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Posted by John Lopez on April 29, 2009 at 15:20:07:
In Reply to: NO NO NO Re: Magnets on natural gas line improve efficiency? posted by Jake on April 24, 2009 at 12:55:02:
: 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.
Thanks for the info Jake. It's kind of what I thought I'd find.