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Any difference between automotive LPG and aplliance LPG?

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:22 pm
by Snarba
Does anyone know if there is any difference or is it the same gas?

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 9:37 pm
by F'n_Rover
there is a differance,
car = propane and butane or propane
house = propane

Just use it, everyone does.

Posted: Sat Jul 22, 2006 10:27 pm
by ausoops
house gas (bottled) is propane (the good gear)
house gas (mains) is compressed natural gas, (cleaner burning)

car gas is a varying mixture of propane (the good gear) with butane (not so good gear) it doesn't contain the same energy/m3 as pure propane,

i have seen a bbq using autogas and it worked alright, didnt seem to jet aswell out of the burners. the bloke who had it had a lpg patrol and had an extra fitting fitted to the top of the lpg cylinder with a normal bbq reg and attachments.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 12:43 am
by Beastmavster
The difference is the propane/butane mix.

Propane is sort of like the premium unleaded of LPG.

Cooking / BBQ stuff is propane.

Go ahead an use it.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:15 am
by up2nogood
Now we need to know how to fill our LPG powered cars at home...

That would be brilliant!

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:00 am
by chimpboy
up2nogood wrote:Now we need to know how to fill our LPG powered cars at home...

That would be brilliant!
If you mean from the house gas supply, I think you're thinking of a third type of gas - natural gas, which is primarily methane.

I am pretty sure you could in fact get an LPG-powered car to run on natural gas, although the mixture would be quite different, but the problem would be getting sufficient pressure to fill your tank. I am not quite game to plumb the home gas line directly onto my 240V compressor air intake... :)

If you did, you'd find natural gas has even better value than propane or LPG, 14,500 kilocalories per kilogram, compared to 11,100 for propane and 11,000 for LPG.

None of this should be attempted by the way. Then again there are some buses around here that do run on natural gas.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:12 am
by -Scott-
Compressed Natural Gas is another form of automotive fuel, which isn't as popular for cars as LPG. I can only guess it's the relative storage capacities. LPG is a liquid (while under pressure), whereas CNG is only compressed - so I guess storage density of CNG is lower than LPG. So, despite natural gas having a higher energy content by mass, I suspect it loses on energy content by storage volume.

On something the size of a bus, that's not as much of an issue as it is in a family car.

Cheers,

Scott

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 1:47 pm
by PJ.zook
Isnt it toxic to bbq food with LPG?

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:07 pm
by crunch
You use petrol to start fires don't you! :finger:

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 2:34 pm
by Charlie
Natural gas works fine in cars but the tanks are more expensive and you need your own compressor onsite, filling your car then takes hours rather than minutes.
:cry:
Paying your fuel bill in one hit every two month months might be a shock. :cry:

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 8:58 pm
by Wooders
PJ.zook wrote:Isnt it toxic to bbq food with LPG?
I'd be curious to know.
My Ute has a MASSIVE lpg tank on the tray (guess about 160-200litres)....I filled the sucker up just before I ripped the old engine out, and now I;ve decided to run the new donk on regular petrol.......
So it would be awesome if I could use some of that gas in the bbq..... :twisted:

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:07 pm
by chimpboy
LPG contains an odourant, mercaptane, also known as mercaptan, ethyl mercaptan, or ethanethiol. This is toxic in high doses.

Whether it is also toxic after the gas has actually burned I am not sure, but I doubt it. I am pretty sure it is also added to the natural gas that goes to your household stove anyway. I am not sure what odourant is added to propane for bbqs.

Even so, I wouldn't personally bother without an expert opinion.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:27 pm
by shakes
chimpboy wrote:I am pretty sure it is also added to the natural gas that goes to your household stove anyway
in short yep. wether its the stuff your talking about or not I dont know, just had a quik skim through my regs and it wasnt really in there (still could be)

Simon

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 9:37 pm
by 6.5 rangie
i fill my 9kg bottles up with LPG (had an adapter made), use it for camping and to run my 3way fridge, works fine and only cost about $4 to fill.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 10:07 pm
by Snarba
I wasn't talking about mains gas, So are you saying I could run my car on the LPG from my gas stove? See I wanna know because it would be much easier for me to fill the Buggies tank from the 45Kg Bottle on my house than put it on the trailer and drive the 24 k's to the Servo with LPG :cry:

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:10 pm
by Eddy
For buggy use there'd be nothing to stop you from fitting Fork lift type mounts. Unclamp the cylinder, off down to the servo , fill'er up, back home and onto the bug.
Carry a couple spares as well.

