Water/Methanol Injection Article

[Sumner]

Nate:

I get that 15 mpg only when towing -- that is, the powertrain is working relatively hard.  If I get approx. 10% better fuel economy then -- what kind of change (plus or minus) might I expect for the vast majority of the miles I drive at light load?  60 tanks of fuel towing will take me a couple of years to travel.  That's fine -- at least it's a known known,  The unknown known is whether I can expect an increase in range when driving around without the trailer.  A "yes" answer, preferably one that tells me I'll see similar positive results, will be the make-or-break for whether I buy one.

Installation?  One hour?  Lots of drilling and machining?  Four hours of shop labor at my local garage 'cause i don't handle tools real well?  Fits right under the hood -- if I remove the inner fender?

I expect others might be gleaning some information from your responses to my questions, so I'm not asking just to assuage my idiocy.  Two final questions -- delivery time after receipt of order? and Do you accept credit cards?

At 15 mpg, your range is 375 miles.  This equates to $.20/mile traveled.

After water/methanol: Filling up your tank still costs the same but with a 1-2 mpg increase your range has increased to 425 miles.

Jon say 425 miles on a tank and 60 tanks that is only 25,500 miles.  I'll bet you will do almost that this year alone going to the salt and Maxton.  Even if it is a 10% savings that is a pretty good return on your money in one year.  Nate also mentioned $3.00 a gallon fuel, good luck on finding that any more.

c ya,

Sum

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Sum:

Don't know how I missed your response a week ago, but:

We tow out to Bonneville twice in a year, so there's about 8,000 miles, and tow to Maxton once or maybe twice a year, and that adds another 2,500 miles/ trip.  Add side trips to Newfoundland, Pennsylvania (Mike, our builder) and add another 1,000 miles -- okay, 14,000 miles year towing.  Yeah, we drive a whole bunch more miles to Bville and Maxton -- but without a trailer tagging long behind us.

So now we're up to close to two years to pay back the cost while towing, and therefore it's a valid question to see what difference, if any, I might expect in non-towing situations.  Maybe it'd happen sooner than two years, maybe not.

As for Diesel cost:  Today it dropped again here in Marquette.  I haven't been paying over three bucks/gallon, and now it's a nickel cheaper.

I'm interested in the water/methanol system -- but want to take a hard look at the numbers.  I remember doing what I thought was diligent research on fuel economy before I bought the diesel pickup -- and I discovered that I had been given bogus information by at least a dozen folks, mostly owners, as to what mileage I might get.  They ALL gave me wildly high numbers -- like maybe the fuel mileage they got on a good day, down hill, with a tailwind, while running at economy cruise on one long freeway.  I wanted/still want real life numbers.  I have a record of all the fuel I've put in the truck for the past 96,000 miles, by the individual fill-up, and with location of the fuel stop.  I can give a real answer to the question about what fuel economy I get -- I want similar answers about what I can expect.

So -- while the system might pay for itself in heavy-work situations, what can I expect all the time?  That's still my question.

[John Nimphius]

Also to be considered is the additional cost of the methanol.

[SnowTech]

So -- while the system might pay for itself in heavy-work situations, what can I expect all the time?  That's still my question.

Slim,

First off, sorry for the delay.  We're hitting our peak season and we're on a bit of a limited staff so the time I have to be on here is a bit limited.  Either way, we unfortunately don't have much concrete information that supports the fuel economy gains achievable with our system.  Until recently, fuel economy increases weren't of much concern to most our customers.  We're seeing an emergence of interest in getting better fuel economy using water/methanol but the primary focus has been horsepower and cooling increases.  So, I really wish I had some better numbers for you but the information I do have is actually on the lower side of feedback we've got from some of our customers. 

If you're primary interest is fuel economy, water/methanol may not be for you.  Its primary function is to act as a power adder and cooling agent.  The increase in fuel economy is more of a secondary benefit.  As far as all the time low-load states your fuel economy increases may be negligible.  You can always pick up a kit in our group buy and let me know what kind of increases you get.    

[SnowTech]

Also to be considered is the additional cost of the methanol.

We've seen that the $9 savings per tank more than covers the cost of methanol.

Nate

[Seldom Seen Slim]

Nate:

Thanks for the straight answer.  I wasn't trying to hurry you -- you have previously stated your busy-ness, so I was willing to sit back and wait.  When someone asked -- I responded to his query.

So I'll kick back and wait to see what the total cost (at a possible group-buy price) will be, and then will factor in the possibility that I might not see much in the way of benefit to my overall driving habits.  I'm not saying I won't buy -- I'm saying I'll look carefully to see if I want to invest a few bucks that might not come back to me immediately but might garner some data that you'd find of benefit to your sales efforts to other potential customers.  This is why I'm keeping careful track of fuel consumption -- so I can go back to my selling dealer and offer to share the date with folks thinking of buying a truck similar to mine.  The dealership gave me a good deal on the truck -- I can repay him for his kindness by helping him sell a truck to someone else.