Acetone as a Fuel Additive (old thread)

I'm posting as new thread since it appears that the old one died or scrolled
off the newsgroups.

Well I have finally had an opportunity to gain a large sampling of data, via
a drive to Florida, with stops in the Carolinas and here's what I found:

I've just gone through my mileage log and calculated the MPG for various
legs of the trip.

The second two legs have the most similar driving conditions, ie., speed and
lack of stops, yet the leg without the acetone got worse fuel economy.
Here's the data:

From NY area, acetone in fuel, avg speed = 55mph

563 miles 22.078mpg

Maryland to NC, acetone in fuel, avg speed = 63 mph

274 miles 24.4 mpg

to Huntersville NC and Columbia SC - avg speed = 65mph, no acetone added
this leg of trip (just residual leftover):

441 miles 19.77 mpg

Trip to Disney World, Lake Mary, FL, Inverness, FL, avg speed = 62mph no
acetone in fuel:

283 miles 18.21 mpg

Most of this trip leg, avg speed = 81.25mph followed by 15 minute backup do
to major accident between tractor trailor trucks. Drug store acetone added,
not 100% pure (fragrance additives in ingredients)

342 miles 19.46 mpg

SC to Raleigh, NC leg, drug store acetone with fragrance, bad weather
conditions, lots of slowing down, accelerating back to speed, avg speed 74
mph:

278 miles 18.28 mpg

As you can see, a wide variety of conditions affect economy. However, the
two most comparable legs of the trip were Maryland to NC and NC to SC west
end of state. All highway driving at speeds chosen for economy.
On the legs home from FL, I chose to drive much faster, as we were getting
anxious to get to NC. We hit tropical storm Tammy on the SC/NC leg, so the
last 200 miles were driven in blinding rain, almost stop and go traffic and
a lot of lane changing and accelerating back up to 72mph, which I tried to
maintain when possible. The breaking and hard acceleration seriously
decreased economy in this case.

My conclusion? Acetone seems to work under comparable conditions, going from
19.77 mpg to 24.4 mpg under identical driving conditions. My vehicle's EPA
rating is 19mpg highway, BTW, so part of the savings is driving technique.
Not bad for a big hulking SUV.


--
Take care,

Mark & Mary Ann Weiss

VIDEO PRODUCTION . FILM SCANNING . DVD MASTERING . AUDIO RESTORATION
Hear my Kurzweil Creations at: http://www.dv-clips.com/theater.htm
Business sites at:
www.dv-clips.com
www.mwcomms.com
www.adventuresinanimemusic.com
-

And the drugstore acetone with fragrance also probably had 30% water in
it.

"Mark & Mary Ann Weiss" <mweissX294@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:iOj3f.13038$vw6.12250@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
> I'm posting as new thread since it appears that the old one died or
> scrolled
> off the newsgroups.
>
> Well I have finally had an opportunity to gain a large sampling of data,
> via
> a drive to Florida, with stops in the Carolinas and here's what I found:
>
> I've just gone through my mileage log and calculated the MPG for various
> legs of the trip.
>
> The second two legs have the most similar driving conditions, ie., speed
> and
> lack of stops, yet the leg without the acetone got worse fuel economy.
> Here's the data:
>
> From NY area, acetone in fuel, avg speed = 55mph
>
> 563 miles 22.078mpg
>
> Maryland to NC, acetone in fuel, avg speed = 63 mph
>
> 274 miles 24.4 mpg
>
> to Huntersville NC and Columbia SC - avg speed = 65mph, no acetone added
> this leg of trip (just residual leftover):
>
> 441 miles 19.77 mpg
>
> Trip to Disney World, Lake Mary, FL, Inverness, FL, avg speed = 62mph no
> acetone in fuel:
>
> 283 miles 18.21 mpg
>
> Most of this trip leg, avg speed = 81.25mph followed by 15 minute backup
> do
> to major accident between tractor trailor trucks. Drug store acetone
> added,
> not 100% pure (fragrance additives in ingredients)
>
> 342 miles 19.46 mpg
>
> SC to Raleigh, NC leg, drug store acetone with fragrance, bad weather
> conditions, lots of slowing down, accelerating back to speed, avg speed 74
> mph:
>
> 278 miles 18.28 mpg
>
> As you can see, a wide variety of conditions affect economy. However, the
> two most comparable legs of the trip were Maryland to NC and NC to SC west
> end of state. All highway driving at speeds chosen for economy.
> On the legs home from FL, I chose to drive much faster, as we were getting
> anxious to get to NC. We hit tropical storm Tammy on the SC/NC leg, so the
> last 200 miles were driven in blinding rain, almost stop and go traffic
> and
> a lot of lane changing and accelerating back up to 72mph, which I tried to
> maintain when possible. The breaking and hard acceleration seriously
> decreased economy in this case.
>
> My conclusion? Acetone seems to work under comparable conditions, going
> from
> 19.77 mpg to 24.4 mpg under identical driving conditions. My vehicle's EPA
> rating is 19mpg highway, BTW, so part of the savings is driving technique.
> Not bad for a big hulking SUV.

