It' great that the price of gas has come down, but I think we all know this is temporary. I have been looking at all ways to reduce my gas consumption, both driving techniques and so called "mileage enhancers"
As far as driving techniques go, driving gently seems to be the key. Accelerate slowly, and coast when waiting for a light to change. I also watch ahead a couple of blocks and try to gauge the traffic lights. The idea is to coast toward a red light so you are there when the light turns green. It takes a lot less fuel to accelerate the car from 20 mph to 30 mph, than accelerating the same car to 30 mph from a dead stop.
I do not slipstream trucks. The benefit is not worth the risk (as in death!).
The benefits so far have been pretty good (especially compared to my wife's driving!). I have a 96 Chevy Lumina, (heavy by today's standards). In the city, I can get about 30 mpg. On the highway I can get about 42 mpg.
I am also trying to build an "Hydrogen on Demand" generator. This device does not make your engine run on hydrogen. It adds a hydrogen oxygen mix to the gasoline fuel in the manifold. I have built and tested part of it - the electrolyzer which uses 12 volt dc to split distilled water into hydrogen and oxygen. No, this does explode spontaneously (that was my first concern).
It does produce an oxygen-hydrogen gas, sometimes referred to as Brown's gas, after the inventor. This gas does burn very nicely when a flame is applied (glad I had a shield up!).
The next part will be to finish the entire unit and install it in the Lumina. Some modification will have to be done to the car's computer. The O2 analyzer will see a high O2 content in the exhaust and enrich the fuel mixture. I need to fool the analyzer. This would not be required if you have diesel engine.
This project was taken from the following website if you would like to have a look:
http://www.lwrfueluse.com/
There are a number of similar websites that you also might want to check out:
www.runyourcarwithwater.com
www.gas4free.com
www.waterfuelx.com
If you have any thoughts, or have tried this project, I would appreciate hearing from you.
Ken
About Me
- Ken Moore
- Airdrie, Alberta, Canada
- Hi there! Like all people, I am any number of things. I would like to share a couple with you. First, I am a ## year old “Grampa”. I currently have 2 grandsons, that are making my life interesting. As “Grampa”, my biggest interest is family, followed closely by health, fitness and quality of life. I am also a Power Engineer and have worked with all types of power systems except nuclear. I have learned a lot in 30 years. Finding way to reduce fuel consumption and the cost of fuels have been a big part of my job. I hope I can use my experience to help others reduce the cost of energy, while reducing our carbon footprint. To that end, I am creating a site aimed at assisting the do it yourself types to build low cost renewable energy projects. It will be at www.solar-wind-diy.com. I am looking forward to your comments and opinions on any of the above subjects. Please tell me what you think.
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