First Meeting
The team held its first meeting on Saturday, April 15 2006 at the Lyon's Restaurant in Milpitas, CA. Meeting attendees:- Rudy Stefenel: Rudy is the group founder. He is a retired engineer who has experience in the automobile repair industry and maintains three prototypes of alternative fuel vehicles including a 1980 Mercedes running on biodiesel, an all-electric Ford Escort and a Volkswagen that runs on waste vegetable oil (WVO)
- Peter Herrera: Peter is the test site owner. He has generously donated the use of his property in the Milpitas Foothills for the duration of the testing period. Peter owns several small businesses in the Silicon Valley.
- Rachel Clark: Rachel is a testing volunteer. She has over ten years experience working in the IT field as a project manager and systems analyst. Rachel is currently working as a software consultant while taking a few businesses classes at SJSU with the intention of starting a business in the area of alternative fuels.
2. The Plan
- Method: Use diesel and gasoline generators with a fixed load (heater, light bulbs). Any required engine modifications will be easy with the generators. While they may not perfectly simulate automobile testing, the generators are a good model. After we have obtained results, significant findings wil be verified using automobiles.
- Smog Testing: The gasoline generator will be brought to a smog station for pollution testing. Due to the amount of pollution generated by most diesel engines, smog stations are reluctant to test diesel generators. Rudy has located a place called Chips and Environmental in Gilroy. Mark Chips of Chips and Environmental is willing to perform smog testing for the diesel generator, however it will cost the team around $500 per day.
- Controls: 87 octane gasoline and no. 2 diesel.
- Variables: Biodiesel, Butanol, and Ethanol fuels. Acetone, Diesel Secret, Dipetane 1, Dipetane 2, Freedom Fuel and Gas Pill additives.
- Procedure: Testing procedures will be posted on this blog in advance. Detailed descriptions of all tests to be conducted will be described here so they can be easily repeated by others.
3. Rudy provided the group with a series of handouts on each variable. The team discussed options for sourcing the fuels and fuel additives that still need to be obtained. Rudy has secured a majority of the samples that are needed to begin initial testing, with the exception of the butanol and ethanol fuels. Rachel is going to check the prices and quantities for butanol and will also place an order for ethanol fuel through a chemical laboratory.
4. Grants would be an excellent way of funding the testing. Peter has a relative who may be interested in helping the team to write up grant requests. Rachel is going to research available grants for the team.
5. Testing schedules were discussed. Rudy will check with the other volunteers who were not present at today's meeting.
6. Action items:
- Obtain ethanol and butanol fuels - Rachel
- Research grants - Rachel
- Check with other volunteers on testing availability - Rudy
- Setup and test noise levels of generators at Peter's property - Rudy
- Prepare generators for volunteer testing - Rudy
- Locate a garage suitable for working on generators and cars - Rudy
- Provide a storage area at the test site for fuel drums - Peter
posted by stillcantdance @ 4/16/2006 10:52:00 AM
10 Comments:
Today, Peter Herrera and I ran the gasoline generator at his property. Both Peter and felt that it is okay noise wise, but I would not want to have a louder generator running there. The diesel generator is much louder than the gasoline generator so we did not bother to test it. I am going to go ahead and have a secondary muffler installed on the diesel.
Rudy
Hi Rudy,
Do you have a web page for the Freedom Fuel additive? I'd like to post it under the links to variables.
Thanks,
Rachel
Rachel,
To get more information about the Freedom fuel additive, go to www.quixtar.com and type in "freedom" in the search box.
I called the distributor where I bought the stuff and found that it is being reformulated so there is no point in testing what we have because it won't be available as is. As soon as the new formulation is available to the public, the distributor will call me.
You can remove Freedom fuel additive from the blog because it may be a long time before we can get some that we would want to test.
I will be doing some testing this week end, Saturday, 4/29/06 starting at 10 AM at Peter Herrera's property. I may do some testing on Sunday, depending on how it goes on Saturday. The carbon is cleaned out of the gas generator, and the secondary muffler is installed on the diesel. I have some stuff ordered for measuring fuel flow, but I don't know if it will be here by Saturday. Even if this stuff does not show up, I will at least start breaking in the diesel and will do some testing with what I have.
Hi Rudy,
I'll be out of town this weekend, but I am around the following weekend (May 6/7). If you also plan on testing that weekend, please let me know and I'll keep my calendar open.
I am going to leave Freedom Fuel on the original post since we'll probably get around to testing it someday. Wonder why they are reformulating.
