Cost of converting to dual fuel

[Josephine]

We are thinking of converting our motorhome to dual fuel as we are going to be touring Europe.

Does anyone have any knowledge of costs, work and benefits

Thanks

 

[icantremember]

I'm no expert but don't think that is possible with diesel engines .... and also would make it unable to use the Channel Tunnel.

Edit: sorry I forgot to say

Edit 2; I'm assuming you mean converting the engine to run on dual fuel and not the heating.

 

[Judge Mental]

Welcome! You've lost me...what fuels do you mean? Gas plus electric? If you have gas heating and considering gas/ electric. It's an expensive job and a waste of money, different if ordering a new van...

Fit refillable lpg tanks, that way heating economical to run on gas and fit for all year use. Just bring a small 230 v blow heater for back up...

Edit: looking at reply above seems like I've got wrong end of the stick

 

[Snowbird]

Am not sure about cost of conversion to duel fuel, but I have for the first time in my life started to run on petrol with LPG conversion. If You are doing big mileages then of course its worth while, but if not then it will take a long time before payback day. Am at the moment buying LPG in Spain at 59 cents per litre. At todays rate, thats 45 pence per litre.

 

[Josephine]

Thanks for your speedy replies.

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[jonandshell]

Can't be done on a modern diesel!

They existed on older diesel engines once, running on both fuels at once, but it really was a waste of time and just an answer to a problem which didn't exist!

Your Bailey on a Fiat Ducato won't cost much to run with cheaper euro fuel!

 

[Shovelheadrob]

Assuming a petrol engine with fuel injection, then between £750-£2500 depending on the engine type, the quality of the kit & whether you install it yourself or have it done professionally (recommended) why the disparity? There are a number of kits out there & it's better to go with something like the Prinz system for reliability & service, you can do a short course to become an installer which could save you money if you plan to convert more vehicles in the future. I've run American V8s on the stuff for years & it has been very cost effective due to the high fuel consumption, but the more fuel efficient your vehicle, the longer it will take to pay for itself. There are kits available for diesels contrary to popular belief, but they inject LPG as a power adder, think Nitrous Oxide if you know what that does, it increases the power meaning that you should save fuel by needing less throttle opening in normal use, personally having worked on racing engines using Nitrous Oxide, I would give it a miss as the extra stresses on the engine will be beyond the limits it was designed for.

 

[Terry]

Hi as already been said look around £800 to 1200 for a 4 cly petrol engine and close to 2k for a v8 -
They added gas in small quantities injected into big diesels about 15 to 20% but only megga miles trucks etc made this economical to do so it was dropped on costs and never really took off - - Watch out for valves burning out meaning new cly heads but that takes around 80k miles so it should not affect a M/H much -A few yrs back we had lots of taxis running LPG and my mate made a small fortune changing them over to diesel engines --EVEN THE BIG BOYS LIKE FORD AND VOLVO etc soon dropped duel fuel /LPG AND PETROL ENGINES PRETTY QUICK
terry
One for you to watch out for Dave I must admit it feels great filling a big v8 up with gas instead of petrol

 

[Judge Mental]

How many miles do most motorhomes do over the years......don't see the point

 

[Shovelheadrob]

http://www.drivelpg.co.uk/about-autogas/savings-calculator/ you can work out your potential savings here, just alter the figures to reflect your annual mileage, fuel consumption & current fuel prices

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[Terry]

How many miles do most motorhomes do over the years......don't see the point

The point of what? the fact that heads burn out ? or that some folk actually use their M/Hs or that it will take a lot of users say 12/15 yrs or longer before the heads/valves burn out -Just making people aware -personally I always just used my vehicles on gas and if I had coped for the head/s burning out I would have simply got it changed -never got caught out, but I don't know if that was down to me being lucky or as I like to think not buying a duffer
terry

 

[jonandshell]

All of which is pretty irrelavent given the OP asks about converting a Bailey on a Ducato diesel!

 

[Judge Mental]

the point of converting a UK oil burner camper to run on lpg?

 

[Terry]

All of which is pretty irrelavent given the OP asks about converting a Bailey on a Ducato diesel!

Did not realise the OP was on about a diesel Covered it in my first post though
terry

 

[gus-lopez]

where does the OP give any info on the vehicle ? I've read & re-read & can't see anything ?

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[icantremember]

where does the OP give any info on the vehicle ? I've read & re-read & can't see anything ?

If you tap on the OP's avatar you will get an info panel showing .......
"Baily approach autograph"