Natural gas conversion

[feellnfroggy]

nitrogen does the same thing dont it? Compresses to a liquid? Natural as is more common in the house and propane is a more common accelerant/fuel for cars grills etc. For anyone who was wondering.

 

[adsm08]

Nitrogen is actually kinda hard to get into liquid form. Gotta get it too cold. It boils well below the freezing point of water.

 

[nb11]

Ha! I learned more on TRS today than I did today in college chemistry!

 

[naford]

I don't know about propane but several years ago I went to the gas company thats natural gas company and they gave me a video about CNG powered vehicles. I was thinking about a CNG powered lawnmower.

 

[doorgunner]

I think it would tale 3 to five years to break even......just guessing

 

[MountainMike]

Watch any random hour of KotH and you will learn at least that much about propane.

And propane accessories.

 

[Snoranger]

I think it would tale 3 to five years to break even......just guessing

It could take forever to break even. It all depends on how much the conversion costs, price of fuel, price of the replacement fuel, how much you drive in a year, etc.


I can convert a carb'd V8 (mild, under 400hp) to propane for about $700 or less. Thats including 2 forklift tanks, so I dont run out somewhere and get stranded. But I can get the parts alot cheaper then most people because of the career I'm in. I drive about 20k miles a year. I would think that I could break even in under 3-5 years.

If someone were to pay $3500 (like the OP said it cost) and only drove 8-10k miles a year, it may take considerably more then 5 years to see a reward.

A few of the benefits you would see are:
Longer between oil changes (cleaner fuels like LPG and CNG dont dirty the oil as much).
Longer life of spark plugs (LPG engines have smaller plug gaps, so your coil may even last longer doing less work).

 

[mentalbreakdown00]

snoranger, I have seen a lot of propane engines in med/ heavy trucks burn the exh valve seats in about 125-35k miles.

 

[scotts90ranger]

propane runs different than gas, at higher rpm's when you would normally just add more fuel on a gasoline engine to lower the exhaust temperatures, if you did that to a propane engine you would melt it down... most purpose built LP engines (repurposed car engines basically, we get engines set up proper from GM at work) have hardened exhaust valve seats and inconel valves