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Why you should not use a steel tank for WVO

Below are pictures of my steel tank that I finally removed after almost 2 years of use.

Back in the very beginning I did not know better, and was just simply tinkering with my own truck, well before Vegistroke was even thought of. The picture on the bottom right is my home made copper heat exchanger that I installed inside, on the bottom.

After about 8 months or so I noticed some growth in the tank and thought it was a algae or something and added biocide. It never went away. Shortly after, I started plugging up filters a lot quicker, and even the fuel line. It wasn't long after that I became aware that steel is subject to a chemical reaction with WVO called polymerization, (read an explanation about polymerization at Wikipedia)

This does not always happen with a steel tank, but almost never happens in an aluminum or stainless tank.  And only after reading a recent report Vegetable Oil as Fuel published by Joe Beatty, and brought forward by the hard work of Forest Gregg and Chris Goodwin at Frybrid - Did I learn that copper (as used in my heating element) is a catalyst that can initiate the polymerization reaction, among other factors. I would like to emphasize I have never recreated this same tank for a customer, this was only for myself before Vegistroke ever existed. Still, I frequently get questions on why not to use a steel tank. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

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