| Author | Message | ||
     Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2523 Registered: 09-2004 |
LPG, local garages have ran out. Time to run super E5 with the flick of the switch. Seems to be the only fuel ATM for the old girl. Maybe some octane booster would be beneficial. Maybe time to get a Tesla electric setup in the old girl, if I was younger would not hesitate. Times are a changing! | ||
| Trevor Hodgekinson Frequent User Username: wm20 Post Number: 277 Registered: 11-2006 |
Weird LPG is a much cleaner fuel than petrol and orders of magnitiude cleaner than diesel Yet we are closing down LPG | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 3271 Registered: 06-2009 |
Supply and demand. [or market share and profit] | ||
| Trevor Hodgekinson Frequent User Username: wm20 Post Number: 278 Registered: 11-2006 |
In 2010 the government did a conversion subsidy for private owners and a virtually free conversion for fleet owners . However the then Prime Minister had a bee in his bonnet about everything being revenue neutral So the subsidies were paid for by adding a 20¢/ liter tax till 2020 , Funny enough it did not come off . Also because we always 1/2 do any job that was a brilliant idea down here , in place of only paying it for proper ( injected gas ) systems, they allowed the far less but a lot cheaper venturii conversions to get the subsidy which made it virtually free but of course uses a lot more gas than an injector system does I have run booth inthe L300's the venturii system gets 6 k/l the injected system gets 10 k/l Same sized engines, same vans . If it was done properly with a full gas head & cam the fuel economy would be even better . I used to drive a taxi that had a totally illegal full gas engine from a fork lift truck fitted. Got better MPG than the petrol cabs However nearly all of the refineries in OZ have closed down. They got or rather sold carbon credits for the LPG that they sold to power cars rather than burn off in flare stacks . So when Shell closed the NSW refinery they systematically started to pull out gas bottles We export LPG to China for 5¢ / liter but charge car owners 95¢ / liter so when the new cars converted to LPG in 2010 to 2015 got rolled over , large fleet owners switched to deisel ( very dirty pretending to be clean ) because it was cheaper . Then the underwriters of the insurance policies invented the idea that terrorist would drive burning trucks into above ground gas tanks so jacked up the policy prices for retailers . As for supply & demand, there were 4 sites close to me that retailed LPG They regularly ran out so the demand was there | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 3272 Registered: 06-2009 |
Trevor, I can't speak to where you are, specifically, and have no reason to doubt what you've said. But big picture, LPG has never taken off in most countries as a viable fuel for automobiles. The infrastructure just never sprung up. Electrics already have far more charging infrastructure (at least in the USA) than LPG ever had. And I have little doubt that electric vehicles, and the headlong rush toward making them the primary type of automotive transportation by the world's auto makers, is having a negative impact on LPG. Essentially, LPG has lost the battle for any significant market share that would make it widely viable in most places. It was always a "boutique fuel" as far as cars go. Brian | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2524 Registered: 09-2004 |
I have a plan for the 'kind' for engine LPG. Back in the early days of testing lpg before the local garage supplies had started I used a manual transfer pump to fill the cars lpg tank from 92 litres of the propane 47 kg gas bottles. Found it at the back of the shed. Hard work pumping but grandchildren are now available!  However may try siphoning from a inverted full gas bottle to the cars empty lpg tank with the correct connections, may take to long to fill though. Any thoughts anyone? BTW works out about 70p a litre. | ||
| Martin Webster New User Username: martin_webster Post Number: 29 Registered: 09-2018 |
Forgive me for commenting Patrick but it’s not quite April the first yet. Are you serious when you say that you allow your grandchildren to operate an untested Heath-Robinson pump with what appears to be basic quality tubing and connections to siphon LPG from a gas bottle into your car’s tank? Just saying. Martin | ||
| Omar M. Shams Grand Master Username: omar Post Number: 2191 Registered: 04-2009 |
Martin you are wise to point this out. I worked in the oil and gas industry and know only to well the dangers of working with gas. Gas is dangerous. It is dangerous and then again dangerous. Apart from that it is also dangerous. Having spent 35 years of my life in that industry I will never get involved in transferring gas from one vessel to another using portable equipment. Furthermore - using equipment that have to earth straps to protect against static discharge is even more scary. Many people use gas cylinders as makeshift bombs because it is soooo easy to make them explode. We need to ensure we make it clear that this forum does not encourage its members to work with pressurised gas cylinders unless they are certified and licensed to do so. | ||
| Trevor Hodgekinson Frequent User Username: wm20 Post Number: 279 Registered: 11-2006 |
"Essentially, LPG has lost the battle for any significant market share that would make it widely viable in most places. It was always a "boutique fuel" as far as cars go. " Well Sydney is in a basin & had shocking photochemical smog. They changed the taxi fleet from petrol to LPG and the smog was gone in under a year never to return. The big problem was the ADR never certified full gas engines for vehicle use so all of the LPG engines burned LPG poorly so they all used around 30% more gas than petrol When I drove the cab with a forklift engine in it that car went substantially better than a petrol engine and used around 20% less LPG than petrol. SO while I do not believe in conspiracies in general , this is one case where there was obviously something going on between the car makers & petrol companies . Add to that every State authorised simple venturi conversions which are very inefficient and outlawed positative pressure systems . The USA is weird & always will be when it comes to vehicles | ||
| Geoff Wootton Grand Master Username: dounraey Post Number: 2308 Registered: 05-2012 |
Re: The USA is weird & always will be when it comes to vehicles Well that's a bit of a sweeping statement. | ||
| Brian Vogel Grand Master Username: guyslp Post Number: 3273 Registered: 06-2009 |
Geoff, Not only is it sweeping, but it has "flip side" implications. Given the history of the motorcar around the world I'd say that the USA, even if weird, is very near the statistical mean and median for "all things car." One area in which the USA is absolutely not "the outlier" is in automobile related anything. We're right in the middle of the bell curve rather than in the tails except, probably, in regard to the number of cars per person, where we've almost got to be in the tail and at the upper end of the distribution. Brian | ||
| Patrick Lockyer. Grand Master Username: pat_lockyer Post Number: 2525 Registered: 09-2004 |
E5 will have to wait. After receiving the glass in line filter, a must for the inverted feed cylinder I was able to transfer over half a tank full of liquid LPG by siphoning effect. The slowing down of the transfer made the hand pump a must. It is an advantage to let the inverted feed cylinder heat up in the morning sun before the process.    After connecting the LPG hand pump I was able to fill the LPG car tank to the required full amount  The spare amount showing on the gauge is for safety expansion of the LPG. Time for the old girl to do some chain harrowing!! |
