LPG

The number of people who try to lower the costs related to the exploitation of their vehicles began to grow. One way to do this is the transition from liquid fuel to gas.

Today the most popular liquid gas is LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas). It is a result of refining crude oil. Many European countries (including Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, United Kingdom) are choosing this form of fuel more and more frequently. LPG is also popular in Korea and India.

lpg

LPG is used for gasoline and carburetor engines (with single and multi-point injection systems). However, it requires insertion of special gas installation. Cars with such an installation must also use some of the gasoline. This is needed for technical reasons, since start-up and engine warm-up must be done using petrol. More technically advanced systems switch to LPG from petrol to gas alone, for others, it is necessary to do it manually. LPG installation can also be fitted in vehicles with two-stroke or diesel engine.

The advantages of LPG are: longer engine life and spark plugs; the LPG tank is much safer than a tank of gasoline, lower operating costs of LPG cars (up to 60% less spending on fuel), exhaust fumes of LPG cars are more environment friendly than from petrol engine, more ecological - ,pollutant emissions lower by 80% than using gasoline or diesel. Its disadvantages are: higher combustion; additional costs (maintenance and exploitation of the gas system components); limitation of the functionality of the car because of the gas cylinder; more frequent corrosions of the exhaust system by increasing of the amount of water vapor in the exhaust fumes; reduction of engine power, deterioration of acceleration when fitting the older generation installations; higher costs of maintaining procedures; the possibility of an explosion of gas cylinder in the case of leaking or as a result of a traffic accident; faster wear of sleeve cylinders, pistons, rings, valves and valve seats (very poor lubricity);greater risk of overheating.

Today, many people install the gas system in their cars. Although, the majority of cars on the Polish roads is still fueled by diesel or gasoline. When we choose to fit a gas installation, we start saving after we get the return of its installation costs. Unfortunately, in the new cars, it is impossible to switch to gas fuel, because their exhaust fumes control systems and engine diagnostics of diesel treat LPG as a harmful foreign body. However, if the car has a gasoline engine and a conventional design with indirect fuel injection, a collaboration with the LPG installation is progressing well (depending on the type, the quality of used installation and the knowledge of people who install it). Used cars tend to fail frequently, and fitted gas installation even accelerates this process. A vehicle running for many years using the fuel gas is a risky purchase. It has high mileage, it is exploited and in this case one has to reckon with a number of repairs (related not just to the gas system).