Re: propane tractors?

Posted by greenbeanman in Kansas on September 23, 2009 at 06:56:42 from (69.71.122.81):

In Reply to: propane tractors? posted by ryanwheelock on September 23, 2009 at 05:52:35:

My dad bought our first propane tractor in the mid 1960s, a Minneapolis Moline G 705 rated at around 100 horsepower.

We didn't use propane to heat with so had to purchase a propane nurse tank. We had a 500 gallon tank and mounted it on a trailer.

No regulator is used for filling. The nurse tank must have a "liquid leg" so that liquid can be withdrawn from the tank.

For filling without a pump the liquid line is hooked to the tractor valve to allow liquid flow then vapor is bled from the tractor tank which allows liquid inflow. To a point the faster the vapor is bled off the quicker the tank will fill.

We had a hose on the vapor "bleeder" and blew the dust off of the tractor as we bled the vapor off.

It helps to understand propane if you will liken it to boiling water and steam. Propane vapor is simply the result of boiling liquid. The boiling point for propane is something like -42 degrees F.
Any temperature above that and the propane will be boiling.

If a tractor is properly tuned and is started on vapor cold weather starting is not a problem. With LP there is no engine stumble as with a gas engine, once going it runs smoothly.

Going back to the water/steam example, if you remove lid from a pan and let the steam escape the boiling action slows. Same with propane if you remove the vapor too quickly the boiling slows. Thus propane tractor run on liquid LP. The liquid is run through a vaporizer heated by engine coolant. The vaporizer is also a regulator supplying the engine with the correct amount of fuel.

And yes, an LP carb is different from a gas carb.

Some folk install dual fuel set ups on vehicle engines. Tank, vaporizer as before, but instead of a special carb the LP is controlled by a unit that fits over the conventional carb and a Bowden wire switches between the two while electric solenoids turn on and off the fuel of choice. Not an ideal set up but it does work.

One distinct advantage of propane years ago was that it was such a cheap fuel. Modern uses hadn't been implemented yet and it was often just flared off as a waste gas. Many of my dad's old fuel tickets show purchases as low as 4 cents per gallon for the LP. I, myself, have bought much under 20 cents per gallon.

Since the LP vapor is dry it doesn't wash down the cylinder walls like gasoline, hence the longer engine life and cleaner engine.

No need to guess--I'm a fan of LP. I wound up hauling for a local dealer for 7 years as I built up my farm.

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