Posted: Sun Jul 23, 2006 11:17 pm
by F'n_Rover
Snarba wrote:I wasn't talking about mains gas, So are you saying I could run my car on the LPG from my gas stove? See I wanna know because it would be much easier for me to fill the Buggies tank from the 45Kg Bottle on my house than put it on the trailer and drive the 24 k's to the Servo with LPG :cry:
Thats doing it backwards :? But yeah - It's the same but different gas.
what sort of $$ are you paying to get the house tank filled? Would be cheaper to go to the servo.

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 2:30 am
by sudso
6.5 rangie wrote:i fill my 9kg bottles up with LPG (had an adapter made), use it for camping and to run my 3way fridge, works fine and only cost about $4 to fill.
It's illegal to do as well.
BBQ gas has an odourant in it for safety reasons so it it more detectable if there is a leak or if your so :drinking: at the barby that you forget to turn the gas off properly. :D
At a place where I use to work an inspector from the gas authority was there doing the rounds etc. and caught one of the workers in the act of decanting LPG from a large bottle into his 9kg bbq bottle. He confiscated the adaptor hose which had been made, he wanted to know where it was made (but no-one knew of course) and suffice to say I was a little :oops: as I was a safety officer there and was showing him where all the bottles etc. were at the time :oops:

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 7:39 am
by Charlie
Snarba wrote:I wasn't talking about mains gas, So are you saying I could run my car on the LPG from my gas stove? See I wanna know because it would be much easier for me to fill the Buggies tank from the 45Kg Bottle on my house than put it on the trailer and drive the 24 k's to the Servo with LPG :cry:
No you can't your house bottle gives out gas not liquid. Some people turn the gas botle on it's side to fill another but it's a not really a safe practice.
Charlie

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:59 am
by ausyota
Charlie wrote:
Snarba wrote:I wasn't talking about mains gas, So are you saying I could run my car on the LPG from my gas stove? See I wanna know because it would be much easier for me to fill the Buggies tank from the 45Kg Bottle on my house than put it on the trailer and drive the 24 k's to the Servo with LPG :cry:
No you can't your house bottle gives out gas not liquid. Some people turn the gas botle on it's side to fill another but it's a not really a safe practice.
Charlie
yeah for filling bottles you need a "blue top" bottle it has a straw going to the bottom inside so it spits out liquid gas. Or you can turn a normal bottle upside down :)
I think the forklift bottle idea sounds the go.
That is what they run on the trailgear formula toy.
Image

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 11:04 am
by Snarba
it costs me 78 bux for 45Kg and thats if I go and pick it up! I thought of using a fork lift bottle but the price of a bottle and gas fittings wasn't real cheap....thanx for all the info guys
p.s I've been laying a 45 ( when full ) on its side and decanting into smaller tanks for ages....when you live out in the bush you gotta do what ya gotta do ;)

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:54 pm
by Wooders
OK....So I shouldn't use my 160+ litres of LPG for the BBQ.....now just gotta figure out what the Firetruck to do with it & the tank..... :oops:

Posted: Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:00 pm
by -Scott-
Wooders wrote:OK....So I shouldn't use my 160+ litres of LPG for the BBQ.....now just gotta figure out what the Firetruck to do with it & the tank..... :oops:
If you were to use it for your BBQ you wouldn't be the only one. Most "law breakers" discover they have trouble with the BBQ jetting, and need to play a little before it all works well.

Cheers,

Scott

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:46 pm
by ofr57
DIG
i was just wondering where do you get propane from anyways ... BOC :?:
thinking on going this way insted of efi so save with eletrics

LPG

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:02 pm
by Toli
I have asked at work and they say that Forklift grade LPG will not work on a BBQ. I am sure there are a few guys that do it though.

Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 10:25 pm
by F'n_Rover
ofr57 wrote:DIG
i was just wondering where do you get propane from anyways ... BOC :?:
thinking on going this way insted of efi so save with eletrics
from what I understand -

100% pure propane is very high up in the octane, unless you are running over the top compression and a bitch'n ecu spark setup you're wasting your time. Stick with LPG.

BTW - I think there are only a couple of outlets in Melb where you can get it anyway.