Ok guys please help! I have moved to the Dominican Republic. It is very popular here to convert your gas powered car to Propane. Here gas is about 4.00 a gallon but propane is 1.87. I have a Hyundai Santa Fe 2005. If I do this what should I look out for? How do I make sure this is done right? Thank you in advance for all your help!
Are you sure it is propane and not natural gas? LPG (liquid propane gas) systems operate at in a higher pressure range than CNG (compressed natural gas) systems. CNG is more commonly used as automotive fuel than LPG.
No, it’s the other way around. Propane (what you use for your bbq grill) is at lower pressure than CNG (methane). Propane tank pressure is typically 60-120 psi. CNG is over 1000 psi (most CNG systems go to 3600 psi).
Propane conversion is fairly easy and a good way to save money. Schwan’s food service trucks all run on propane and they save a bundle every year. Make sure the systems in the Dominican Republic are not LPG. It’s a high pressure system that I don’t recommend at all.
That’s good to know. I guess I did have it backwards.
Propane yields around 91,000 btu per gallon vs around 115,000 for gasoline. You’ll need roughly 115000/91000 = 1.26 more propane to go the same distance than you will gasoline. That makes your effective price of propane $1.87*1.26 = $2.36 a gallon.
Still sounds like a pretty good deal.
If it’s popular to convert, then there’s probably tons of shops around that deal with this conversion. Go into a shop and ask around about it. See how much it’ll cost to convert, it might be cheaper to buy one that’s already converted, or they may have done it so many times, they could do it in their sleep and give you a deal on it.