Peakster's Experiment #5: ACETONE REVEALED!!!
 

Okay, it's the moment of truth! Finally a video-recorded test on acetone here on GasSavers. Here's the breakdown:

*YouTube Video of Experiment* - recommended viewing... just because I got a snazzy haircut! :D

Attachment 384Attachment 385Attachment 386

Oh yeah, and I know I spelled 'economy' wrong in the first frame. Whoops :(.

Method of testing: A-A-B-B-C
Date: April 16th, 2007
Time: 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Weather: Sunny, 14*C, N @ 4km/h - W @ 11km/h, 24% - 23% relative humidity.
Speed: 50mph, cruise controlled
Amount of acetone added: 2 ounces added to the 3.9 gallons left in the tank.
Route:
Attachment 383

In my opinion the video on YouTube is more dramatic :p but if you must know the results *right now* here they are:

No acetone #1 - 57.2 mpg
No acetone #2 - 56.9 mpg

With acetone #1 - 58.7 mpg
With acetone #2 - 58.2 mpg

Full tank, diluted acetone - 56.8 mpg

Therefore a 2.45% FE increase with Acetone...
BUT... the mileage went right back down when I filled my tank! That's the puzzling part because I still had most of the acetone left in the tank...

The only reasons that I can think of is perhaps the 25 pounds or so of added weight when I filled, or the acetone concentration wasn't high enough... So what do YOU think of the results? ;)

From what I've heard about acetone, it seems to have a relatively small window for the correct concentration. Not enough, no increase; too much, no increase. How much did you use?

See that's just the thing... I didn't have a graduated cylinder :(. Just an ancient Coca-Cola glass bottle that said "6 ounces". I filled it to a level where I would think it was 2-2.5 ounces of acetone and added it to my 3.9 gallons left to my tank. That's a huge concentration! 5-6 ounces per 10 gallons :eek:. You can see the acetone level in the bottle at 2:16 when the video is processed (6:10 video).

One of the things that makes me skeptical is the "small window" that acetone supposedly has...if it vaporizes things why wouldn't an extra half an ounce still hold its vaporizing properties?

*shrug* at the results, the refill makes me skeptical...

Yeah, the refill was the real surprising curve ball in the FE results. Food for thought though.

Peakster -

Fill the 6 ounce coke bottle to the same height with regular old water, find a measuring thingy, and pour the water into that. How much gas was in the car at the time?

EDIT: Ok, 3.9 gallons of gas. Duh.

CarloSW2

That's actually what I plan on doing soon, as diamondlarry came up with a good point.

BTW, the video now appears to be activated! Have fun.

Cool vid, Peakster. I'm looking forward to the return of testing season here.

Watching the vid, I saw one variable that couldn't be controlled: passing traffic. At 50 mph, those other vehicles can have a big impact on your aerodynamic load.

I have seen this doing runs on my own "test" route, and the effect is obvious enough that I discard any runs (turn around and repeat) if I get anywhere near another vehicle's wake. (In fact, most of the time, I'm utterly alone on the route I use, if I can use it in the middle of the day.)

If you still have the raw video, I'd be interested if you'd post a "passing vehicle count" for each of the runs. Of course that alone won't prove anything, since the size of the vehicles and point at which they cut back into your lane (or not) won't be constant...

Unfortunately I don't have raw footage of the entire driving length; wanted to save battery life and more importantly: tape. The "Tape Low" indicator was scary by the time I got to the last shot.

Interestingly, that's why I chose to do 50mph. Everyone on the Ring Road flies to their destination. 80mph is not uncommon (The expressway has a 62mph speed limit with no fixed radar cameras). Drafting effect created when people changed into my lane didn't last very long as they gave me lots of room & were gone after a mere second.

The speed differential is a good point.

But the volume of vehicles is still an issue - you've probably read about the "corridor effect" somewhere around here. Enough vehicles passing you (or passing at the right frequency) will create a flow of air that affects your car, even if each individual vehicle isn't near you for very long.

(Students at a college beside hwy 401 in Scarborough actually figured they could set up wind turbines to harvest energy from the corridor effect.)

Just some stuff to think about.