Finally...........its got traction

SEAIRESCUE

Active Member
Joined
May 8, 2006
Location
SO Pines
Truckers and fleet owners have had it with OPEC. I am seeing a wholesale conversion of busses, over the road trucks and private diesel vehicles to CNG. The gas distribution infastructures are showing up at fleet garages and coast to coast interstate truck refueling stations.

So Ahab, what you gonna do with all that earl?

Ha Ha Ha
 
If you can get every 18 wheeler on the road to covert, we won't need foreign oil again according to t. Boone Pickens.

I'd love to convert my fuel injected jeep but it doesn't make economic sense to do it.
 
We have been looking at some for our local fleets but they still will not work as a long haul truck. Problems as of now are short range between fill ups. Lack of fueling locations. Higher cost. More maintenance. As soon as they fix some of these problems you will see a lot more of them on the road. As of now they are still a novelty item for companies that want to look green.

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if/when this becomes "main stream" don't expect quick refueling to happen. the average CNG fuel tank takes over 2hrs to fill properly, you can't just " dump it in " and go. so every fuel stop is going to take awhile.

CNG gets a little better mileage than LP, burns as clean ( cleaner ) but still does not get the mileage than gasoline does.

the upside is if/when it does come common place, those that have natural gas at home will be able to fill from home with the proper filling station.
 
what about wheeling? would it run just like propane? could a 'pane system be converted to CNG? just wondering??
(i know heating systems can be changed over)
 
Infamous1 said:
what about wheeling? would it run just like propane? could a 'pane system be converted to CNG? just wondering??
(i know heating systems can be changed over)
Click to expand...

sure you could use it wheeling, it would run similar, NO, your propane stuff won't work for CNG. ( home heating using natural gas uses a different combustion mixture and fuel pressure, so the regulator and metering orifice need to be changed for a proper LP to NG conversion

LP tank pressure is below 300psi, CNG tank pressure is 3600psi, the line pressure to the engine is also 3600psi, the regulator is different, the fuel mixer/metering is different ( the newer systems are now using injectors )

Most of the CNG vehicles I have seen are still "regular" vehicles with gasoline fuel systems, the CNG is a secondary add on, the CNG fuel tank just takes up room else where on the vehicle. In trunk or pickup bed truck box. a lot of PSNC's utility trucks are CNG, though they run on gasoline as well.

Any high pressure vessel cannot be filled quickly, filling fast creates heat, which can cause things to go boom, also causes vibration, which can cause things to fracture and go boom.

the gas pressure coming to your house ( should you have Natural gas service ) is relatively low at approx. 60ish psi ( can be much lower depending on service ) 60psi isn't going to do you much good filling a fuel tank. so now you need a compressor system, which is available ( not cheap ), but to be able to adequately compress gas for a CNG system, you need volume, which @ 60psi isn't all that great, so again, you need time. usually over night for a good fill.

CNG is a promising option for the future, but there are a lot of infrastructure hurdles to jump over before it even begins to be come viable as a stand alone fuel source. If it were as easy as they want you to believe, we'd already have CNG and hydrogen systems all over the place.

oh, and don't forget, Uncle Sam will want his cut as well ( road use taxes )
 
Home natural gas is two psi.
 
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