Glad to be on LPG, pity the souls on petrol and diesel

Message

martin_whybrow · #1 Post by **martin_whybrow** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:52 am

Stopped to fill up with LPG at a fuel station on the A1 yesterday and noticed it was unusually quiet, then I noticed all the pumps had yellow covers on the handles except the LPG. They'd run out of all fuel except LPG! Apparently there's been a spate of delivery problems from 2 local fuel depots meaning many places were out of petrol and diesel. The guy at the desk told me he'd had irate customers asking why some people could fill up but they weren't allowed to!

Dave K · #2 Post by **Dave K** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:34 am

However, a short drive will soon enable them to find other pet / derv.
Meanwhile, LPG users still have to prepare every drive with military precision to enable them to take fuel on board. I can achieve only 180 mls on my tank load of gas which makes my vehicle little more than a localised shopping cart. Couldn't imagine trying to get to London and back from the N. West, specially on a Sunday or a Bank Holiday.

Had the use of a diesel van yesterday, 256 miles on £30 of derv and no need to refuel. Had I used my LPG vehicle I would have spent a couple of pounds more and had to find an LPG site.

Stilletto_Rebel · #3 Post by **Stilletto_Rebel** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:35 am

Mr K! I've been lurking for a short while and have noticed that you are a veritable ray of sunshine, aren't you!

My Mazda MX5 has been converted to LPG and the biggest tank I can physically have is a 40ltr, giving me an operating range less than your LPG-equipped vehicle; 140 miles.

Although I very much want to use LPG as much as possible I have accepted the view that I now have a choice of fuels to use: LPG as the primary, unleaded as the secondary. Due to mileage I need to refuel LPG every other day and with cross-country jaunts (of which I regularly make) I am not too concerned about making a note of every LPG station en-route. Yes I do make a note of the prices in the areas I am going to and passing through and note addresses of stations (for my SatNav) near my destination or places I plan to stop at, but that's all.

jtaw45 · #4 Post by **jtaw45** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 8:52 am

He's not a veritable ray of sunshine,He's someone who's shelled out about £2000 on an lpg conversion and doesn't feel he's getting value for his money.he's not alone either

Dave K · #5 Post by **Dave K** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:19 am

Mr Rebel. I only have an auxiliary pet tank that holds around 70 miles worth of pet. It is mainly for starting the engine on. My original conversion specialist really didn't make it clear that that was the case and I expected to have a higher petrol mileage available as well.

Stilletto_Rebel · #6 Post by **Stilletto_Rebel** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:36 am

Dave K wrote:Mr Rebel. I only have an auxiliary pet tank that holds around 70 miles worth of pet. It is mainly for starting the engine on. My original conversion specialist really didn't make it clear that that was the case and I expected to have a higher petrol mileage available as well.

Wow! That does change matters. Apologies, I didn't know.

My conversion cost £1,515 and my calculations (from early November) showed that it should pay for itself inside of twelve months. However, I wasn't aware how much the price of LPG keeps increasing, so my conversion's break-even point is forever moving further and further away...

chuckie888 · #7 Post by **chuckie888** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 12:12 pm

Payback time is somewhat misleading on every site I have ever visited. Being a database and statistics specialist I have kept data from each fill up with details of miles travelled, cost of LPG, petrol and diesel at the timestamp. I used to get 31 MPG on petrol and now I get <25 MPG on a mix. My milage has reduced drastically this year as I have been based more from home rather than at client sites and my calculations are as follows: after 18,000 miles I have saved £900 in fuel costs. This does not take into consideration going out of my way to fill up with cheaper LPG, having to fix faults myself by stripping the intake mainfold and replacing with OEM gaskets, Flashlube, adjusting valve clearances more often, getting smelly when filling up (a slow process) etc. In other words, yes LPG is more hassle, it will save you money LONG TERM. Do not think that the residual value of your car will be increased significantly either as the general public are, rightly, very sceptical about LPG and so in fact your target market demographic is reduced. But the biggest problem with LPG is the number of poor installations by people under the protective wing of the toothless LPGA certification process which allows high prices to be charged but little real comeback. But, there is no alternative at present. It would be interesting to hear about the industry in more regulated and engineering based economies such as Germany. BTW 5 years ago a single point installation in Poland cost me £300 (Sequential was £650) using good brands such as Stako tanks (spare wheel cover included in the price!). The breakdown I suffered on the way back in Duren, Germany cost about the same though! (Caused by a loose earth on the ECU after installers 'tapped' a connection). Checking over the installation upon return revealed several leaks and general poor workmanship such as no grommets in the newly drilled holes etc. So it seems that the poor workmanship is not confined to this country, but the low cost goes someway towards forgiveness.

MartinP · #8 Post by **MartinP** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:20 pm

I have a 60 litre toroidal tank in my Vectra V6 auto. The most I've done so far on LPG is 250 miles. by this time the red light was flashing so I guess I wouldn't have got much further, however I only managed to squeeze 50 litres in. (No, I'm not surprised. I understand how it all works). I also have a 60 litre petrol tank, so my total range is around 550 miles.

Overall I'm fairly pleased, although I don't expect it will EVER pay for itself in the remaining life of the car (it's done 110,000 miles). The conversion was only ever intended to be an interesting experiment.