Gas or Propane Forklift?
- Thread starter McRat
- Start date
If you use it inside PROPANE is what you'll have to use. I have Cat forklifts (5k) a Hyster (10K) and a Small Petti-Bone Mercury (2500 lift cap) . I prefer Cats they have a Mitsubishi motor in them. Unlike the older flathead Continentals that you could NOT KILL. The Mitts? Just don't over heat it.
Propane is clean burning and for the amount your going to use it a couple two/three tanks will last you. You can purchase them or rent them through a Propane distributer and they will come to you and fill them or just swap out. I have 12 tanks in a outside locked storage cage. As far as the guages go your correct there is no accurate ones I've seen thats why you have spares. But don't you worry you will always run out when your farthest away from your spare tanks! Spare tanks are about $200 bucks for the Aluminum ones. Or you can rent them which I prefer not to as I have to many.
How big of a truck are you going to buy? I'm surprised your having such difficulties with the Electric lifts do to your light usage.
Propane is clean burning and for the amount your going to use it a couple two/three tanks will last you. You can purchase them or rent them through a Propane distributer and they will come to you and fill them or just swap out. I have 12 tanks in a outside locked storage cage. As far as the guages go your correct there is no accurate ones I've seen thats why you have spares. But don't you worry you will always run out when your farthest away from your spare tanks! Spare tanks are about $200 bucks for the Aluminum ones. Or you can rent them which I prefer not to as I have to many.
How big of a truck are you going to buy? I'm surprised your having such difficulties with the Electric lifts do to your light usage.
I've been buying used electrics, and it's mostly the battery that fails. Normally when the battery starts having trouble is when they trade it in. Batteries do not like sitting at partial charge, nor do they like being fast charged when only used <1 hr.
Getting a 4000lb cushion tire, side shift, triple. Our machines are not capable of running parts more than 2500lb.
Worked on lift trucks as well we were a Nissan dealer . Trouble free machines but that said oilfield hands and miners can destroy pet rocks . We ran diesels gas propane and electric indoors . Some of the newer machines offer dual fuel which may work to your advantage . You didn't state where the machine operates the most and how well ventilated the work area is or how many operators you have running the machine . Also what type of surface it runs on . I hated solid tire machines for some reason I spent a better part of my work week getting solid or cushion tire machines unstuck and repairing damages . Propane machines we would have more issues with when the owners had many yard apes running one machine . If only a few or well trained and trusted operators then they where virtually trouble free . I have worked on just about every brand out there and they were all pretty good machines ( that was 14 years ago ) but we sold a line of trucks Balkincar and was the unreliable machines we ever had . The drive axle had a fatal flaw .
Personally if this is for a smaller buisness and not much osha bull crap I prefer gasoline . But my experiance is from over a decade past and I am sure much has changed . Good luck with which ever route you go .
Personally if this is for a smaller buisness and not much osha bull crap I prefer gasoline . But my experiance is from over a decade past and I am sure much has changed . Good luck with which ever route you go .
...correct, which is why it is actually used as and promoted and sold by the Automotive Industry specifically FOR the SAFE removal of water from a moisture contaminated gasoline fuel system :thumb:
...or to prevent moisture(the presence of water) from ever being problematic in a fuel system due to amomg other things, frequently running your tank only patially full which can introduce condensation from temperature differentials causing water contamination, etc...
...well, I agree, this is parially correct...the part about water being detrimental to certain metals...obviously it can be by oxidation(giving up electrons) of the metal...but I don't believe water can easily or readily "dissolve" the metals used in most engines at a rate that makes a difference over any of our lifetimes...
...however, what you state is indeed a PRIME example of why you should want to do everything possible to keep water out of your fuel and is why Ethanol is a fantstic product to do just that!!...a cleene fuel system is a happy fuel system :thumb:
...MethalTriButylEther(sp) may in fact be what you say...relative to an Octane Booster...it is I believe a 100% petroleum dirivitive...hence as an oil based product will not absorb water...adsorb maybe to a certain degree, but not absorb...
...Ethanol is not a crappy motor fuel...however is does not contain the same amount of energy per gallon as gasoline and to go the same distance more of it is needed...but it's not crappy...it's far cleaner and far more RENEWABLE as a motor fuel that any product except Hydrogen...
...Ethanol is also environmentally safe (Eco Friendly
)relative to any highly toxic petroleum based hydrocarbon fuel and grossly safer than MTBE...but to each his own ...thats cool :thumb:
...agreed...you certainly do not want water in any fuel system, EVER!!...
...agreed...it is to an exellent renewble DIESEL fuel as Ethanol is to an excellent renewable additive for gasoline until we start designing, building and actually running cars and trucks on 100% Ethanol as Brazil has been doing for decades...
...yes, if you only listen to the Petroleum Industry...as is stands your next tank full could very easily be coming from that field of Corn you drive by on your way to work, keeping every single penny of your hard earned money right heere in the USA instead of going to the very Countries who disagree with everthing we are about!!...
...want to solve the financial crisis we now have and put more of our own people back to work... just think if we never again had to send a penny of our energy purchases to anyone except our next door neighbors!! :woott:
...anyway, just some thoughts and facts as to the issue raised...
...but I'm still 100% PROpane with the forklift though!!
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