“…why hasn’t detriot installed as a standard feature in most cas?”
Because it doesn’t work. Period.
I tried one of those “water for gas” outfits awhile ago. I put it together with the help of a friend, and for a while, I got considerably better mileage. Of course what I hadn’t taken into account was that I had installed the device at the beginning of archery season, which meant I was spending a lot of driving time traveling forest service roads at idle speed looking for game. No wonder I got better mileage. After hunting season was over, my mileage returned to normal.
I find it disheartening to think Tom & Ray would consider passing on anecdotal “evidence” as an indication of whether these scams work. There is a body of credible tests by independents that have been documented proving they do not work, and physics priciples that can also be applied.
I fear the boys have wandered far away from technical advice and deep into entertainment.
Odd that T&R bring this up again in our low gas price world. But I do have a problem with the only ‘not a scam’ item, the do-it-yourself ethanol maker. It costs $9,995! How many decades would somebody have to use it to make it pay off? I think it is a scam if it has little hope of recovering those big $$$.
Here are my clues that you’re dealing with a scammer:
- The claims, if true, would change the auto industry as we know it.
- The claims as presented ignore basic scientific principles.
- When those issues are noted, the inventor claims that the real reason it works is secret.
- The inventor claims to have applied for, but not received, a patent (anyone can do that).
- The inventor claims to be in negotiations with a major automaker, investors, or both, with no documentation.
- When pressed, the inventor likens himself to the Wright brothers or Edison, saying ‘people doubted them, too.’
- When further pressed, the inventor (or his wife, defender, or supposed stranger, there’s no way to tell in cyberspace) states that the folks asking the reasonable questions are ignorant naysayers.
While I don’t doubt the $10k E100 refinery actually works, its awfully close to a scam in the assumption that there will be a continuous supply of cheap sugar.
My gut feel is that biodiesel has every advantage over ethanol save one: doesn’t run in gasoline engines. The latest EPA regs for diesel emissions complicate matters because current diesel engines are not as tolerant of variations in fuel as the older simpler engines.
Making your own may also be illegal. One fella here in NH was making biodiesel for himself and was charged with producing motor fuel without the proper licenses, permits, and tax payments. It turns out that the law is absolute, without regard to whether there’s an intent to sell or not.
I’m another vote for ‘balogna’.
Testing is a boring formality when it’s obvious to anyone who didn’t sleep through undergrad physics the ‘super cyclone’ won’t work.
“I was surprised that they accepted this possibility so easily”
I wonder how many in that group think the Earth is 6000 years old…
I was interested in the nitrogen for tires scam. Though I had never heard the dissipation through the side wall theory, I do know that while competing in Great American Race (vintage car coast to coast rally) nitrogen was used in the tires for more accurate speedometer readings (Great Race speedometers take their readings off of a front wheel rather than the transmission). Nitrogen does not have any moisture in it, air does, thus a nitrogen filled tire maintains its air pressure and shape with the fluctuations of road temperature. A tall and narrow pre-1920’s tire filled with air going from a hot road to a cold wet road can decrease tire circumference up to 3". Not so with a nitrogen filled tire.
This effect is way overblown. There’s not much water in an air fill, not enough to make a 1/2 psi difference. Air has about 3% water vapor, compressed air less, but say it had 3% and ALL the water condensed out (it won’t). That’s only a 1 psi change on a 33 psi tire. Absolutely no way it could make a 3" difference. Nitrogen shrinks just as much as air when the temp drops.
“I fear the boys have wandered far away from technical advice and deep into entertainment.”
And I say good for them. If they can raise the awareness of certain people to give more thought to their cars than their dishwashers, then OK.
‘Making your own may also be illegal.’
Not to mention how easy it would be to make moonshine with the E100 plant.
The other bogosity about nitrogen fill (which is making substantial income at otherwise honest tire retailers), is the concept that it’s used for aircraft tires, so it must be better! The kicker, of course, is that aircraft tires are often filled from pressure bottles, dry nitrogen being the handiest, and inexpensive. Very high pressure portable air compressors are rare, and aircraft tires can go over 200 psi. In this application, the ‘story’ is that at the extreme temperatures these tires see on landing, any (liquid) water might change phase,(boil) causing instant overinflation, or that oxygen may react with tire materials and cause ignition and explosion. Regardless of the veracity of these concepts, neither applies to automobiles.
My question…
Since they’re all scams or swindles, How do they stay in business ?
If you and me will never buy from them, and advise everyone we meet not to, how do they continue to thrive and even multiply ?
Is it the placebo effect ?
Speeding is illegal too.
There are more than enough gullible undereducated people out there, unfortunately.
Here’s a ripoff for you. Cold air intakes. Manufacturers claim up to 10% fuel economy gains and up to 30 additional horsepower. I put one on my Camaro and compared to stock saw NO fuel economy benefit, and no obvious power gains. $150 down the drain.
The “tornado” is a really old scam. I remember seeing a guy selling these at the fair in Edmonton, Alberta when I was a teenager in the late 1940s. The car would run very rough until the seller switched in the tornado, when it would miraculously speed up and run very smoothly. Very convincing, and he did sell some (but not to us, thankfully).
“I wonder how many in that group think the Earth is 6000 years old…”
That’s a matter of faith, not science. It is not subject to reason. Personally, I believe the earth is many millions of years old, but this is not something you can argue with. Those folks simply choose to believe something else. My MIL is not a dope, but she believes that the earth is 6000 years old. There’s an irrational person in all of us; that’s hers.
I’ve heard several times that those who use biodiesel [i]must[/i] pay taxes anyway. You just send the payment to the state along with a for they have for you to fill out.