Dual fuel or LPG only conversions?

On the surface, having the ability to work on both natural and synthetic fuels may seem like a good idea. However, if we examine the reasoning behind this assumption, we find that it is flawed for most applications. For example, let us say that you are working primarily on LPG and you run out of fuel. You have plenty of gasoline in your tank, so you simply switch over to gasoline operation until you can buy more LPG. What's wrong with this approach? Well, for starters, how old is the gasoline in the tank? If the gasoline is older than a few months, then it probably no longer contains any useful energy and is best replaced with new fuel.

Petrol degradates in storage as the more volatiles evaporates away leaving a soup of lesser volatiles mixed with condensated additivies. This will have a lesser calorific value than freshly refined petroleue and the engines will not be able to produece full pwer. This degration is accelarated by the fact that it's stored in a ventilated petrol tank above a hot engne. If the engines can't produece full powr then it will slow down in loading. If the engines slow down in loading then so do the fans that cool the alternators. See where this is headed?

OK you think! Why not use fresh petrol from a gerry can instead? Well, Yes, that would be just great, but why would you carry around a can of fresh fuel rather than a spare tank of gasoline? In most cases you will have a spare tank of gasoline as a given. If you had only a single tank of gasoline then if at the conclusion of one day's use you had less gasoline left in the tank than needed to get through the next day you would be forced having the tank filled before it was empty, thereby wasting gasoline.

Dual-fuelled cars are an increasingly common sight on British roads. But they're also controversial - because they can cause pollution problems if used incorrectly. And they're expensive too. So why bother? Well, if you've got a big family, or lots of luggage, then it might make sense. Or maybe you just fancy driving something special. Whatever the reason, dual-fuelling is becoming ever more popular. Here's how it works...