Natruell, or natural gas conversions
 

Does anyone have any experiance with Natruell or really any type of natural gas conversion on diesels? Natruell I believe is based out of cedar city which isn't too far for me, but the $7,000 for the conversion seems pretty steep.
It sounds appealing increasing my mpg and power, but would like some real person experiances with it.

Thanks

Bubba

Any help. Is this the right forum for this?

Yeah, I curious about this too. There has got to be some one who runs Natural Gas out there...

Natruell CNG conversion
 

We bought a 2005 F250 with the V-10 last summer when gas prices were sky high (there was a smart move). One of the things the dealer offered was a natural gas conversion. We bit since in Utah the price of CNG is less than $1/gallon and the conversion cost was relatively inexpensive. We have the Natruell conversion. It's actually manufactured in the Netherlands by Prins and imported and distributed by Natruell. It's my understanding the Natruell is essentially out of business or on hold at the moment.
The kit is designed to integrate with the OBDII system, not fake it out like cheaper kits do.
Pluses -Nothing like filling your tank for less than a $10 bill. My truck is greener and cleaner than your little Prius and tows 12,000 lbs. For the most part the truck runs well, the engine should last longer. Still have the 30 gallon gas tank underneath. When gas was $4/gallon, it was cheaper to drive the truck than it was to drive my car. Haven't noticed a loss of power. There is about a 1 mpg reduction in mileage, from around 9 mpg to around 8 mpg.
Minuses - the check engine light came on. We were told the cats were shot. Took it to the Ford dealer thinking it was under the emissions warranty. They said since we had an aftermarket conversion, the emission warranty was void. The installer says it shouldn't be. Still arguing this one with the installer and Ford. Every once in awhile when taking off from a stop, there's a hesitation before things get going. This only happens when it's running on CNG. We're hoping a change in spark plugs will take care of that. The 10 gallon tank occupies a good portion of the bed and only gets us about 80-90 miles before having to fill up again. We want a 20 gallon tank. It's not an EPA certified kit. If your truck never gets smogged, then no big deal. Ours does. It'll be interesting to see how Utah deals with it in a year. There are changes afoot.
If anyone wants some technical details, let me know and I'll answer as best I can.

Jim
2005 F250
V-10

I found some interesting reading in the site below, but no where can I find that it is EPA Approved - So if you are in Utah the Get Gephardt articles will be of interest.

Do it yourself propane injection??? - Diesel Forum - The Diesel Stop.com

Get Gephardt: Natural Gas Car Conversions might be illegal | KUTV - Utah News - 2News

Get Gephardt: Non-EPA Natural Gas Conversions Allowed | KUTV - Utah News - 2News

Utah Clean Cities

Natruell
Prins Autogassystemen BV

Good Luck with what ever you decide to do.

Yeah, I'm aware that my kit is not EPA approved. I do know about the Gephart crap and the rukus he's raised in the name of TV ratings. Yes, there are unsafe conversion out there. No, the EPA does not regulate the safety of kits, only the emissions. There are idiots out there who cobble things together in the name of cheapness and end up being dangerous.
I've read everything the state has to say about conversions. I've read Prins website, Natruell's website, etc. I've also read most everything the EPA has about testing (read CFR 40, part 86 if you have insomnia). The UHP tried to change the safety inspection regulations to say that the kit had to be EPA approved to pass safety. Big no no and that was shot down by some judge. The same person who fought that is fighting to get the state to back off the EPA crap as well. Having said all this, my kit does meet the requirements of NFPA-52, this is the safety rules reagarding cng installations. My tank is DOT approved, all of the fittings, routings, wiring, etc. is safe. Although I've not had the truck emissions tested, my guess is that if it's running properly (just like a gas engine) it would pass smog easily, and probably much better than gas. The county I live in had a note on their website about having your kit EPA approved to be able to register the vehicle. They've since backed off that statement. So everything is in flux. Rest assurred, if gas goes back up to $4/gallon, and it will, cng will be making more inroads, and that's a good thing. I still pay less than $1/gallon to fill the truck. Cheaper, cleaner.
Here's food for thought. Think of all the diesel trucks that have aftermarket chips in them. Have those chips mods been tested in accordance with EPA rules? I doubt it. Ok, off my soapbox.

Propane inj. after removing turbo.
 

About 12 years ago while driving semi's ran across a guy who had removed his turbo installed an adapt in it's place took a 5 gal gas grill bottle ran a line to the adapt had rigged up a elect control valve to meter the propane .said it worked better than the turbo for boost said when climbing mountains could increase boost . I've never done any research on it .
basicly the same as nitrous inj in hot rods. I guess a good research proj for a rainy day.

Diesel-CNG Dual Fuel Systems
 

From what I can tell, the Natruell Fuel System is only available to convert gasoline engines. Prins mentions diesel engine systems on their Transport Market page but not on their CNG Products page. The only other universal natural gas conversion system for diesel-powered trucks I am aware of is the EcoDiesel System made by Technocarb. The LPG version has just been made commercially available and the CNG version should be available shortly. I expect that any CNG system would only be available to commercial installers for liability reasons.

The price of $7000 for a CNG conversion seems to be in the ballpark. CNG cylinders are more expensive than LPG tanks and there is more cost involved with components that withstand CNG's 3600 psi storage pressure.

Question
 

Does anyone know the output pressure for a CNG regulator for intake delivery system? Mine have 2 disk regulators and one of the magnetic solenoid went out and I want to change to a one regulator system but they need to know the output pressure.

what regulator is in it?