My Natural Gas fueled Powerstroke

Drwoodchopper

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I have had a bunch of PM's about my CNG supplemental set up so I thought I would start a new thread about it. First off I did tons of reasearch and came up with a very limited amount of information. CNG supplements the diesel fuel, "streatching it" to make you go farther by supplying an extra, much cheaper fuel. We can't run straight CNG because we do not have a sparkplug...duh. CNG is much safer than propane because it is able to compress much more before ignighting so thus the diesel ignighting creates the fire to ignight the CNG. The gas is drawn under vaccum from the regulator pre-turbo so you are using little to no CNG at idle. The amount of CNG used increases with rpm and boost (ie: vaccum pre turbo). I have been running the system for a year now and have only run out of CNG once so I have been using it all of the time even grossing 18-20k towing. You do have to keep a closer eye on your EGT's but I have only had to reach down and shut it off 2 times that I can remember. I constantly get 800-1200 miles out of a fill up of diesel and 200-280 miles out of 10 galons of CNG. The downside is the tanks are big and because it is a gas they don't hold much, so I have to fill up often. Tuning seems to be a non issue except for trans tuning. The truck has 50-75 more hp with it so the trans does not "know" this. Newer trucks have "adaptive learning" for the trans and this seems to be a non issue. I had Johnathan at Beans tune the trans to behave as if it had more HP than my mods would produce and it has been shifting great ever since! The system is quite simple you have a tank, regulator/controler, coolant lines to kep it from freezing a power wire, a supply hose to the intake, an on/off switch and a control valve to adjust the max amount of CNG to be used. I get asked about it almost everytime I fill up as the CNG fuling station I use is right next to the diesel pumps. I just did a blackstone oil analysis at 7k and they said I should go 10k on next oil..it was that good! Belive me I was very nervous to try it and turn it on the first time but I absolutly LOVE it now!! The inital investment is quite large $3000 is what I spent on mine I looked into having it done and it was $7500-10k:eek: The tanks are what kill you, a new 12 gallon one like I have is $3600!!! Some of you might remember a duramax that smoked the fuel economy part of the diesel power challenge a couple of years ago. That is what peaked my intrest and I am running that same system. For those that have worries about your safety here is a video that should calm your fears. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irvktfQvu4M
 

Ad8 PRODIGY

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I just read this to my Father. We are both in awe. That is a great idea! Congrats on the setup working out for ya!

How much does it cost you to fill up the tanks if you dont mind me aking? And where are the tanks kept/how big are they?
 

Drwoodchopper

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I have a single 12 gge (gas gallon equivelant) tank $1.50 a gallon for CNG $12-15 is avg. fill up cost. It usually takes around 8-10 gallons every 3-4 days driving to work.
 

Drwoodchopper

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180-250miles per tank. ~22mpg........14 or so towing my 11k toy hauler. That is about 14 on diesel and natural gas but I don't have any flat towing the places I go.
 

Drwoodchopper

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Yup. I have a lot of steep roads around where I live so my mpg's vary quite a bit most often it is close to 30 though. Today I towed approx 2.5-3k 270 miles and I am sitting right on half tank!
 

bbbxcursion

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CNG CumminGs with spark plugs I got to play with.
 

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Vader's Fury

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Figuring 4 dollars a gallon for diesel, and averaging 18 miles per gallon you could go 13,500 miles for 3g's.

The average person drives 12-15k miles a year. So basically after a year, say 2 years tops you would have recouped most of the price of initial cost.

Hmmm. I wonder if this could be setup large scale......
 

JAP

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I'm not very good with math... But is that figuring that you are still using diesel?

750 gallons of diesel for $3000.

13,500 miles @ 18 mpg.

18,750 miles @ 25 mpg with CNG.

5250 miles extra with CNG.

If my math is right, it would take over 3 years to pay off each system @ 3 grand assuming a jump from 18 mpg to 25 mpg.

But I really do suck at math...
 

powerstrokin15

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we actually drill oil and gas wells, and i can say work is starting to slow way down becuase the cost of natural gas is getting so low around here. so it would be really cost affective to get the gas... its cheap :(
 

Vader's Fury

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I'm not very good with math... But is that figuring that you are still using diesel?

750 gallons of diesel for $3000.

13,500 miles @ 18 mpg.

18,750 miles @ 25 mpg with CNG.

5250 miles extra with CNG.

If my math is right, it would take over 3 years to pay off each system @ 3 grand assuming a jump from 18 mpg to 25 mpg.

But I really do suck at math...

I was just figuring how much diesel cost was for a year of driving. Your math is good. Based on driving 12k a year it would take 4 years to recoup cost. that is not figuring in the cost of cng.

But for a truck that you plan to drive for the next 5-10 years then it is good.

Hell if I only bought parts for my truck based on justified cost my truck would still be basically stock. LOL



I am thinking much larger scale. Like a fleet of 30+ trucks that drive 20-35k a year.
 

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