gas vs L.pgas

[joes mack]

were looking at a chevrolet c 6500 that runs on L.P. it will replace the c60 gas burner tanker that we have if we buy it. it has the 496 engine which in a u haul we rented a couple years ago didnt get very good gas mileage. but on the bright side L.p. is alot cheaper than gas. what is the pros and cons of one of these trucks the truck is a 2000 and the old tanker is a 1974 with a 350. also the 2000 has a auto trans. just want to get some ideas as ive never been around a L.p. burner. joe

[ducky698]

Hi, if you are talking about LPG then its not to bad. Australia has been using it for years. the older engines require an upper cylinder lubricant that is sucked in through vaccuum and thats about it. they need a little more advance on timing and the lpg does like more comp.

Grant

[Olivetroad]

I buy 10 or 12 used LP gas delivery trucks every year from a big co-op that is all over MIssouri. I have very good luck with them. The newer ones have a lot more electronics, but they still are pretty simple to work on. I have to adjust the valves on about every one I buy, but I don't know if that is a LP thing or not. It may just be because they all have over 100,000 miles by the time I get them and never had it done before. I also usually just go ahead and replace all of the fuel lines when I get one in, and do it with as few of fittings as I can.

They don't have as much power for the same size engine runing on LP as on gas, but I have not found it an issue. You can run a lot cheaper per mile with LP than with anything else.

The main thing you have to remember is that you can't carry fuel around in a can if you run out! Most every small town around here has a propane company that will fill you up. You just have to remember they don't stay open all night like a truck stop. I know Petro and most TA's sell propane if you are doing highway driving.

Other than the fuel system, they really are no different from a gasoline engine truck from the same year. I like them as they burn so much cleaner, that you just don't get the sludge build up or wear in the engine like you do with gas. When I have sold trucks to brokers sometimes they require a oil sample and they always come out very clean in a propane truck.

The other benefit of propane is that a lot of guys are shy of them as they have never been around them, so you can buy them cheaper - that may change if gasoline gets higher.

[joes mack]

o k thanks guys i figured i beter get on here and ask because ive never been around one and a friend of mine has a few he gets at auctions and like you said he can get them cheaper than a regular gas truck he says he likes his but he has been known to streach the truth as he is a used car and truck dealer. joe

[Rob]

An industry average BTU content for a gallon of petroleum based fuel oil, or gasoline is 140,000 BTU. An industry standard for a gallon of LPG, (propane) is 95,000 BTU. You can make the same amount of horsepower and torque from a given engine but the flow rate of the gaseous fuel must be greater due to lower BTU content.

The average octane of propane is 110 using the (R/M)/2 method of computation in North America. This is why the gaseous fuel will withstand a higher compression ratio before preignition occurs.

Rob

[David]

How do they handle the road use taxes on that. I've always though the reason the government doesn't push natural gas use is because they know someone will figure out how to pull in the garage and fill their own tanks from the supply line to their furnace.

[Rob]

How do they handle the road use taxes on that. I've always though the reason the government doesn't push natural gas use is because they know someone will figure out how to pull in the garage and fill their own tanks from the supply line to their furnace.

It is figured into the price if purchasing in a motor vehicle at the filling station. It is damned hard to get a fueling apparatus at a plant in recent years due to people bulking the fuel for forklifts and such, then running their automobiles on it.

Rob