Please share your knowledge and/or personal experience on LPG system installation.

LPG system make, type/model, performance, consumption, pros and cons, etc.

I am new to that and I think it would be interesting for all of us to exchange information.

Sounds interesting, I wouldnt mind doing that myself although the cost is likely quite high for a Felicia. 

How high the cost is? Any links?

 

Edit: I've read this article and it looks like the UK has no interest in LPG (1%). I'd say it is even worse because people are getting discouraged from installing it due to insane installation costs, lack of LPG stations, and lots of fright induced strategies. So let's burn petrol till we die, no real alternatives.

Edited 7 May, 20188 yr by RicardoM

This FAQ page is very good to read if you want to get answers on most asked questions about LPG.

Thanks RicardoM very helpful as I live in the UK.

On 07/05/2018 at 08:11, RicardoM said:

 

Edit: I've read this article and it looks like the UK has no interest in LPG (1%). I'd say it is even worse because people are getting discouraged from installing it due to insane installation costs, lack of LPG stations, and lots of fright induced strategies. So let's burn petrol till we die, no real alternatives.

 

We in the UK used to be able to get 75%/80% grant against the installation *if* done by a certified company (Tickford for example). Over the last 20 years the grant slowly dwindled, but the VED and Congestion Charge discounts will still only apply if done by a certified company. From what I understood at the time becoming certfied wasn't cheap, and as is standard practice in the UK the "not cheap" was passed on to the customer. Being certified meant no "home-brew, back-street garage" stuff either. These circumstances, plus the need to have it serviced by someone certified (again no DIY here) is a licence to print money. (Especially when, at the time, the government was fronting a huge chunk of it.)

I had a Tickford 1.6 Focus for a week, and was glad to hand it back. It was awful. Several things struck fairly quickly:

The LPG tank has to go somewhere, usually in the spare-wheel well, which meant either the spare-wheel in the boot, Full-size or space-saver the Focus' boot was never class-leading to start with, have a wheel in there and that really shafted things (unless you had one of theose useless cans of snot)

The engine started as a standard off-the-line petrol and was then de-tuned to accomodate LPG. Ford's Zetec 1.6 in a Focus really couldn't afford to lose 10% output and fuel economy suffered too.

Starting couldn't be done on LPG, you *had* to start on petrol and wait for things to get temperature. Unfortunately the switch-over wasn't automatic, so you had to remember to push the button, which was small and unobtrusive and usually mounted out of direct line of sight. There was no "ready" light either, so you had to keep pushing the button to check - just because the needle was in the middle of the temperature guage, didn't mean the LPG system was ready.

Finding somewhere to refuel was like playing hide and seek, and still is.

Also, all those Holywood movies where the good-guys shoot the LPG tanks on a mobile home and turn it into a fireball really didn't help the public perception either. (Have a crash and explode)

And, at the time, diesel development came along in leaps and bounds giving huge mpg and with low ppm, and lower tax all round (as it didn't produce as much CO which is what the tree-huggers loved at the time - obviously times they have a-changed)

The plus points were (at the time):

Lower VED. The Inland Revenue assumed you'd be running on LPG because of the lower emissions (we'd just gone to emissions-based VED) and.......

....lower fuel cost. When unleaded was around 70ppl, lpg was around 25ppl. If you had a fleet above a certain size, you could buy it in bulk as a company, but that introduced costs such as your own storage and delivery systems.

Because of the lower emissions, the personal tax was lower too.

It wasn't too long before things like bio-ethanol started to appear on the horizon, and car manufacturers seemed prepared to embrace that over LPG (one main reason was that power output was increased).

Petrol may well not be the final solution, but LPG? It's a dead technology: IMHO.

I did enjoy the FAQ site, that was funny. Not really written from a biased "we want to sell you something point of view". Plus I've never actually heard of or seen the "Outlook Express Browser" either.

ADVANTAGES
1. By shifting to LPG as an automobile fuel, there can be a considerate decrease in the environmental pollution as the carbon-dioxide which our vehicles release is reduced.

2. LPG in the Spark Ignition engines makes less noise as compared to the diesel engine. Secondly, as LPG evaporates quickly, in case of spillage fewer particulates are produced.

3. It reduces the dependency on petrol and diesel for driving automobiles.

4. It is cheaper than petrol and diesel. Also, it gives more mileage which can save up to 40 % of the fuel costs compared to petrol and 20% compared to diesel.

5. Due to a higher octane rating of LPG, the combustion is smoother and knocking is eliminated.

6. In the event when LPG leaks past the piston rings into the crankcase, it does not wash away oil from the walls of the cylinder which doesn’t produce black carbon. Therefore, there is no washing off of the lubrication layer, increasing the engine life by up to 50%.

7. The life of spark plug electrodes is increased because during LPG burning there is no deposition of carbon on the electrodes.

8. It burns cleaner than petrol, so  engine life is actually extended and  greenhouse gas emissions reduced.

 

DISADVANTAGES
1. LPG has a high heat of vaporization; therefore, the volumetric efficiency is reduced.

2. It is handled under a pressure of about 18 bars.

3. Complete combustion of fuel takes place, therefore more heat is produced and it is not good for the engine over a long run.

4. As its odor is faint, it cannot be easily detected in case of any leakage.

5. The manufacturer warranty of the engine can be affected by LPG usage.

6. To get it installed in your vehicle, you will need a trained and certified LPG conversion specialist.

7. High price for the installation kit.