The increase in gasoline prices does not leave indifferent any motorist. The price of oil rises - gasoline rises in price, the cost of a barrel of oil falls - the price of fuel still rises.
An excellent alternative to using automotive fuel is the installation of gas equipment. Use gas or petrol? Many people ask themselves this question. Despite the obvious advantages of "blue" fuel, car owners are in no hurry to install LPG.
Gas or petrol, which is better?
The system of filling stations in the world is mainly focused on filling cars with refined products: gasoline, diesel fuel. Does this mean that the transfer of the automotive power system to work from gas equipment has disadvantages? First, let's get acquainted with the advantages of installing HBO:
- Economic benefit. No matter how much the price of gasoline rises,the cost of gas is at least 2 times lower.
- No deposits are formed in the combustion chamber of the engine. This means that the engine oil stays clean throughout its life. It can be replaced less often. In addition, carbon deposits do not coke compression rings, which means that the engine loses compression much more slowly, which has a positive effect on its resource.
- No detonation combustion. Detonation is a blow. First of all, according to the cylinder-piston group, then according to the crank mechanism. And further down the chain. This greatly reduces the life of the engine, leading it to premature failure. Unlike gasoline, gas burns smoothly and quietly.
- Better fuel mixture.
- The total mileage from joint refueling increases from 1.5 to 2.5 times.
In addition to the listed advantages, environmental safety can be attributed here. It is the absence of harmful carbon monoxide emissions.
Disadvantages of using gas
Transferring a car from petrol to LPG brings with it some disadvantages:
- Reducing useful space in the trunk. Many cars, despite their impressive external dimensions (Renault Duster, Nissan Beetle), have a small trunk volume. Installing a gas cylinder will reduce it even more.
- A small number of propane-butane gas stations, and even fewer methane gas stations. They are only in large cities, they are almost never found on the highway.
- Unable to accurately determine the amount of gas charged.
- Design complexity. Some components, such as the injector, require minor modifications. Also drilled many additional holes in the body.
- An additional control appears - a switch from gas to petrol.
- Complicated registration procedure, as it is necessary to make marks in the passport of the technical tool about the design change.
- Candles for gas. Gasoline has a lower combustion temperature, so after installing gas equipment, candles also need to be changed.
- Financial costs for the installation of HBO.
- Possible warranty issues.
Can gas repair an engine?
In those recent times, when the bulk of the population drove cars of domestic production, there was talk among motorists that switching a car from gas to gasoline leads to burnout of the valves, followed by repair of the cylinder head. This was due to the higher combustion temperature of the gas. However, the car managed to pass about 250 thousand km on gas. The economic benefit over this period far outweighed the cost of possible repairs.
Installation of gas equipment
Installing HBO takes much less time than registering it. Within one working day, the car will be switched to gas and its electronics will be set to work.
After that, a new one will appear in the cabinthe control element is an automatic switch next to the ignition switch. The engine will switch from gasoline to gas with its help. New equipment without driver intervention automatically switches modes as the engine warms up.
Registration under the new law
Since 2015, the procedure for registering HBO has become much more complicated, which also reduced interest in gas installations on cars. According to the rules of the new legislation, HBO must be registered with the MREO, just like a car. To do this, you need to pay:
- fee for equipment registration;
- examination before installation, which will determine that the machine has no design changes;
- Inspection field installation.
The price for these procedures is within 10 thousand rubles. In addition, cylinders are subject to mandatory certification every 2-3 years. For non-compliance with all these requirements, a fine of 500 rubles is imposed on the car owner. Also, the driver is obliged to bring the registration in accordance with the law within 10 days. Otherwise, he will be taken into custody for 15 days, and the car will be impounded.
Warranty service for a new car with LPG
Installation of gas equipment almost always ends up voiding the warranty. Official dealers refuse to service, despite the fact that the relevant certificates were issued during the installation of HBO. This is one of the reasons why owners are reluctant to switch from petrol to gas. Either you will lose the warranty, or you will have to prove through the court that the malfunctionarose not because of the transfer of the car to gas. To do this, you will have to pay for the examination.
The exception is the rare case when an official dealer provides the installation of LPG as part of its services.
But if the owner refuses to be served by the "officials" in advance, then he can safely turn on the gas.
Liquefied gas or compressed, what to choose?
When the question arises: gas or gasoline, then you need to think about what kind of gas in question. Gas equipment is of two types. One version runs on a liquefied propane-butane mixture, the second uses compressed gas - methane.
The difference between the two settings is significant. Methane equipment is bulky. This requires more expensive cylinders, the walls of which are much thicker. This is due to security requirements. Compressed gas is under pressure of 200 atm. Therefore, the walls of the cylinders are made from 0.6 cm and above, which significantly increases their weight. For the same reason, methane cylinders cannot be made in the shape of a spare wheel: they must be strictly cylindrical.
The amount of compressed gas is measured in cubic meters. One liter of gasoline is equivalent to one cubic meter of gas. While the balloon holds 11-15 m3. Therefore, on one cylinder, the car will pass approximately as on the same amount of gasoline. To increase the mileage, you have to install several cylinders, which increases both the cost and the weight of the car.
However, the price of methane covers all the shortcomings of the HBO design. It is 3 times cheaper than gasolinetimes.
Economic benefit
Before you choose what is better gas or gasoline, you need to calculate the possible profit from the use of gas. For each car, the calculation will be different. It is associated with fuel consumption per hundred kilometers. It will also depend on the total mileage during the period of operation of the car.
For example, let's take a middle-class car that consumes 8-10 liters per 100 km in the combined cycle (arithmetic average between urban and highway driving)
The cost of gas equipment for such a machine ranges from 25-30 thousand rubles. Also here you need to include the costs associated with the registration of HBO - 6 thousand rubles.
Gas consumption is about 15-20% higher than gasoline. Therefore, to drive 100 km on gas, the same car will need about 12 liters of gas. The price of gas is approximately 2 times lower.
If we take the cost of gasoline equal to 42 rubles/l, then gas equipment will pay for itself in about 20 thousand km. On average, a city dweller who travels regularly to work travels about 25-30 thousand km a year. In this case, HBO will pay off in 9-10 months.
Looking into the future, the life of the machine is 7-15 years. During this period, gas will save more than 300 thousand rubles. Which is half the cost of a new car.
Safety
It doesn't matter if your car runs on gas or petrol. Any fuel will be a source of increased danger.
Gas equipment manufacturers are making efforts to reduce the risk of ignition, incase of a road accident. To prevent a large release of gas during a fire and an explosion, the cylinders are equipped with special valves that relieve pressure when the temperature rises. During the test, such cylinders were heated to 900 °C, which is above the fire temperature. At the same time, the gas was vented in small portions, but the cylinder did not explode.
Also, the valve system works when refueling. If the container is filled above 80%, then the valve blocks the flow of gas inside, leaving the volume for its expansion.
Now HBO 4 and 5 generations are installed on the machines. This equipment is safe and will not ignite in an accident.
