Why install gas equipment
Prices for gasoline and diesel fuel are constantly rising, so many car owners are looking for alternative options, trying to save money on fuel. One of the options is gas; savings here are achieved not due to reduced fuel consumption, but due to its lower price.
Even propane-butane is two times cheaper than AI-95 gasoline or diesel fuel, not to mention methane - this gas has an even lower cost. But before convincing you to switch to gas, you should first consider the disadvantages of installing gas equipment:
- LPG equipment requires an initial investment, and it will pay for itself in approximately six months with regular use of the vehicle;
- Gas refueling cannot be done everywhere; gas stations, especially methane ones, are much smaller than gasoline ones;
- Propane is subject to fairly high safety requirements; the gas itself is explosive;
- The cylinder in the trunk of a car takes up quite a lot of space.
Summary:
It makes sense to open a gas filling station if you are ready for a return on investment in the medium and long term, and are also planning an investment of at least fifteen million rubles.
Yes, at the start you will have to invest significantly in the project, but the niche of gas filling stations is good for its stability - even a crisis period of the country’s economy plays into the hands of business, as car owners are increasingly thinking about saving on fuel.
Denis Maleev
, director of a transport company, auto journalist, expert of the openbusiness.ru portal in the field of auto business Contact the author (c) www.openbusiness.ru - portal of business plans and guides for starting a small business
04/08/2020
All materials by tag: Gas station
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Propane-butane or methane
Gas equipment operating on a propane-butane mixture (liquefied gas) is somewhat different from gas equipment, which is designed for methane (natural gas). Basically, the difference lies in the cylinders - methane requires high pressure, and the gas is stored under a pressure of 200 atmospheres; propane (as the propane-butane mixture is called for simplicity) requires a pressure of 15 atmospheres.
Propane has advantages:
- liquefied gas requires more compact cylinders, they don’t weigh as much and don’t take up as much space;
- propane gas stations are more common and more common;
- propane has a less pungent odor; installation of gas-cylinder equipment is cheaper.
Natural gas also has its advantages, and they are quite significant:
- methane is a more volatile fraction and easily evaporates when leaked, so operating a car on natural gas is much safer;
- Methane is cheaper than propane, and if the car is used constantly, running on this gas becomes more profitable.
Methane has another undeniable advantage, due to which it will be very profitable to convert automobile natural gas. If refueling is carried out from a household network, the cost of fuel will be even cheaper.
Any gas-cylinder equipment must undergo scheduled maintenance once a year, where the following is performed:
- eye leak test;
- replacement of filter elements.
The condition of gas cylinders should also be checked:
- metal containers - once every five years;
- metal-plastic – once every three years.
Related types of business
In addition to directly selling propane, it makes sense to open a store and cafe at a gas station. As a rule, related types of business help to obtain additional profit from the property due to the large and stable traffic of solvent buyers.
1. Automotive goods and consumables store
The store's assortment consists of food and non-food groups. These are usually various types of car products and consumables - from anti-freeze liquids, in demand in winter, to car interior fragrances and motor oils. At the same time, the markup on these products is usually much higher than in traditional convenience stores or supermarkets. And we are buying - often the driver does not have time to make a special trip to buy this group of goods at a separate store or car market.
2. Products and mini-cafe
The grocery section in the store near the gas station is relevant even if there is a cafe - many would prefer to take a “snack” with them on the road rather than waste time eating at the gas station. Energy drinks, snacks, etc. are in great demand. The assortment of cafes is mainly coffee and fast food. You can place a store and a cafe in one room, which is being built on the territory of a gas filling station.
Often, the development of the entire project as a whole is favorably affected by the opening of such parallel areas as tire fitting, car wash, and car service. Interestingly, the share of profit from related types of business in the form of a cafe and a store can often be 30% or more.
Installation of gas equipment on methane
Gas equipment has been installed on cars for a very long time, since Soviet times, but in the USSR gas fuel was not so popular - gasoline was cheap then, and they did not save on it. Now, when many people travel for commercial purposes, the cost of fuel is of great importance. Increasingly, car owners are paying attention to methane, and the point here is the nature of the gas itself. If propane-butane is a liquefied gas and is obtained through processing, then methane is a natural fuel, and it is this gas that is supplied to apartments and private houses.
