The article highlights the issues of converting a car to gas fuel. The pros and cons are considered, the approximate benefit and payback period are calculated.
Installation of gas equipment is a rather serious intervention in the design of a car, therefore, in most cases, the guarantee for a new car converted to gas is lost. However, despite this, many car owners take this step, since the savings on fuel, whatever one may say, are very significant. Let's take a closer look at how much you can save on gas, how much it costs to install gas equipment and how safe it is.
A gas car today, of course, can be found much less often than a vehicle that uses only gasoline or diesel as fuel. Despite this, the number of gas stations in the country is growing steadily, so even going on a long journey you can not be afraid that you will not meet them along the way. On the contrary, in any more or less large settlement there is one or even several gas stations.
Today, let's face it, the benefits of switching the car to gas fuel are not so obviousas it was at least a few years earlier. Firstly, gas equipment for simple carburetor engines cost a mere penny, it was easy to install, and the cost of propane-butane was half that of gasoline.
Today the situation has changed. In order to put gas equipment on a car, you need a completely different level of it, and in addition, the qualifications of the installers must also be very high. All this greatly increased the cost of converting the car to gas, and the gas fuel itself has risen in price, so there is no need to talk about a twofold difference in price between propane-butane and 92nd gasoline. gas fuel consumption is about 15% higher than gasoline consumption... Therefore, under no circumstances can we talk about a two-fold benefit when switching a car to gas. Average, one kilometer of travel on propane-butane is about 1/3 cheaper than on gasoline... It turns out that the installation of LPG equipment pays off in 20 thousand km. mileage, that is, after about a year of operation.
What is the threat of the installation of gas equipment
There are also some negative points that can arise when switching a car to gas:
- Loss of factory warranty. The appearance of a second fuel system in a car is a rather serious intervention in its design, therefore, in the event of a malfunction, for example, of an engine, the service will recommend you to eliminate it at your own expense.
- The balloon is rather bulky (50 liters), so when placing it, you will have to sacrifice either free space in the trunk and the inability to fold the rear seat, or a "spare", in place of which a toroidal gas cylinder with a volume of 43 liters can be installed.
Often car owners are concerned about possible health problems of the engine after switching to gas fuel. Especially often concerns are caused by the possibility of burnout of the valve seats due to the higher temperature in the cylinder.
However, the risk of breakage is negated by careful adjustment of the equipment. Any auto mechanic will tell you. Even the spark plugs can be used quite ordinary, although if you wish, you can replace them with special ones, "sharpened" for propane-butane fuel. At the same time, deposits will practically not accumulate in the cylinders, since the gas burns cleanly. Once every 10,000 kilometers, HBO also requires maintenance - the installers are asked to come to replace the filters. The procedure costs about a thousand rubles.
Photo of an installed toroidal gas cylinder
And in conclusion, let's dispel another myth about the alleged explosiveness of a gas cylinder. Of course, this is not so, because the walls of the cylinder are much thicker than, for example, those of a gas tank, and therefore they can withstand much more significant loads. In the event of a break in the fuel line or a simple shutdown of the engine, four emergency valves are immediately responsible for stopping the gas supply.
The expansion of the gas in the cylinder when exposed to elevated temperature is also not to be feared, since it is filled only by 80% just to create a reserve in case this situation arises. In a word, it is up to you to install HBO on your car or not. The obvious plus of this solution is still significant savings in fuel, minus is the loss of warranty and space in the trunk.