Hi Rudy,
I forgot to mention, would you mind if we posted your testing procedures for this weekend here in advance? We can create a new post above the First Meeting so that folks who are monitoring this site can observe our testing progress and perhaps comment on our testing procedures in advance.
Thanks,
Rachel
Today, Wed, 4/28/06, I was at the test site to check out the diesel generator with the secondary muffler attached.
After walking around, I feel that the sound won't bother the closest neighbor, or any one working at Stabilizer Solutions, which is on the same property. The sound is reduced further at the closest neighbor's house by having a car parked near the generator and between the generator and the house. I am very encouraged by this.
It looks comical to see a long truck muffler attached to the diesel generator, but the point is to reduce noise without creating much back pressure; I works!
This coming Saturday, 4/29 starting at 10 AM, I will be comparing regular gasoline with and without a little acetone added at the test site. This is our first test, so it is going to be fun. I will post a more detailed procedure Friday morning at the latest. If you come, please bring a folding chair to sit on and bring your favorite snacks.
Rudy
Alternate Fuels Testers - Test procedure for Saturday, 4/29/06, starting at 10 AM.
Purpose: TO FIND OUT OF THERE REALLY IS A FUEL MILLAGE IMPROVEMENT TO ADDING A SMALL AMOUNT OF ACETONE TO A TANK OF GASOLINE.
Saturday's test is preliminary, using a Coleman 1850 gasoline generator with a Bionair electric heater as a load, set at 1000 watts. A gasoline generator running at one speed, with a fixed load, is not the same thing as driving a car under varied conditions, but the generator will at least tell us if it is worth the trouble to do more testing in an automobile. Testing with a generator is quick because all we need to do is determine the fuel flow rate both with and without acetone added to the gasoline.
The generator gas tank was removed and replaced with two miniature fuel faucet valves, each going to a calibrated beret, calibrated in milliliters One beret is for straight regular gasoline and the other is for regular gasoline with a tiny bit of acetone added, equivalent to 3 ounces per 10 gallons of gasoline.
TEST STEPS:
1) GET THE GENERATOR UP TO TEMPERATURE: Run the generator on regular gasoline for 30 minutes to get the generator up to temperature.
This requires poring gasoline into the gasoline beret from time to time to keep it from emptying out.
We need to keep the generator running, without stopping it, during the whole test procedure to keep all things equal.
2) MEASURE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO USE 50 MILILITERS OF GASOLINE: Starting with the gasoline beret filled, watch the gasoline level drop. Use a stop watch to time how long it takes the gasoline generator to use up a 50 milliliters of fuel. Record the time duration.
3) SWITCH TO THE GASOLINE-ACETONE MIXTURE AND RUN THE GENERATOR LONG ENOUGH TO TO CLEAR THE STRAIGHT GASOLINE OUT OF THE CARBURATOR
Run the gasoline generator for 5 minutes while adding more gasoline-acetone mixture to the gas-acetone beret to keep it filled.
4) MEASURE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO USE 50 MILILITERS OF GASOLINE-ACETONE.
Starting with the beret filled with gasoline, watch the fuel level drop. Use a stop watch to time how long it takes the gasoline generator to use up a 50 milliliters of fuel. Record the time duration.
5) SWITCH TO STRAIGHT GASOLINE AND RUN THE GENERATOR LONG ENOUGH TO CLEAR THE GASOLINE-ACETONE OUT OF THE CARBURATOR. Run the gasoline generator for 5 minutes while adding more gasoline to the gasoline beret to keep it filled.
6) REPEATS STEPS 2 THROUGH 5 UP TO 10 TIMES DEPENDING ON HOW LONG IT TAKES. I want to quit at 3 PM.
7) POST THE RESULTS ON THE BLOG, NOTING IF AND HOW MUCH IMPROVEMENT, IF ANY, THAT THERE WAS WITH ACETONE ADDED. Average the results for gasoline only tests and the gasoline-acetone mixture tests, separately. Calculate the percent decrease in time duration, if any, with acetone added. Post all the results here on the Alternate Fuels Testers blog.
Alternate Fuels Testers – TEST RESULTS from testing done on Saturday 4/29/06.
Purpose: TO FIND OUT OF THERE REALLY IS A FUEL MILLAGE IMPROVEMENT TO ADDING A SMALL AMOUNT OF ACETONE TO A TANK OF GASOLINE.
