LPG for Almera in Thailand, good idea? (chiang mai)

[BuffaloRescue]

I have an Almera. I am thinking of getting LPG fitted. Is this a good idea?

Im trying to understand the different type of systems available for LPG. Some I understand you start the car on petrol and then switch to LPG and some start right up on LPG.

Someone told me its not good to put LPG in Nissans for some reason?

I live in Chiang Mai. Where is good to get LPG fitted and what price? Thanks

[hellstens]

If your car can run on E20 it is no problem driving on gas, You can start both on gasoline OR Gas,

If you press the the Gas indicator button same time you start the car, it start on Gas only,

but it is a good idea to start on Gasoline some time to.

I get a system with a 42L Donuts tank for about 23000thb inkl. instalation.

Edited May 14, 2015 by hellstens

[ToddinChonburi]

install LPG then car catch fire !!! Good luck

[BSJ]

LPG is probably more sense than CNG. Everytime I go past a CNG service place the cue is a dozen cars to half a kilometre long!

[Ace of Pop]

If your car can run on E20 it is no problem driving on gas, You can start both on gasoline OR Gas,

If you press the the Gas indicator button same time you start the car, it start on Gas only,

but it is a good idea to start on Gasoline some time to.

I get a system with a 42L Donuts tank for about 23000thb inkl. instalation.

You will die before you save a Bht unless you do big Cliks.

[Mousehound]

LPG is brilliant - never had a problem. A couple of vehicles have caught fire and this is much publicised. So - guess what - a few cars on petrol have caught fire as well but you don't get the same negative response. Having said that I have an expensive system installed by a specialist. paid for itself in a couple of years as I do 50k a year.

[BuffaloRescue]

So would i roughly save 50% on fuel?

[UKJASE]

i got ours fitted on our 1.8 chevrolet optra. 30,000 baht for 42 litre donut. the wife was a little apprehensive at first, but i read up on it a lot and lots of informed people say it is safer than petrol, so fingers crossed. the system will have paid for itself already within the first year i think.

our system starts on petrol, then switches to LPG when the engine is warm enough, this is usually after 2 minutes or so. this helps to keep the engine lubricated too.

the cost savings are not as great now due to petrol being much cheaper, but if you do a lot of km's or intend to keep the car for a long time then it is worth it IMO. it is good to have a decent LPG garage near to where you live. there is only one here in hua hin, but as the car runs on petrol too then it is not so important to fill up as soon as the tank is empty. on a motorway run i can get nearly 450 km for 500 baht. cheaper than Scoopy!!

[malt25]

Gas is for BBQ's.... gasoline is for cars. Where I come from it's referred to as "a bomb in the boot"

If it's factory fitted, genuine manufacturer, ok. Otherwise forget it.

For what it's worth... I was in the motor industry for over 50 years.

But... just my opinion.

[SpokaneAl]

The Almera, with its three cylinder motor, barely sips gasoline. It seems like the payback period to recoup the cost of the conversion would be years, if ever.

Plus, I would think that you would loose the use of that great, huge trunk. Where will you put your stuff?

[emanon]

Lpg is an exellent way to drive, clean and cheap till now, (40 years experience in the Netherlands).

But, try to find out or your cilinderhead and valve settings can stand the heat.

Misubishi and Toyota and some other brands in the past, no problems, but I don't know Nissan Almere (3 double check :-))

LPG is more safe to drive than petrol, but let it do by professionals with experience, otherwise it can be very danger!

Sorry, for my bad English.

Good Luck.

[kartman]

If your car can run on E20 it is no problem driving on gas, You can start both on gasoline OR Gas,

If you press the the Gas indicator button same time you start the car, it start on Gas only,

but it is a good idea to start on Gasoline some time to.

I get a system with a 42L Donuts tank for about 23000thb inkl. instalation.

kaidee .com item 100629336 Winautogas2 13,000 bht

[BuffaloRescue]

Lpg is an exellent way to drive, clean and cheap till now, (40 years experience in the Netherlands).

But, try to find out or your cilinderhead and valve settings can stand the heat.

Misubishi and Toyota and some other brands in the past, no problems, but I don't know Nissan Almere (3 double check :-))

LPG is more safe to drive than petrol, but let it do by professionals with experience, otherwise it can be very danger!

Sorry, for my bad English.

Good Luck.

Thanks, how do i find out if cillinderhead and valves can stand the heat?

[DavisH]

Lpg is an exellent way to drive, clean and cheap till now, (40 years experience in the Netherlands).

But, try to find out or your cilinderhead and valve settings can stand the heat.

Misubishi and Toyota and some other brands in the past, no problems, but I don't know Nissan Almere (3 double check :-))

LPG is more safe to drive than petrol, but let it do by professionals with experience, otherwise it can be very danger!

Sorry, for my bad English.

Good Luck.

Thanks, how do i find out if cillinderhead and valves can stand the heat?