Self-made methane car refueling kits
To fill a methane cylinder, you need to create a pressure of 200 atm. Conventional mains-powered compressors produce a maximum of 20-25 Atm, so a more powerful device is needed here. Homemade devices use an air tank or aircraft compressor model AK-150 in various modifications; it produces a working pressure of 150 kgf/cm².
But you can’t get rid of this with just a compressor; to assemble such a structure you will also need:
- pressure automatic;
- filling valve;
- gas filter;
- control pressure gauge;
- adapter for filling with methane;
- tubes and hoses.
The compressor itself is compact, weighs only about 6 kg, but if you buy it new, it will also cost a lot, approximately 40 thousand rubles. You will have to spend a lot of time on assembly, and besides, here, to some extent, you will have to be Kulibin.
There is one more disadvantage of self-assembling a home gas refill - you need to strictly follow the safety rules, which come first. If safety is not respected, savings will be of no use. In any case, the gas must be handled with care, the same as with any other flammable substance.
But Russia still has its own stumbling blocks - officially refilling cylinders from the general gas network is hardly allowed, and GorGaz will most likely not approve such actions. Here you can envy European residents - they receive official permission to use natural gas filling stations at home.
Gazelle Club
Sparks, the turner Gerasim, the recommendations of the craftsmen at the Gomel methane gas stations, the inadequacy of the German adapter (especially made me smile), all this strikes fear into the common man. Only a certificate will dispel all fears. A certificate for gas equipment is a document confirming the compliance of this equipment with established requirements and quality standards. Equipment used for gas-related work is subject to mandatory certification.
Good luck to all. PS Hello to my wife and neighbor)))
Please note => Is it possible to transfer pensions from the Pension Fund?
Refueling with methane at home
Despite the apparent complexity of implementing such an event, making it a reality is quite simple, although it will require some initial investment. To make home methane refueling for a car a reality, every citizen has the opportunity to purchase a specialized compressor that connects to the residential gas supply network.
Watch the video below to see how to properly fill your car with methane.
Filling a car with gas from the household network is only possible if such equipment is available, since standard household gas pipelines do not provide the same density of fuel - all networks intended for gas supply to residential buildings are low-pressure networks. But, nevertheless, it would be foolish to deny the fact that refueling a car with household gas has both negative aspects and not the most pleasant sides:
- A compressor that will produce the necessary pressure to fill a car with gas at home is very, very expensive. However, with due diligence, it is possible to find budget variations of specific equipment, although they still cost the same - quite a bit.
- Filling a car with household gas is a difficult process, in the literal sense of the word - any gas cylinders are characterized by a very noticeable, and sometimes impossible, weight in order to move them alone.
- The duration of refueling increases many times over - if we take into account the weakest pressure blowers, then one car cylinder will take about 6-8 hours to fill. If we consider more expensive models, then the time to refill a single cylinder will be about an hour and a half. It would seem that this is a very, very long time, especially considering how much time is spent at professional gas car filling stations. Nevertheless, the advantages of the described technique also follow from this specific disadvantage.
Of the advantages of refueling gas-cylinder automotive equipment yourself at home, you can immediately point out one thing, but the most important thing is the cost. The final price will be much less significant than if the motorist used the services of a gas station.
As a result, the only refueling of your own car when using a home pressure supercharger with gas fuel, the cost is approximately three times less than when refueling a professional city car station.
The cost of gas for refueling cars in 2021 in Russia
You should use a pump that is located on the side of the tank of the car. Different models are equipped with a filler hole on different sides of the body (do not try to reach with a gun if the tank is on the other side) It is worth finding out in advance what kind of gasoline needs to be poured into a specific vehicle Or diesel fuel Automatic refueling stops when filling the tank, a special check valve is activated (but if possible, you need to independently control the process of filling the fuel tank to avoid overfilling) It is forbidden to smoke on the territory of the gas station, use open fire, especially in the immediate vicinity of the gas pump. Do not leave the car open at the gas station yet payment is made It is necessary to lock all doors (for some time, car thieves practiced stealing from vehicles parked at a gas station) If you need to purchase gasoline “in reserve,” you must pour it into a metal container. At a gas station, it is forbidden to pour fuel into a plastic container
