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Posted by Jake on April 24, 2009 at 12:55:02:
In Reply to: Magnets on natural gas line improve efficiency? posted by John Lopez on April 16, 2009 at 08:58:59:
and Nooooo.
"": Has anyone ever had any experience with magnets placed on a natural gas line improving efficiency. I work for a large international corporation with facilities all over the world. Recently our corporate engineering group conducted a study at some plants in europe using this technology. The study shows favoarble results in the 5 to 10% range. I am being asked to evaluate this technology and possible install and study it here in the US. Has anybody had experience with this? Almost everything I have read says it does not work. ""
Magnetic devices that purport to miraculously save fuel by aligning the fuel
molecules have been around for many years. While I do not doubt that you
honestly saw the effects you describe, to really judge the benefits of such
devices they must be tested under carefully controlled conditions. In tests
of many similar devices for automobiles conducted by the EPA, none has ever
shown one iota of benefit when carefully tested. Additionally, the
underlying theory of these devices is not supported by scientific evidence.
The results of EPA's testing of fuel saving devices may be found at:
http://www.epa.gov/orcdizux/consumer/reports.htm
Specifically, over the years EPA tested the following magnetic devices:
Petro-Mizer, Polarion-X, Super-Mag Fuel Extender, and the Wickliff
Polarizer. None were found to have any measurable effect on fuel
consumption.
The report on the Petro-Mizer quotes Professor John C. Hilliard of the
Automotive Laboratory at the University of Michigan discussing another
magnetic fuel-saving device called the Moleculator. Professor Hilliard
said, "Hydrocarbon fuels such as gasoline have hardly any dipole (separation
of positive and negative charges), and for this reason, the fuel molecules
would not align appreciably in this type of device. If they were aligned,
the fuel dipoles would certainly be randomized subsequently - if not in the
fuel line, then in the process of vaporization prior to actual combustion.
Furthermore, even if such an alignment device did what the Moleculator's
manufacturer claims this one does, there would be absolutely no advantage to
any aspect of mixture preparation or flame propagation relating to
combustion efficiency or vehicle fuel economy."
While this information pertains to automobiles, it should apply equally to
other combustion devices such as furnaces. Automobile companies have
invested billions of dollars in developing expensive technologies such as
fuel injection and continuously-variable transmissions to improve fuel
economy by a few percent. Companies that manufacture HVAC equipment have
similarly worked hard to develop high-efficiency furnaces. If it were as
simple as attaching a magnet to the fuel line to get comparable results, it
would have been done a long time ago.
Andrew Johnson, Ph.D., P.E.