Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

[pb4ugo]

I have a '99 dedicated Dodge Ram Van I'm using for work. I'm shopping for generators and noticed the tri-fuel ones out there. What would it take to plumb one of them into my vehicle's fuel system?

TIA

[cnghal]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

pb4ugo,
You'll need at least one high pressure regulator and a low pressure regulator to knock the pressure down to 2-10 psi from 3,600 psi. Hope the generator is water cooled so you can heat the HP regulator.
All this work should be done by an experienced CNG professional.

[larrycng]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

I have a '99 dedicated Dodge Ram Van I'm using for work. I'm shopping for generators and noticed the tri-fuel ones out there. What would it take to plumb one of them into my vehicle's fuel system?

TIA

I saw natural gas BBQ plumbed into a transit bus (Sun Line transit, by Palm Spring). They used a second high pressure regulator (the existing would probably work). They next steped the pressure down with 2 stage Impco regulator to inches of water, which is what you probably what you looking for (that was easy since the Impco carbureted systems used water column inches).

Be careful how you hook up things, I would probably connect after the HP regulator, then you would have only deal with 100 to 150 psi. The low pressure would be even safer, but you have to use a slightly larger hose to run to the generator, but it would be safer. You also leave the regulator mounted on the vehicle.

If you mount the gen set in the vehicle, treat it like a cylinder mounted in the trunk -- make sure everything sealed and vented to the outside. Leak check everything.

Some one else will probably have some ideas

Larrycng

[cowboy]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

pb4ugo,
You'll need at least one high pressure regulator and a low pressure regulator to knock the pressure down to 2-10 psi from 3,600 psi. Hope the generator is water cooled so you can heat the HP regulator.
All this work should be done by an experienced CNG professional.

I have done this as I am a cheap skate I taped the low pressure line comming out of the hi pressure regulator
on my dodge van this took a 1/4 tee than used a propane regulator and put impco mixer on it I am running a 10 horse 6000 watt and have not had any problem with iceing up but you might with a bigger gen set as more gas expanding more cold or if you have a water cooled you could tie it in to your cooling hoses dont forget you must have a flex hose to the gen set

[pb4ugo]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

pb4ugo,
You'll need at least one high pressure regulator and a low pressure regulator to knock the pressure down to 2-10 psi from 3,600 psi. Hope the generator is water cooled so you can heat the HP regulator.
All this work should be done by an experienced CNG professional.

Generator I'm looking at is air cooled. I'm in St. George, would icing be much of a concern? How is that combatted on my factory Dodge fuel system, and could I tap into that for the new stuff?

[cnghal]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

pb4ugo,
Your Dodge's GFI high pressure regulator has engine coolant running through it to keep it from icing up. It also has a low pressure solenoid valve that will close when the ignition is off, similar to the circuit that controls fuel pumps in gasoline vans. The "low pressure" side still has 90-125 psi going to the fuel rail. Just tapping in to a stock system isn't the safest thing to do. A seperate system, mounted outside/underneath would be safest and would not require the complicated venting required if installed inside.

[Highmarker]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

pb4ugo,

I converted my 3500 watt generator to run off of natural gas and propane. See http://www.cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3183

I am hoping to install two 13 GGE tanks at my house (ground mounted) and have them at 3600 psi. I am currently looking for regulators to use. I have heard there are high pressure regulators that use a heating element (electric) to keep from freezing up. In fact some CNG installers prefer them then they don't have to deal with the engine coolant lines. Let me know what you find.

[pb4ugo]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

Thanks all for the replies. Does anybody have a good referral to a distributor for regulators? I know of the Impco brand, what are some others?

Thanks

[pb4ugo]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

Also, assuming the generator was solidly mounted, what are your guys' thoughts on having a loop in the stainless supply line to accommodate flex instead of a flex line?

[larrycng]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

If you mount the HP regulator outside and underneath the vehicle as has been suggested, you can use a flexible low pressure line, suitable for CNG, you should not be runnig over around 100-150 psi into the secondary pressure regulator (probably should be mounted outside the vehicle). From the low pressure regulator you will have very low pressure measured in water column inches.

I wouldn't worry about heating the HP regulator unless it is a small capacity regulator. That generator shouldn't be using over about 1 gge per hour at full load. I don't think that you will get enough referigeration effect to cause any problems. My 3600 watt rv genset will use about 3/4 gallon of propane (0.6 gal) per hour at full load.

Again, if the gen set is mounted inside the vehicle make sure it is sealed and vented to the outside of the vehicle for both engine cooling purposes and against possible NG leaks. You can get some nice louvered access doors from the local RV dealers. Cut a nice hole in the side of the van mount it. It will give you good maintenance access and safety.

HP regulators; Meeco, Tescom, conoflow

Larrycng

Larrycng

[cnghal]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

Pb4ugo,
There's an Impco HPR on Ebay and new and used GFI regs show up quite often.
I would definitely hard pipe the high pressure lines to the fixed regulator and flex the low pressure from there.

[Highmarker]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

Here's a thought:

Can you use a regulator that is from a boat that uses CNG for the stove?

[CraziFuzzy]

Re: Plumbing a CNG generator into my car's fuel system?

I toyed around with the idea of making a NG grill i can hook up the my expeditions tank for tailgating. Unfortunately, I don't have a separate Hi and Low pressure regulator on the truck, as it is all combined into a big 3-stage unit.