Needless to say I ran the generator; it powered the sump pumps, and kept three freezers freezing and prevented a refrigerator from losing its cool. A couple neighbors ran an extension cords over to run their sump pumps. Judging from past experience I can safely say without it I would have 12 to 18� of water in the basement. As it was all I had was a little seepage around the windows, not even enough to bother wiping up. Also had it running the pump for the well so I had water for taking a shower and flushing the toilets, a benefit which did not go unnoticed by friend wife.
The generator ran great and is reasonably quite, you can carry on a conversation while standing next to it, and yelling is not required. I could not be more pleased with the way it ran.
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So now what can I do with while waiting for the next storm?
Hmmm.
This would make a neat test stand that I could use to check different oils and oil additives and other mileage improving techniques.
By using it as a test stand many of the variables in doing mileage tests in a car, such as wind and traffic conditions, etc. are eliminated. Of course I cannot produce the usual MPG ratings instead I will time how long it takes the engine to burn a given amount of fuel. To do this I temporarily replaced the gas tank with a 4 foot length of �� diameter glass tubing. On it I have two marks and will time how long it takes for the gas to drop from the top mark to the lower one. This is about 3 ounces of gas and has a flow rate that is easy to time with a stopwatch.
The following tests are all done with the following conditions; a constant engine speed (2000RPM) and a constant load (1.7 HP motor running and industrial strength blower) with the engine at its normal operating temperature. And with the same batch of gasoline that has been degraded with 10% alcohol is used for all tests. (Unfortunately that is all that is available around here.)
The first tests are with four different types of oil and an STP oil additive.
The types of oil that I used are the following:
My reason for choosing these four was the Super Tech 10W-30 was a generic newest latest and greatest API rated �SM� (no I never heard of it either) its a WalMart brand.
This was the base line for my tests.
The Chevron is a diesel rated oil and still has decent amounts of zinc and phosphorus. (friction reducers)
I also wanted to try a relatively heavy weight oil and the Autozone�s house brand was the only one that they still had with a SL rating.
I got the Mobil 1 to see how a synthetic would compare. However I went with the Truck&SUV version because it has more zinc and phosphorus then the basic Mobil 1.
To these oils I want to also try adding an additive. I choose STP. (The �RED� bottle, this is the one that is �suppose� to add extra zinc and phosphorus.) I realize that there are other snake oil products out there that might be better, but STP was readily available. Only had to go to five parts stores to find it.
So let the testing begin. I ran the engine until it reached its normal operating temperature and let get thoroughly warmed up. I then timed how long it took to use up a given amount of gas. Time is in minutes. I ran each test three times and calculated the average time. I then drained the oil and the filter and added the next oil and continued testing. The chart below shows the results.
This obviously was not quite what I was expecting to see. It appears that the el-cheapo generic oil was the slipperiest, thus giving the longest running time! Obviously I am not running the engine under an extreme load and have no way of determining what the effect of long term running would have on wear. However if there was metal to metal contact taking place then I would expect greater friction and a shorter run time. Also in all cases the adding of STP to the oil caused it to apparently become thicker and the engine to have even shorter run times. Even thought the stuff in the red bottle is suppose to make it slipperier.
The bright spot here was the replacing of the spark plugs. Have no idea how old the old plugs were but they �looked� to be in pretty good shape. Compared to the Mobil 1 times, which is still in the engine, this produced a noticeable increase in run time. The new plugs were low resistance NGK�s.
Next I replaced the plug wires, again the old ones looked to be in pretty good shape. I measured the resistance of the old wires, their average was 6764 ohms. The resistance for the new wires was 1430 ohms. This again provided a small improvement.
I then tried a super high energy multi spark ignition system. You would be shocked at the amount and length of the sparks that this system can produce, it is beyond impressive. It is the kind of thing that would get Frankenstein to sit up and take notice. Unfortunately when installed on the engine it made absolutely no difference when compared to the anemic factory spark. I really expected to see some change here. Oh well.
So undaunted I proceeded to boldly go forth where someone has undoubtedly gone before.
Next I tried adding acetone to the gas, this is suppose to help the gas to become more completely vaporized, the ratios that I used were one, two, three, and four ounces per ten gallons of gas. A mixture of acetone and xylene is also suppose to help, so I decided to try that as well.
People have been using Marvel Mystery Oil for a zillion years and claiming great things so lets see what it can do.
Finally, contrary to conventional wisdom, if one feeds hot air into an engine it is suppose to aid the vaporization of the fuel and give better mileage. Thus I removed the air cleaner, attached a hose to the air intake and ran the other end over to the exhaust manifold to pickup hot air, which in my case was directly behind the radiator. While not super hot I was definitely getting warm air into the engine.
The following is the run times that each gave:
The fact that there were no clear winners is a little disheartening.
While I certainly did not expect to see gains on the order of the preverbal �100 MPG� I was hoping for some same improvements that would at least be practical to do. Yet the only thing that came out of this seems to be to use cheap oil and change the spark plugs and their wires and if you really want to splurge maybe add a little Marvel Mystery Oil to the gas. [IMG]file:///C:/DOCUME%7E1/Rich/LOCALS%7E1/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image001.gif[/IMG]
Anyway come next summer when it warms up I plan to do some more testing. So stay tuned and don�t change that dial.
How one thing led to another (Part 2)
Linear Mode
