converting to natural gas

Gas prices suck and while sitting behind a DOD vehical I noticed the CNG diamond sticker (compressed natural gas) and I had a great idea......free gas to me, and any other service member living in government housing.


Is converting to natural gas just like propane? And also can't I switch between the two? Anyone have any info on this cause if I can just fill up my tank from the free natural gas at the military housing oh man, I could actually save enough money to buy a small country. Someone help me plot out this scheme cause if I can fight and die for this land I at least don't wanna have to pay for the gas to drive accrossed it....

Sorry but tis MUCH more complicated than converting to propane. The pressure that CNG is stored at is about 100X higher than propane. Thus everything is much beefier. Also filling a CNG tank takes a LONG time due to the high pressures and there are very few places to fill at so don't go far from home.

Here in Brazil it is quite common to use NG in cars, I don't have gas in mine but if you want more info I have a friend that has gas in his XJ. The pressure of the tank is 220 Kgf/cm².

In Brazil there's even a racing competition where pickups can only use NG http://www.pickupracingbrasil.com.br/

Bichi said:

Here in Brazil it is quite common to use NG in cars, I don't have gas in mine but if you want more info I have a friend that has gas in his XJ. The pressure of the tank is 220 Kgf/cm².

In Brazil there's even a racing competition where pickups can only use NG http://www.pickupracingbrasil.com.br/

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I'd certainly like to hear more - just for my own edification. Can you get a write-up?

5-90

My XJ came with CNG .. It works about like a Nitrous Dry kit.. Except soon as it fires on reg gas it shuts the fuel off and turns on the CNG. I took all my stuff off, there was like 200lbs of junk on there. The tank was 120lbs empty and took up the entire rear. The intake was choked down to about 1 1/2" in dia, after taking that off it ran much better. The closest place that fills them is 100 miles away.

My work truck is a 2004 Ford,100% CNG.The tanks take up the entire bed and I still have to fill up every other day.CNG is at about 3500 PSI!

Man I knew my plan would fall apart.

We have a large CNG fleet at work. The natural gas supply is from the city's gas main. The gas is compressed to over 3000 psi and stored in big tanks.
We also have a LNG fleet, mostly big buses. The LNG is trucked, using cryogenic tanker trucks, from Montana. LNG has a higher energy density, providing a greater cruising range, but the stuff needs to be stored in a vacuum bottle since it is very cold, somewhere around -270F.

Our CNG fleet is mostly Ford vehicles that come with Factory natural gas injection. My F-250, with a 5.2 L CNG engine, has the same power as a gasoline engine. Unfortunately, the tanks use up a third of the bed.
The cruising range is about 150 miles.