Try a search n the net first. I knew someone who had a nissan sunny and they ran on lpg for many years with no problems. No idea about the almera as it is a new motor. If you are still under warranty it will be voided for the engine if you have any motor problems. Nissan will not deal with issue relating to the lpg. If you ge a system, get the best one you can and get it regularly maintained. There is some loss of power, about 5% on optimal tune. If you only drive 10-15K kms a year it's not really worth it. 40-50K a year, ok. The benefits are greater for converting larger capacity engines, rather than small ones. I have a swift and would not bother to convert it, knowing potential issues may arise. LPG costs are creeping up too, so the benefits are becoming less and less.

[IMHO]

Gasoline is cheap and getting cheaper.. why bother?

[Ace of Pop]

Find an E85 compatible Honda,and save 2 Hrs waiting to get a Gas refill.

[lj cm]

We have LPG installed on both of our cars and it works perfect.

The systems were installed by a shop on third ring road.

If you drive on Mahidol Rd., out of town, on the way to San Kamphaeng, turn right at the 3. ring road and the shop is 200-300 meter further on the right side.

I've seen they have an offer for "Eco" cars for 20,000 Baht, but I don't think, that's with donut tank.

Drive out and have a talk with them, that's free!. They only speak Thai; unless the owners daughter is there.

You might get a good offer, because their business is slow at the moment, due to the low gasoline prices.

The systems are fully automatic, The car starts on gasoline and switches automatically to LPG when the engine (cooling water) gets warm. If you run out of LPG the system switches back to gasoline.

It's easy to calculate, when it has paid for itself. At the moment LPG is 10 Baht cheaper than 91 gasoline, so if you e.g. drive 14 km/l you save 71 satang per km. It will then have paid for itself in (20,000 km divided by 0.71) 28,169 km. Sooner or later the gasoline prices will go up again and it's recouped faster.

We have no lack of LPG stations in CM; I have 4 within a radius of 2 km. An added extra with LPG is, that it is a nice feeling to fill up the LPG tank for 600 Baht instead of using 1000 Baht for gasoline.

If you install LPG you have to inform your Insurance Company, but the price will not increase. You also have to bring the car for inspection at the government motor office, but the LPG shop can do that for you (for 500 Baht).

As DavisH wrote, the warranty for the engine (and maybe also gearbox) will be void, so it's best to wait a year before installing LPG.

[tomtaylor1]

Hi All, had LPG installed into my car at an LPG shop, Sukhumvit Road Pattaya, near to the main Post Office going North.

They seamed very knowledgeable and appeared to know what they were all about, so I went ahead with the work.

Later noticed a smell of petrol, so opened the bonnet to find petrol was pumping out of a spit hose, even though the car was running on LPG,

they had not fitted the cut out box that stops the petrol pump, when running on LPG, so the pump was running all the time, creating unwanted pressure on the fuel line, also with the added risk of LPG and petrol being delivered into the engine at the same time.

And another point is they did not fuse protect the LPG system.

On returning the car, they did correct these issues, but telling my Thai Lady, they do not like dealing with Farangs and not to come back again, also guarantee finished.

So be aware.

Tom

[lj cm]

Hi All, had LPG installed into my car at an LPG shop, Sukhumvit Road Pattaya, near to the main Post Office going North.

They seamed very knowledgeable and appeared to know what they were all about, so I went ahead with the work.

Later noticed a smell of petrol, so opened the bonnet to find petrol was pumping out of a spit hose, even though the car was running on LPG,

they had not fitted the cut out box that stops the petrol pump, when running on LPG, so the pump was running all the time, creating unwanted pressure on the fuel line, also with the added risk of LPG and petrol being delivered into the engine at the same time.

And another point is they did not fuse protect the LPG system.

On returning the car, they did correct these issues, but telling my Thai Lady, they do not like dealing with Farangs and not to come back again, also guarantee finished.

So be aware.

Tom

That's for sure a bad shop.

But; as I understand it, the LPG system does not cut off the petrol pump and I have this from the most comprehensive LPG site I know:

On most conversions the Petrol pump is still running whilst using LPG (for good reasons not discussed here).

If the petrol pump runs dry whilst you are running the engine on LPG it can be burned right out. This is because the pump relies on Petrol to lubricate its bearings and keep it cool. Fuel 'slosh' when going round corners may leave a Petrol pump to run dry if there is only a gallon or so in your tank.

Read more on http://www.go-lpg.co.uk/

[Don Mega]

f you run out of LPG the system switches back to gasoline.

It's easy to calculate, when it has paid for itself. At the moment LPG is 10 Baht cheaper than 91 gasoline, so if you e.g. drive 14 km/l you save 71 satang per km. It will then have paid for itself in (20,000 km divided by 0.71) 28,169 km. Sooner or later the gasoline prices will go up again and it's recouped faster.

your vehicle has exactly the same fuel consumption (14km/L) on both gasoline and LPG ?

[DavisH]

f you run out of LPG the system switches back to gasoline.