Saturday's test involved using a Coleman 1500 watt-max-continuous gasoline generator with a 1000 watt electric heater used as a test load The fuel flow rate, using regular gasoline, was compared to the fuel flow rate using a mixture of regular gasoline with a small amount of acetone added. A lot of tests were averaged together to help cancel out normal testing inaccuracies. Please see the test procedure in the earlier comment for a good understanding of the test. Also see photos 1 and 2 for a look at the test set up at this web site:
http://www.fuel-smart.com/aft/
CONCLUSION:
The results did not indicate any improvement using the equivalent of 3 ounces of acetone per 10 gallons of gasoline as compared to using straight regular gasoline. In fact, the results indicate that fuel flow rate increased in the order of 2 to 3 percent with the acetone mix, which means that the acetone made the efficiency a tiny bit worse. I was disappointed but what can I say? Does this mean that adding acetone won't help? NO, it just means that it did not help under the test conditions that I used. Some proponents of using acetone say that if one adds too much acetone, things get worse. I chose 3 ounces per 10 gallons of gas because the chart at the following web site showed this to be the best amount.
http://pesn.com/2005/03/17/6900069_Acetone/
It is possible that this is too much acetone in the gasoline for the engine in the Coleman 1850 gasoline generator, so we need to repeat the test using perhaps half as much acetone. I invite anyone to check my test results and make suggestions.
CHANGES TO THE TEST PLAN AND OBSERVATIONS:
I used turkey basters with the bulbs removed instead of berets The berets that I ordered did not arrive on time. The idea is to time the how long it takes, with a stop watch, for the fuel level to pass through two calibrated marks on a beret or turkey baster as an indication of fuel flow rate.
The turkey basters worked great because they have a wide opening at the top, making it easy to pore fuel into them. They are calibrated in ounces, so I switched to using ounces instead of millimeters.
See photo 3 for a good look at the turkey basters at this web site:
http://www.fuel-smart.com/aft/
The idea is to add the equivalent of 3 ounces of acetone to 10 gallons of gasoline in the test sample, except I mixed up only one gallon of test sample. So I needed 0.3 ounces for a gallon of gasoline, and that converts to 8.726 millimeters using the conversion for fluid ounces.
If I use 16 ounces to the pound and use 8.35 pounds per gallon for gasoline, it converts to 8.5 millimeters for 0.3 ounces.
I choose to use 8.5 millimeters of acetone because both numbers are close and it is easier to measure out 8.5 millimeters Please check this out because I am only human and can make mistakes.
Here are the things that I noticed and had to live with:
a. Some of the vibration of the engine coupled to the turkey basters though the fuel lines I held them gently by hand to take readings to reduce the vibration.
b. When I pored the gasoline or some test sample with acetone into the turkey basters, this made bubbles, and it took a long time for them to clear. Often, I had to live with some bubbles.
c. The fuel level in the turkey basters rose up and down a tiny bit from time to time, in a way not related to fuel flow. I am guessing that the air was never completely cleared from the fuel lines and this problem was caused by trapped air moving from place to place.
d. Tiny bubbles mysteriously appeared in the clear fuel lines going to the turkey basters. I am guessing that this is from air dissolved in the fuel or some of the fuel vaporizing in the fuel lines. This happened right above a closed valve, so there was no way for air to get in. Also, if there was a leak, fuel would leak out, and there would be no air leaking in. Any thoughts anyone?
e. As the testing progressed, I was not sure that both turkey basters were matched. They were not meant to be lab instruments and being good enough for turkeys may not be good enough for my tests. I switched sides for the plain gasoline and the test sample with acetone half way through the Phase A testing so any difference in turkey basters would cancel out. Next time, I have to check the turkey basters for agreement before starting the test. Switching sides took a lot of time.
f. Testing by the original test plan went very slow because the test plan was to run the generator for 5 minutes ( I changed this to 10 minutes because I was not confident that 5 minutes was enough) after I changed samples before doing the next test. This was done to make sure that the fuel from the previous test was cleared from the fuel lines and carburetor. After doing eight tests, I called all the testing that I did “Phase A” testing. Then I switched to a different method, calling it “Phase B” testing.
When doing Phase B testing, I did 10 tests in a row with the regular gasoline reference sample so that I did not have to clear the carburetors and fuels lines between each test. Then I used the same turkey baster and ran the engine for 20 minutes using the sample with a little acetone to clear the plain gasoline out get the carburetor and fuel lines primed with the sample with acetone. Then I ran 10 tests in a row with the test sample with acetone. Phase B testing went a lot faster.
