Gas Stats - tuesday 2008-08-19 2224 last modified 2008-08-20 0220
Categories: Nerdy, Road
TrackBacks Sent: None

There are 17.1 gallons of fuel capacity in a 1998 Honda Accord. On average, I use slightly more than half between each refueling stop, where I fill the tank. The most I've gone is about 12.5 gallons. The most miles I've gotten is, strangely, 354 on 10.009 gallons, giving the most efficient performance of this engine yet at more than 35 MPG. That's so wildly efficient that I think I wrote down a number wrong somewhere (edit: oh, right, that was the expensive NY stop where I simply stopped refueling because of the cost; never mind, that's the one time I didn't do a total refill, stopping short by two or three gallons). The average MPG per fueling stop is 28.643; without the outlier, the max is 30.901.

The most expensive gas was in Canada, weighing in at $4.721 per gallon; next door in upstate New York was $4.239, the most expensive so far. The cheapest has been in southwest Ohio and Iowa, both at $3.599, though I believe Minnesota is comparable. The east coast never went below $3.80, and areas within a hundred miles of Chicago didn't either.

At the last fueling stop I made in Wisconsin, I'd traveled 5133 miles and used about 178 gallons to do so, making the overall MPG just shy of 29.

Comments

Water2Gas

Came across this web site today. At first it looks like a total scam but the more you read the more it actually feels like they might be onto something. Basically the idea is to use some of the power from the engine (in the form of electricity) to split distilled water and baking soda (which acts as the electrolyte conductor in the otherwise highly resistive distilled water) into hydrogen and oxygen in gas form, which are then sucked in by the engine air injector and combined with regular filtered air to increase the efficiency of the explosion in the combustion chamber. I don't think it would yield the saving that those people are actually implying, but sure makes me want to try it... I might do it on my scooter, how cool would a water/gas scooter hybrid be ;-)

Stefano Mazzocchi on August 20, 2008 03:08 AM

I don't think so...

If I didn't know you had a scooter, I'd think someone associated with this thing was posting as you. I say scam. The claim appears to be more finely splitting gas droplets with hydrogen and making... better?... explosions for driving pistons. There are claims of suppression by Big Oil and terms like "magnetic vortex" in association with what sounds like a solenoid.

Some more investigation finds "Ozzie Freedom" to have been a scammer in previous incarnations under a different name. Whatever it is, it sounds like it's picking on the inefficiencies of contemporary combustion engines and high gas prices to promote a pyramid scheme. I'm sure there are scientific ways to improve an engine, and I'm sure this isn't one of them. Look up water4gas on Google, it's filled with URL's that are variants on the name. I'm pulling your link ;)

Ryan Lee on August 20, 2008 05:02 AM

the dirty south

i'm still sad that the dirty south didn't really pop up on your list of places-i-must-visit-via-my-car... but it was good to see you and i hope your travels are quite full of interesting experiences, places, and people... :) take care!

stephanie mma on August 25, 2008 03:00 AM

Re: the dirty south

Well, see, it's not really the south. It's just the Appalachians and Florida. Aside from poor Atlanta and higher population density segments of Florida, I know nobody within that substantial zone. But Texas and maybe New Orleans are indeed on the list, particularly now that hurricanes have come through yet again. It may be time to do some more demolition work.

Ryan Lee on September 17, 2008 05:10 AM

You must login to leave a comment

TrackBacks

No TrackBacks for this entry.