The Green Industry's Resource Center

steve4611 · #1 01-24-2012, 06:57 AM

In recent weeks, I have been seriously contemplating a conversion of my truck and my big mower to natural gas. In my first season back in the lawn business, I now fully understand how my profit margins are affected by the fluctuation in gas prices and started looking for alternatives.

Natural gas seems to be a viable solution.

Pros: About half the price if you are buying gas @ $3.30 and the price doesn't fluctuate as much as gasoline. I can still keep my existing gas tank and use it if I cannot reach a station near to me. Natural gas runs keeps engines cleaner increasing the longevity and bypassing certain fuel problems that can occur. 100% of my money will stay in our national economy. I can also receive a nice, hefty tax credit for switching. I could also use this as an advertising ploy to possibly increase sales for the greenies. From the information that I have picked up, it's just as safe as using gasoline.

Cons: $3500 to convert my V-8, and about $800 for a 27hp Kawasaki. There are only three gas stations in the Indy area that I could fill up. There is also an inevitable learning curve by switching and some unknown problems that might arise.

What do you guys think? Am I in over my head? Can you think of something that I haven't?

Any input is greatly appreciated.

ffemt1271 · #2 01-24-2012, 11:35 AM

Probably will when i get new vehicles. We are in the middle of.the haynesville shale here and almost every station is putting in a nat has filling station
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GreenI.A. · #3 01-24-2012, 08:27 PM

I've started the conversion. I have a couple CNG stations 20 mimutes away heading towards each of my service areas, thankfully one is within minutes of a supply house I go to every few days during the season. Look into tax credits for doing the conversion. If you have NG at your house/shop then you can also get a compressor to fill right on site. You can get these installed at a pretty reasonable price after tax credits, check with city, state, fed. The only problem with these small compressors are that they take hours to fill the tank.

steve4611 · #4 01-25-2012, 04:14 PM

Yeah, it was my understanding that the gas stations all have rapid fill and the "garage" version is a slow fill. I don't have that option to fill at home because we just have electric. The average size tank can run 250 miles, so I would just have to fill up weekly.

For those interested, you can find where a station is near you here

Are you planning on doing the conversion yourself? I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but I know I would run into problems, and in the end, there is a good chance something would be installed incorrectly. However, I would have a lot more knowledge of the inner workings of the technology if I did it myself.

GreenI.A. · #5 01-26-2012, 01:59 PM

I'm in the same boat with no NG available at my shop or house so I have to use the fill stations. That sight is better than many others i have seen. They atleast tell you if the ftation is open to the public or not. It would be nice here if the state would set up a system where the public could use their stations to, it would double the amount of locations available

integrityman · #6 01-26-2012, 06:19 PM

I really like the idea of using cng on stuff. Its beyond shameful that our country has such a crappy cng infrastructure.

In S. America you can purchase a CNG conversion kits for 1500- 2000$ whereas in the us kits cost around 10k.

CNG is a great fuel, its clean, its "cheap" and most of it comes from the good ole USA.

bscill · #7 03-16-2012, 09:18 AM

My wife works for the gas company in our town and her boss asked me if I would switch truck and mowers over if he could get everything. I told him it sounded great, so looks like I will be switching when we get something in our area.

themadcutter · #8 03-17-2012, 04:34 AM

I was just talking to someone about nat and prop gas equipment.

I was told it burns much hotter and can cause seal problems on mowers

and that you get much less mileage per tank (as it were because its not a direct comparison)

you loose abut 20% hp also

Bloggermano · #9 03-22-2012, 08:05 PM

I hear nat gas is expected to have a large supply glut this summer (bc of mild winter and huge shale field expansion recently). So...low prices could be here for a while...at least in the short term..