It's easy to calculate, when it has paid for itself. At the moment LPG is 10 Baht cheaper than 91 gasoline, so if you e.g. drive 14 km/l you save 71 satang per km. It will then have paid for itself in (20,000 km divided by 0.71) 28,169 km. Sooner or later the gasoline prices will go up again and it's recouped faster.

your vehicle has exactly the same fuel consumption (14km/L) on both gasoline and LPG ?

I'd have expected 5-10% worse on lpg

[lj cm]

f you run out of LPG the system switches back to gasoline.

It's easy to calculate, when it has paid for itself. At the moment LPG is 10 Baht cheaper than 91 gasoline, so if you e.g. drive 14 km/l you save 71 satang per km. It will then have paid for itself in (20,000 km divided by 0.71) 28,169 km. Sooner or later the gasoline prices will go up again and it's recouped faster.

your vehicle has exactly the same fuel consumption (14km/L) on both gasoline and LPG ?

I'd have expected 5-10% worse on lpg

OK; the 14 km/l was an example; but you are right, that it uses more (LPG).

My Nissan NV (1,600 cc,) went from 13 km/l to 12 km/l, so that's 7.7%.

My (old) Benz SUV (3.200 cc) went from 6 km/l to 5 km/l, so that's 16.7%.

Average 12.2%. But on an small 1200 cc, 3 cyl.; I have no idea!.

And about power. On the Benz, I never felt any difference. On the Nissan, there were first a degrade in power and I went back to the shop to complain about it. They took it for a drive with their Laptop connected to the system; and after their adjustment, the power was the same as on gasoline.

[SpokaneAl]

f you run out of LPG the system switches back to gasoline.

It's easy to calculate, when it has paid for itself. At the moment LPG is 10 Baht cheaper than 91 gasoline, so if you e.g. drive 14 km/l you save 71 satang per km. It will then have paid for itself in (20,000 km divided by 0.71) 28,169 km. Sooner or later the gasoline prices will go up again and it's recouped faster.

your vehicle has exactly the same fuel consumption (14km/L) on both gasoline and LPG ?

I'd have expected 5-10% worse on lpg

OK; the 14 km/l was an example; but you are right, that it uses more (LPG).

My Nissan NV (1,600 cc,) went from 13 km/l to 12 km/l, so that's 7.7%.

My (old) Benz SUV (3.200 cc) went from 6 km/l to 5 km/l, so that's 16.7%.

Average 12.2%. But on an small 1200 cc, 3 cyl.; I have no idea!.

And about power. On the Benz, I never felt any difference. On the Nissan, there were first a degrade in power and I went back to the shop to complain about it. They took it for a drive with their Laptop connected to the system; and after their adjustment, the power was the same as on gasoline.

Which, of course pushes the recoup of the investment back further. And when dealing with the frugal Almera with its three cylinder motor, the payback will take even longer.

It just seems, to me at least, to be a pretty robust, somewhat risky modification for such a small benefit.

Edited May 16, 2015 by SpokaneAl

[lj cm]

Hi' OP

I've just been to the LPG shop, I recommended to you, but they have not seen you (falang with Almera).

Have you dropped the plan to convert to LPG?.

The price to convert your car is 24,000 Baht; and that is with donut tank.

[petermik]

I often drive from Chonburi down to Huai yot 954 kms and in my manual Almera I get 20.8 kms/litre which is 58.75 miles/gallon great economy so why try converting to LPG?

[JAS21]

So would i roughly save 50% on fuel?

Why don't you look here and work it out for yourself ... easy ... http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/826049-calculator-for-fuel-costs-lpg-v-petrol/

[Jessi]

I put LPG in my Corolla over 2 years ago. I have done over 50,000K, saved about 150,000B in fuel cost, less the 25,000B the LPG installation cost. So I'm way in front.

I get it serviced on a regular basis, change the filters etc, this usually cost about 600B.

When I first decided to put LPG on the car I got a lot of help from one of the members on this forum, called himself "Vocalneil"

If you get the LPG conversion pay the extra and get the good unit from Italy. The are cheaper units from Poland but I hear they are not as good.

My next car will have LPG also.

[IMHO]

I put LPG in my Corolla over 2 years ago. I have done over 50,000K, saved about 150,000B in fuel cost, less the 25,000B the LPG installation cost. So I'm way in front.

I get it serviced on a regular basis, change the filters etc, this usually cost about 600B.

When I first decided to put LPG on the car I got a lot of help from one of the members on this forum, called himself "Vocalneil"

If you get the LPG conversion pay the extra and get the good unit from Italy. The are cheaper units from Poland but I hear they are not as good.

My next car will have LPG also.

Are you sure you've done your math right?

Even a 1.8L Corolla, driven rough, will still get 12-13 KM/L on gasohol, which works out to around 2.2 to 2.3 Baht/KM. How can you have possibly saved 3 Baht/KM?

[Jessi]

When I bought the Corolla it was costing just over 5B a kl to run. Changing to LPG it cost 1.2B a Kl.

You do the maths!

[Jessi]

With the increase in the price of LPG it now cost 1.5B a kl.