This is totally useless information. There is no way you can get an accurate
MPG with just three readings and such variable driving conditions.

Jeff

>
>
> --
> Take care,
>
> Mark & Mary Ann Weiss
>
> VIDEO PRODUCTION . FILM SCANNING . DVD MASTERING . AUDIO RESTORATION
> Hear my Kurzweil Creations at: http://www.dv-clips.com/theater.htm
> Business sites at:
> www.dv-clips.com
> www.mwcomms.com
> www.adventuresinanimemusic.com
> -
>
>
>

"Al Bundy" <MSfortune@mcpmail.com> wrote in message
news:1129204338.984651.75660@g14g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> And the drugstore acetone with fragrance also probably had 30% water in
> it.
>

The label said "100% Acetone" or "Full strength", but in fine print it
listed two fragrance chemicals. I suspected that when I sniffed the cap to
see if it was really pure acetone. It smelled sweeter than it should for
pure acetone. There wasn't any water in the ingredients and I didn't detect
any either.

> >
> > As you can see, a wide variety of conditions affect economy. However,
the
> > two most comparable legs of the trip were Maryland to NC and NC to SC
west

> This is totally useless information. There is no way you can get an
accurate
> MPG with just three readings and such variable driving conditions.
>
> Jeff


The point of doing this on a long trip was the relatively controlled speeds
and road conditions. And two similar legs of the trip where speed, weather,
and duration were very much similar provided about as good a sampling as you
can get without resorting to using a dyno for measuring under really
controlled conditions.

"Mark & Mary Ann Weiss" <mweissX294@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:01H3f.13592$vw6.5838@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>> >
>> > As you can see, a wide variety of conditions affect economy. However,
> the
>> > two most comparable legs of the trip were Maryland to NC and NC to SC
> west
>
>> This is totally useless information. There is no way you can get an
> accurate
>> MPG with just three readings and such variable driving conditions.
>>
>> Jeff
>
>
> The point of doing this on a long trip was the relatively controlled
> speeds
> and road conditions.

Yet you drove under different weather and road conditions, like the tractor
trailer crash and the rain. Plus, how do you know that you filled the
gas tank to the same amount after each fillup?

> And two similar legs of the trip where speed, weather,
> and duration were very much similar provided about as good a sampling as
> you
> can get without resorting to using a dyno for measuring under really
> controlled conditions.

Yet, "as good a smapling as you can get" is quite poor for making any type
of conclusion.

Jeff
>
>

> >
> >
> > The point of doing this on a long trip was the relatively controlled
> > speeds
> > and road conditions.
>
> Yet you drove under different weather and road conditions, like the
tractor
> trailer crash and the rain. Plus, how do you know that you filled the
> gas tank to the same amount after each fillup?

I noted that those legs got different mileage results. But the legs from
Maryland to North Carolina and the North Carolina to South Carolina legs
were under sunny conditions and constant speeds. The Georgia to South
Carolina leg still got pretty good mileage, considering our average speed
was over 80mph and in an SUV, that's a LOT of wind drag. Plus we had that
delay due to the accident on that leg. I think the MPG achieved was still
amazing despite the wasteful driving conditions therein.
I topped off the tank after each fillup, that's how I know it was full.


> > And two similar legs of the trip where speed, weather,
> > and duration were very much similar provided about as good a sampling as
> > you
> > can get without resorting to using a dyno for measuring under really
> > controlled conditions.
>
> Yet, "as good a smapling as you can get" is quite poor for making any type
> of conclusion.
>
> Jeff

Real world conditions are what we live with. We don't drive our cars on
dynos 5 days a week; we drive them on roads with varying conditions. I think
this trip provided a large sampling of data and certainly is more conclusive
than a few short trips around town here.