By the way, the conclusion of both Phase A testing and Phase B is the same and the results are very similar. In total, I did 18 tests with regular gasoline and 18 tests with regular gasoline with a little acetone added. I expect that I averaged enough tests to get a good indication. If there really is something in the order of 10 percent improvement with the acetone added, the normal inaccuracy of my testing would not disguise that large percent improvement. Again, we need to do another test with, perhaps half as much acetone.
g. I had to set the choke for one click on the gasoline generator for it to run smoothly. I kept it at this setting during the whole test. Normally it is all the way off, Setting it at one click is ¼ way choked. I am guessing that the fuel pressure going to the carburetor was different than normal with my test set up and that is why this choke setting was necessary. I will have to confirm that the generator runs normally with the gas tank installed and look into this further.
TEST DETAILS:
Alternate Fuels Testers – Test 4/29/06. At Stabilizer Solutions in the foot hills in Milpitas, thank to Peter Herrera!
Test set up:
Gasoline: Union 76 regular.
Acetone: Klean Strip brand from Orchard Supply.
Gasoline Generator: Coleman 1850
Test Load: Bionair Electric Heater model BH3930U, set at 1000 watts
10:15 AM Started the Coleman 1850 gasoline generator with a Bionair electric heater as a load, set at 1000 watts.
Mixed 8.5 Millimeters of Acetone into one gallon of gasoline & put some in RHS.
Turkey Basters: Gasoline = LHS, Acetone/gasoline = RHS.
Switched back and forth between the acetone mix and straight gasoline as the engine warmed up.
10:45 AM End of 30 minute warming engine.
TESTING PHASE A – Test gasoline and acetone/gasoline mixture back and forth repeatedly. Preceded each test with a 10 minute new mixture run to clear out old test mixture from carburetor and lines.
In the following tests, the 10 indicates ruining the generator for 10 minutes with the new sample, be it gasoline alone or the gasoline/acetone mixture. The number follow the 10 is the minutes and seconds for the fuel level to pass from the 1 ½ ounce mark on the turkey baster to the ¼ ounce mark. I used a separate column for each of the two fuels to make it easier to add up the columns for each one separately, as part of averaging.
Gasoline Gasoline & Acetone
10 02:24 10 02:24
10 02:21 10 02:16
10 02:28 10 02:21
10 02:27 10 02:16
Turn off both valves and let the generator run dry. This took a little over 3 minutes and the engine stopped.
Switched the gasoline and the acetone/gasoline mix sides.
Turkey Basters: acetone/gasoline = LHS, Gasoline = RHS.
Restarted the engine.
Switched back and forth between the acetone mix and straight gasoline for 20 minutes to get engine warmed back up.
Gasoline Gasoline & Acetone
10 02:20 10 02:21
10 02:16 10 02:19
10 02:27 10 02:20
10 02:22 10 02:21
Averages
10 02:23 10 02:19
The averages above are each the average of 8 entries in a column of time durations.
TESTING PHASE B – Stay on RHS and do 10 tests gasoline, then 10 tests gasoline/acetone mixture.
10 02:25 Gasoline Only
02:18 All RHS
02:24
02:23
02:18
02:22
02:27
02:18
02:17
02:21
Average 02:21
Turn off both valves and let the generator run dry.
Put acetone/gasoline mixture in both sides.
Switched back and forth with acetone/gasoline mix to clear lines and carburetor of straight gasoline until lines are visibly. clear. Will run in straight on acetone/gasoline mix for 20 minutes proceeding testing with that mixture.
20 02:14 Acetone/Gasoline mix
02:17 Still all RHS
02:18
02:13
02:20
02:18
02:19
02:19
02:24
02:18
Average 02:18
CONCLUSIONS: THE PERFORMANCE WAS A LITTLE WORSE WITH THE ACETONE/GASOLINE MIXUTRE AS COMPARED TO STRAIGHT REGULAR GASOLINE.
IT WAS 2.84 PERCENT WORSE DURING PHASE A TEST.
IT WAS 2.16 PERCENT WORSE DURING PHASE B TEST.
Hey, this was fun. Peter Herrera gave me a bunch of ear plugs, just in time. The generator noise did not get to me. The testing went pretty well, and now I know how to improve the testing method and test set up. The weather was great, and I got a little sun burned. We are on our way to gathering a lot of good honest results.
