other than that it is fine

i guess you have never run out of oil in the middle of the night or on the weekend where you can't get oil right away

the solution was 5 or 10 gallons of either diesel or kerosene to get you through the night

since bio and petro diesels are essentially the same, and petro diesel is thinner than heating oil, it is fine

you shouldn't go up, but you can always go down

meaning you can put the thinner oils in the units that take the thicker ones, but you can't put the thicker ones in the units that use the thinner ones

if you put heating oil in a diesel car, the filters will clog over faster and have to be changed more often

but putting diesel through the heating unit, it will flow just fine

since it's thinner it may burn hotter and use a little more though

a simple nozzle change would remedy that problem if it even takes place at all