--
Take care,

Mark & Mary Ann Weiss

VIDEO PRODUCTION • FILM SCANNING • DVD MASTERING • AUDIO RESTORATION
Hear my Kurzweil Creations at: http://www.dv-clips.com/theater.htm
Business sites at:
www.dv-clips.com
www.mwcomms.com
www.adventuresinanimemusic.com
-

"Mark & Mary Ann Weiss" <mweissX294@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:mMg4f.14343$vw6.6248@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
>> >
>> >
>> > The point of doing this on a long trip was the relatively controlled
>> > speeds
>> > and road conditions.
>>
>> Yet you drove under different weather and road conditions, like the
> tractor
>> trailer crash and the rain. Plus, how do you know that you filled the
>> gas tank to the same amount after each fillup?
>
> I noted that those legs got different mileage results. But the legs from
> Maryland to North Carolina and the North Carolina to South Carolina legs
> were under sunny conditions and constant speeds. The Georgia to South
> Carolina leg still got pretty good mileage, considering our average speed
> was over 80mph and in an SUV, that's a LOT of wind drag. Plus we had that
> delay due to the accident on that leg. I think the MPG achieved was still
> amazing despite the wasteful driving conditions therein.
> I topped off the tank after each fillup, that's how I know it was full.

Yet you didn't have a delay due to that accident at that temp. going the
other way. The wind conditions were different. You were going uphill and
downhill at different times. You were using different batches of fuel
(probably acetone, as well).

The comparisons are meaningless to draw a conclusion.

Jeff
>
>
>> > And two similar legs of the trip where speed, weather,
>> > and duration were very much similar provided about as good a sampling
>> > as
>> > you
>> > can get without resorting to using a dyno for measuring under really
>> > controlled conditions.
>>
>> Yet, "as good a smapling as you can get" is quite poor for making any
>> type
>> of conclusion.
>>
>> Jeff
>
> Real world conditions are what we live with. We don't drive our cars on
> dynos 5 days a week; we drive them on roads with varying conditions. I
> think
> this trip provided a large sampling of data and certainly is more
> conclusive
> than a few short trips around town here.
>
>
> --
> Take care,
>
> Mark & Mary Ann Weiss
>
> VIDEO PRODUCTION . FILM SCANNING . DVD MASTERING . AUDIO RESTORATION
> Hear my Kurzweil Creations at: http://www.dv-clips.com/theater.htm
> Business sites at:
> www.dv-clips.com
> www.mwcomms.com
> www.adventuresinanimemusic.com
> -
>
>

"Jeff" <kidsdoc2000@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:MGv4f.17135$q1.104@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>
> "Mark & Mary Ann Weiss" <mweissX294@earthlink.net> wrote in message
> news:mMg4f.14343$vw6.6248@newsread1.news.atl.earthlink.net...
>>
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > The point of doing this on a long trip was the relatively controlled
>>> > speeds
>>> > and road conditions.
>>>
>>> Yet you drove under different weather and road conditions, like the
>> tractor
>>> trailer crash and the rain. Plus, how do you know that you filled
>>> the
>>> gas tank to the same amount after each fillup?
>>
>> I noted that those legs got different mileage results. But the legs from
>> Maryland to North Carolina and the North Carolina to South Carolina legs
>> were under sunny conditions and constant speeds. The Georgia to South
>> Carolina leg still got pretty good mileage, considering our average speed
>> was over 80mph and in an SUV, that's a LOT of wind drag. Plus we had that
>> delay due to the accident on that leg. I think the MPG achieved was still
>> amazing despite the wasteful driving conditions therein.
>> I topped off the tank after each fillup, that's how I know it was full.
>
> Yet you didn't have a delay due to that accident at that temp. going the
> other way. The wind conditions were different. You were going uphill and
> downhill at different times. You were using different batches of fuel
> (probably acetone, as well).
>
> The comparisons are meaningless to draw a conclusion.
>
> Jeff

Aww come on Jeff... he got the results he was looking for and that's all
that matters. Most of the people who have installed those tornado fuel
savers, magnets on the gas lines, etc. all think there car runs better, gets
better milage etc.
Bob