Posted by Franz [162.158.74.180] on Saturday, February 09, 2019 at 01:41:53 :
In Reply to: Re: propane question posted by NJjim [108.162.216.235] on Friday, February 08, 2019 at 14:20:17 :
Ya know, there's a few books I could do about Refrigerant gas R- 290 that is a close replacement for R-12, and if you kick it another step in the refinery it becomes a raw plastic pellet headed for China to come back some plastic toy.
Depending on where it leaves the refinery headed for Propane can be completely different from what went 500 miles the other way, so you really can't make general statements about the fuel.
OK, you can say it consumes more oxygen to produce equal BTUs of delivered energy, and you can also say the exhaust gas of a propane engine or heater will be acidic compared to NG or gasoline.
The acidic nature of post compbustion contact of burned propane pushing the piston down a cylinder may well eat a bit of aluminum, depending on alloy and how hot the engine was tuned.
In modern engines with Cats, propane can be injected into the exhaust post Cat to deliver a very nice flame at the end of the exhaust pipe too.
Propane is also very useful for starting gas engines that haven't run in a while, superior to ether, and it's magnificent for starting cold diesels.
Bottom line, a gallon of liquid propane contains 85% of the btus a gallon of 87 octane gasoline does, so you gonna burn more gallons going over distance.
US Postal Service proved propane will burn tops off pistons in Diesels too.
Many machines and even Mack trucks worked thru WW-2 running propane and a few Plymouth Locomotives and air compressors did too. Propane is ideal in constant speed engines.
It's also a complete pain in the azz fuel and most propane vendor employees shouldn't be allowed to do anything beyond move cylinders into place.