Can LPG vary in quality?

[Clifford Pope]

I filled up recently at a different garage from my usual one.

Their gauge registered significantly more gas was pumped in than I had expected , and it then did fewer miles on that tankful than normal. Also the car ran noticeably less well, but it was fine again on the next refill at the normal place.
It was as if the stuff was "thinner" than the usual kind. Is that possible - is some gas of a poorer quality? Although apparently cheaper per litre, it went less far and ran less well, so was more expensive in reality.


The set up seemed antiquated. The nozzle was a cross between the two kinds I have seen before. It had a rotating sleeve, but also a large handle instead of a trigger. The gauge was a mechanical affair with revolving wheels, reset by winding a wheel on the side. No decimal points, nearest litre only.
I spent ages searching for the push button, and finally found it was a switch looking like something off an old radio. The wheels clunked slowly and noisily round, but amazingly managed to communicate electrically with the display at the desk. No one knew how to operate it, and there were no instructions.

[Bhowani 2]

Best quality LPG I find in Norway, but I am biased, and all their pumps use "our" connectors. By quality I mean most mpg/litre......

In Ulster I called at one place (which shall remain anon, as it would embarass the staff) where they said. LPG's over there - here's they key - then tell me what you've taken and pay me. We don't know how to work it!

I did both, and drove away happy.

I will fill up this afternoon, and expect to pay around 49p/litre at Morrisons, so, at that price, am still a happy (greying) bunny.

Bhowani
V70 FF LPG Auto

[kenny]

i found the same thing when i had a v8 Disco on LPG, shell was by far better.
the worst i found was jet.

i have LPG fitted in my boat quite hard to work out mpg but i stick with shell and it runs fine.

[John_C]

Sounds like it was contaminated with something, there were widespread reports of "bad gas" a few years back which caused injector problems etc. Probably worth naming where you got it from so other forumers can keep it in mind.

Cheers,
John

[capt jack]

John at Autogas 2000 once told me that he could tell where a customer's car had been most frequently filled with LPG by the state of the fuel filter when he came to change it! More cr@p = supermarket gas!

The other thing that makes a difference is the ambient temperature. You'll get more gas in the tank if you fill up on a cold day!

Jack

[classicswede]

There are diffent grades of LPG.

The lowest grade is second hand gas! LPG is used in chemical plants as a chemical scrubber. It is then sold on cheaply as it is contaminated. This is the type of LPG that caused the problems with injectors and other solenoids a couple of years ago and is still on odd ocasions seen today.

This problem only realy showed up in automotive use because in liquide form the LPG has to been drawn from the bottom of the tank. For heating etc the gas in drawn as vapour from the top leaving all the crap sitting at the bottom.

Cars that are filled up from propane bottles tend to clog the filterw with rust that has come from the inside of the bottles.

Regardless of the grade of LPG you will not find a difference in the engine running or perfomance from the 1 fill up.

[Clifford Pope]

No, it was definitely inferior. Too much of a coincidence to be anything else.
I drive the same route to work every day. I know exactly how well it will pull at every hill, which gear it feels comfortable in at any point.
The moment I drove off with the new gas it felt inferior, and remained so for the rest of the tankfull. Two days later on refilling with the usual gas, it was back to normal.

[M D E]

I have experienced different grades of LPG, the poor quailty fuel was only 43.9 ppl went back to shell 57.9 ppl ! Ouch ! And my performance returned ... I could definately feel the difference.

[charlotte001]

Originally Posted by Clifford Pope

I filled up recently at a different garage from my usual one.

Their gauge registered significantly more gas was pumped in than I had expected , and it then did fewer miles on that tankful than normal. Also the car ran noticeably less well, but it was fine again on the next refill at the normal place.
It was as if the stuff was "thinner" than the usual kind. Is that possible - is some gas of a poorer quality? Although apparently cheaper per litre, it went less far and ran less well, so was more expensive in reality.


The set up seemed antiquated. The nozzle was a cross between the two kinds I have seen before. It had a rotating sleeve, but also a large handle instead of a trigger. The gauge was a mechanical affair with revolving wheels, reset by winding a wheel on the side. No decimal points, nearest litre only.
I spent ages searching for the push button, and finally found it was a switch looking like something off an old radio. The wheels clunked slowly and noisily round, but amazingly managed to communicate electrically with the display at the desk. No one knew how to operate it, and there were no instructions.

If you fill up when the weather is cold you will get more gas for your money and there are different grades a bit like different petrols will give you different mpg

[dustyv]

You are completely right.
I have found that using Calor gets more MPG than FloGas, something to do with calorific values.
Note: I made the mistake a couple of years ago filling from an independent LPG supplier (yes it was cheaper) all sorts of problems, not immediately but as I used more of the 'fill' the problems surfaced. It turned out that the garage used had 'purchased' a load of Barbeque Gas and was selling it as road fuel - be warned.
The moral is find a good supplier and stick with him irrespective of price - otherwise it may turn out to be a false economy.