Is my Phill working properly?

[johnny 99]

I have a question... I have had my Phill unit installed and working since January of this year. I typically commute 100 miles a day. If I get approximately 34 miles per gallon, I burn approximately 3 gge a day.

According to various sources on this web site, the Phill's hourly refueling rate is 0.42 gge/hr. If I plug my car in at 7 PM and let it run all night, the machine should complete the refueling sometime around 2 AM. In reality, my Phill runs all night and is still running when I need to leave in the morning at 7 AM. It would seem that the twelve hour cycle should give me 5 gge, or at least the 3 gge I burn daily.

What am I missing? Does the drying cycle cut into the refueling time so significantly? Is the 0.42 gge/hour an average time, and does it take Phill longer as the tank approaches the targeted 3600 psi?

I am not well versed in compressing gas, so I am hope someone can help me understand this before I call FuelMaster.

Thanks everyone!

[freedml]

Re: Is my Phill working properly?

I think the answer is 'Yes'. Yes, the fill rate is much less than .4 gge/hr. Closer to .3 gge/hr. in my experience. Yes, you're probably not getting 34mpg, probably less than 30mpg. Still, you should be able to fill the tank from your commute in 12 hours (IF you started full). Is that 5th light on when you leave? Maybe your particular compressor is having with that last couple hundred pounds of pressure. It does take time to regenerate so it's probably doing that for an hour during your 12 hour fill. Moral: Phill always takes longer than you think it should. Call Fuelmaker to register your problems. They'll probably send someone out to do a test on the fill rate.

[OhMyGas]

Re: Is my Phill working properly?

The fill rate gets less the higher the pressure.
What happens if you disconnect the Phill from the car and click on start?
is the pressure indicator of the phill showing the pressure go up?
Normally the LED should light up first 1, then 2... and at last all 5 within a couple of seconds (at most a minute) and then the phill should stop automatically.
Unless there is a problem where the phill pump cannot keep up with the pressure.

[sjseng]

Re: Is my Phill working properly?

What happens if you disconnect the Phill from the car and click on start?

???

Is that an approved test method 'OhMyGas'??? When my Phill was installed, the Tech used a mini tank to test the flow.

Johnny, I'm not a Tech but that sounds way too long to me. I often times have over 190 miles and it takes just over 10 hrs for mine to fill up. The drying cycle doesn't come on every fill eather. Maybe every other or every 3 fills. And I think I am averaging about 38 MPG's. Hope that helps.

[moore101]

Re: Is my Phill working properly?

Yes running the phill with the hose off the car is what fuelmaker told me to do when I thought my unit was running slow. If I remember correctly it should go to full and shutdown in 30 to 45 seconds.

[Amfuel]

Re: Is my Phill working properly?

The test with the hose not connected to the vehicle is an acceptable test to see that the system is reaching full pressure and shutting itself off. The test bottle can be used also and the time measured more accurately. The bottle is also used for purging the system at install. Using a test bottle will tell if the pressure is achieved or levels off at a pressure below the shut down parameters causing extended fill time.

Knowing the actual mpg of the vehicle is significant to whether the Phill run time is excessive or not.

The dryer runs for 1/2 hr every 8 hrs.