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[JamesV6CDX]

Been considering the possibility of running solely on LPG.

I was speaking to someone recently who fitted a device to their car's cooling system, so they just plug it in to the mains for a few minutes in the morning, and it's heated/circulated hot water around the engine.

This means the Vap would be instantly hot, so you could run on LPG immediately.

Any thoughts on if this is worthwhile, and what kit you could use?

Could you easily make something? Don't really want to fork out £200 for a kenlow device.

Ideas / discussion welcome 

[Jimbob]

All well and good when leaving home....


But what about leaving work, anywhere but home in the middle of winter, when camping etc with no available mains power.

I would say youve gotta have a standalone way of heating it up to accomplish this

[TheBoy]

All well and good when leaving home....


But what about leaving work, anywhere but home in the middle of winter, when camping etc with no available mains power.

I would say youve gotta have a standalone way of heating it up to accomplish this

And needs to be able to heat the entire coolant up significantly to stop it going on richened mixture, which will mess up piggyback LPG ECUs.

Whats the issue with a spot of petrol now and again?

[tunnie]

can't personally see the point, can't see it saving any money.

I've used about £20 of petrol in 6 months

[Kevin Wood]

And needs to be able to heat the entire coolant up significantly to stop it going on richened mixture, which will mess up piggyback LPG ECUs.

Whats the issue with a spot of petrol now and again?

Yes, this is the main problem. A cool vapouriser isn't really an issue at all. As long as it is prevented from cooling well below freezing it will work OK, with reduced maximum vapour output. Circulating coolant will ensure this even if the coolant is cold. You can also get vapourisers with electric (12V) heaters built in that activate like glow plugs. As long as you don't rag it from cold it will probably work OK.

The big problem is that the warmup enrichments applied by the engine ECU are based on the assumption that it's running on petrol, which requires very different handling to LPG.

Other than fit a dedicated LPG ECU rather then a piggy-back device, the best you could do would probably be to fiddle the coolant temperature input to the petrol ECU so it thinks the engine is always warm. I have no idea how successful this would be, though.

Kevin

[cem_devecioglu]

although not the same engine, most of the times I forgot to switch to LPG on many winter nights with my ex car (carburetted system) and I discovered that it started better on LPG in the mornings

ps: prophane boiling point -42 celcius
      buthane -0.5 celcius
      LPG firms change the mixture ratios in winter and summer times..

so up to -10 it wasnt a problem to start on LPG..

[Kevin Wood]

although not the same engine, most of the times I forgot to switch to LPG on many winter nights with my ex car (carburetted system) and I discovered that it started better on LPG in the mornings

ps: prophane boiling point -42 celcius
      buthane -0.5 celcius
      LPG firms change the mixture ratios in winter and summer times..

so up to -10 it wasnt a problem to start on LPG..

Yes, it's not easy for petrol to form a vapour when it's that cold, hence the enrichments required as most of it will just wet the manifold walls. LPG is already a vapour at > -40 so no problem there. You just need to keep providing some heat energy so it doesn't freeze up the vapouriser.

The winches at the gliding club are LPG only. Just a huge mixer on top of the big block chevy. No problem starting them in the winter although they idle a little grumpily until warm. This is a very basic setup with no choke, enrichments or anything. Just a gas leak into the air intake.

[aaronjb]

The winches at the gliding club are LPG only. Just a huge mixer on top of the big block chevy. No problem starting them in the winter although they idle a little grumpily until warm. This is a very basic setup with no choke, enrichments or anything. Just a gas leak into the air intake.

Hmm interesting.. wonder where the IVA/SVA test sits with regard to LPG..

[Kevin Wood]

The winches at the gliding club are LPG only. Just a huge mixer on top of the big block chevy. No problem starting them in the winter although they idle a little grumpily until warm. This is a very basic setup with no choke, enrichments or anything. Just a gas leak into the air intake.

Hmm interesting.. wonder where the IVA/SVA test sits with regard to LPG..

Not sure, TBH. :-/

Can't recall if any limits for LPG are set in the IVA manual. Have a feeling it might just say visible smoke. 

Kevin

[aaronjb]

The winches at the gliding club are LPG only. Just a huge mixer on top of the big block chevy. No problem starting them in the winter although they idle a little grumpily until warm. This is a very basic setup with no choke, enrichments or anything. Just a gas leak into the air intake.

Hmm interesting.. wonder where the IVA/SVA test sits with regard to LPG..

Not sure, TBH. :-/

Can't recall if any limits for LPG are set in the IVA manual. Have a feeling it might just say visible smoke. 

Kevin

Yeah, if I get the age of the engine verified (under the new IVA rules) then petrol, at least, would just be a visible smoke test (1967 engine)..

LPG would make the 8mpg sting a bit less but it would be a post-build change I reckon.

Still .. have to get the garage built first and the chassis ordered! I got all ahead of myself when you said 'big block' 

[Cliffo B]

I have had a Kenlowe engine pre-heater fitted for the past 6 yrs, as Ive already said I find it to be very good, I'm hopeing it will help speed up the petrol to lpg changeover when I finally get the lpg installed.Just about completed fitting the doenut tank in the spare wheel well, been a right pain sorting out a strong firm bolt on fix for the tank.

[TheBoy]

I have had a Kenlowe engine pre-heater fitted for the past 6 yrs, as Ive already said I find it to be very good, I'm hopeing it will help speed up the petrol to lpg changeover when I finally get the lpg installed.Just about completed fitting the doenut tank in the spare wheel well, been a right pain sorting out a strong firm bolt on fix for the tank.

Mine is set to 30C or 10s.  No issue with that, in winter switches over within a mile, assuming I haven't left car defrosting on drive

On hot days, probably needs these raising slightly - did you get a laptop cable?

[Lazydocker]

I have had a Kenlowe engine pre-heater fitted for the past 6 yrs, as Ive already said I find it to be very good, I'm hopeing it will help speed up the petrol to lpg changeover when I finally get the lpg installed.Just about completed fitting the doenut tank in the spare wheel well, been a right pain sorting out a strong firm bolt on fix for the tank.

Mine is set to 30C or 10s.  No issue with that, in winter switches over within a mile, assuming I haven't left car defrosting on drive

On hot days, probably needs these raising slightly - did you get a laptop cable?

Good point... Can you edit the kit contents thread to remove the cable please, although I have added the info to the message I send out

[TheBoy]

I have had a Kenlowe engine pre-heater fitted for the past 6 yrs, as Ive already said I find it to be very good, I'm hopeing it will help speed up the petrol to lpg changeover when I finally get the lpg installed.Just about completed fitting the doenut tank in the spare wheel well, been a right pain sorting out a strong firm bolt on fix for the tank.

Mine is set to 30C or 10s.  No issue with that, in winter switches over within a mile, assuming I haven't left car defrosting on drive

On hot days, probably needs these raising slightly - did you get a laptop cable?

Good point... Can you edit the kit contents thread to remove the cable please, although I have added the info to the message I send out

Thought I had? Where is the thread - used gto be in your sig...

[Cliffo B]

I did get the laptop cable and cd, you can borrow it with pleasure TB, rate I'm going on I'll not be wanting it for some time yet,just PM me the postal address and Ill get it off to you