Rudy Stefenel 4/29/06
Alternate Fuels Testers - Test procedure for Saturday, 5/06/06, starting at 10 AM.
Purpose: TO FIND OUT OF THERE REALLY IS A FUEL MILLAGE IMPROVEMENT BY ADDING A SMALL AMOUNT OF ACETONE TO A TANK OF GASOLINE, THIS TIME WITH HALF THE ACETONE.
History: Testing was done a week ago with the equivalent of 3 ounces of acetone added per 10 gallons of gasoline. The results showed that the fuel flow rate was 2 to 3 percent faster with the acetone mixture, indicating that this mixture was hurting fuel efficiency instead of improving it. One possibility is that that there was too much acetone in the mixture for the test set up. The purpose of testing again is try less acetone, half as much. Unfortunately, the Coleman 1850 generator is not working properly, I think that carburetor has gone bad. Now we will be using a new Champion Power Equipment 3500 Watt generator.
This test is preliminary, using a Champion Power Equipment 3500 Watt gasoline generator, with a Bionair electric heater as a load, set at 1500 watts. A gasoline generator running at one speed, with a fixed load, is not the same thing as driving a car under varied conditions, but the generator will at least tell us if it is worth the trouble to do more testing in an automobile. Testing with a generator is quick because all we need to do is determine the fuel flow rate both with and without acetone added to the gasoline.
The generator carburetor fuel line is disconnected from the gas tank. A fuel line will be routed from the carburetor, through a fuel filter and a copper tube glued to a piece of concrete, and then to a calibrated beret. The beret is calibrated in milliliters. The purpose of the copper tube glued to a piece of concrete is to aid in getting accurate fuel level measurements, This stops vibrations from passing along the fuel line and shaking the fuel in the calibrated beret.
The reference fuel is Union 76 regular gasoline, and the test fuel is one gallon of Union 76 regular with 4 ¼ ounces of acetone mixed into it, which is the equivalent of 1/5 ounces per 10 gallons of gasoline, half as much acetone as we used a week ago.
1) GET THE GENERATOR UP TO TEMPERATURE:
Run the generator on regular gasoline for at least 10 minutes to get the generator up to temperature.
This requires poring gasoline into the gasoline beret from time to time to keep it from emptying out.
We need to keep the generator running, with the test load and without stopping it, during the whole test procedure to keep it at operating temperature.
2) MEASURE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO USE 50 MILILITERS OF GASOLINE. 5-TIMES IN A ROW: Each time, starting with the gasoline beret filled, watch the gasoline level drop. Use a stop watch to time how long it takes the gasoline generator to use up a 50 milliliters of fuel, starting at the zero line. Record the time duration.
3) SWITCH TO THE GASOLINE-ACETONE MIXTURE AND RUN THE GENERATOR LONG ENOUGH TO TO CLEAR THE STRAIGHT GASOLINE OUT OF THE CARBURATOR.
With the generator running, add acetone-gasoline mixture to the beret when the fuel level is at the bottom of the beret, just one time. From now on, keep adding the acetone-gasoline mixture to keep fuel in the beret for a least 10 minutes. Don't let the beret clear out of fuel.
4) MEASURE HOW LONG IT TAKES TO USE 50 MILILITERS OF GASOLINE-ACETONE 5 TIMES IN A ROW.
Starting with the beret filled with gasoline, watch the fuel level drop. Use a stop watch to time how long it takes the gasoline generator to use up a 50 milliliters of fuel, starting at the zero mark. Record the time duration.
5) SWITCH TO STRAIGHT GASOLINE AND RUN THE GENERATOR LONG ENOUGH TO CLEAR THE GASOLINE-ACETONE OUT OF THE CARBURATOR. With the generator running, add straight gasoline to the beret when the fuel level is at the bottom of the beret, just one time. Keep adding gasoline to keep fuel in the beret for a least 10 minutes. Don't let the beret clear out of fuel.
6) IF TIME PERMITS, REPEATS STEPS 2 THROUGH 5 UP AGAIN DEPENDING ON HOW LONG IT TAKES. We need to quit quit at 4:30 PM AT THE LATEST.
7) POST THE RESULTS ON THE BLOG, NOTING IF AND HOW MUCH IMPROVEMENT, IF ANY, THAT THERE WAS WITH ACETONE ADDED. Average the results for gasoline only tests and the gasoline-acetone mixture tests, separately. Calculate the percent change in time duration, if any, with acetone added. Post all the results on the Alternate Fuels Testers blog.
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