Bio diesel dangers

Tales of holiday makers, who turn out not to be covered by their insurance for some of the more exotic activities that they embark upon whilst away, are relatively commonplace but what about risky activities in the home?

With everyone feeling the pinch these days, and the cost of fuel going up and up, some people have decided to take the matter into their own hands and make their own bio-diesel from cooking oil. It's not, as you may think, illegal. In fact you are permitted to make up to 2500 litres a year without tax consequences, so it can be a real temptation for some.

However, first things first. Before hitting the internet to find out how to start, you should check your home insurance policy. Finding out after an explosion that you have invalidated your policy could be a costly oversight. A man in Northants recently suffered 20% burns after his garage exploded whilst he was making his own bio-fuel from used cooking oil from his Chinese take-away. Having mixed together the oil, caustic soda and ethanol, a stray spark from an electric drill which he was using in the process was responsible in this case, but the risks are manifold.

Most policies include phrases such as "reasonable precautions" and "reasonable steps" which should be taken to prevent accident, injury, loss or damage and this could be called into question should the worst happen and your bio-diesel experiment goes horribly wrong.

The AA estimates that there are 20,000 people in the UK who make their own bio-diesel and the fire authorities in at least one region of the UK have issued warnings about the hazards inherent in the process for those with no knowledge of mixing chemicals.

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