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Has anyone had any experience of fuel catalysts such as the "Broquet" or magnetic devices like "Gainex"? The websites for these products are very convincing but are they any good?
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By all accounts, none of them work
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can do you a good machine that will turn lead into gold, and there is another in the dev labs that will turn water into wine...
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All a waste of time and money.
D
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I enquired here a few months ago about the B*****et and was told to forget it. I believe that they have had to change the line of their advertising too, (Trading Standards became involved). It is still heavily recommended in the Civil Service Motoring Magazine. There are some claims made for Ecotec, the one that magnetises the fuel. They don't claim to know how it works but say that savings are possible and there are (allegedly) installations on Government heating systems that save lots of money per annum. There may be a website on the subject - try putting Ecotoec or Ecoflow in the Google search engine. Good luck! (No connection with any of the above - info only!)
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The best fuel saving gadget I know of is a diesel engine. Plenty of excellent ones on the market, and getting better all the time.
Chris
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even better is a gentle right foot combined with common sense (anticipating next need to brake) - and No, I don't always do it!
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If they really did work manufacturers would fit them as standard, especially now with the new car tax regs where more fuel efficient cars have a lower banding.
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Would it be fair to assume that fuel consumption and CO2 emissions are closely proportional?
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I'm going to sound a bit like the odd man out here (no change there then), but I have bought and used for a couple of years 2 Prozone Fuelsaver's .
Type the name in to search engine - (I use Google), for deatails. I bought them in order to use unleaded instead of the prescribed 4* in my old Maestro's. Yes I am that sad old s*d that had TWO Maestro's. There's no difference in MPG that I can detect, but they've probably paid for themself in cheaper, unleaded petrol and there's no problem with the engines as yet. Having said all that a couple of points should be mentioned. There's a thing called "memory effect" whereby a build up of 'something or other' builds up between the valve and the seat during several years of LEADED petrol use and protects from the effect of valve seat recession. So it may be that you could use UNLEADED anyway without damage, provided you drive steady and don't cane the engine. Furthermore on an old car if the engine does expire then so be it, given that they are not worth much anyway. My comments obviously don't apply to dearer "classic" cars.
So don't bother if your car is OK with unleaded, but think about it with an older 4 star petrol car. Otherwise, do what the other's say........drive more carefully, drive a diesel or do absolutely nothing.
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I don't dispute what you say KB, but I had a 1983 1.3 Maestro which I bought with 72k on and I ran to 145k. I think in that time (3 years) I put in about 8-10 tanks of 4 star.
The car only died due to bodywork, the engine was still running very clean and smoothly.
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These products have been around for years, they have been sold to many people and the companies that make and market them are still going so we can assume that there are people making not only a living but a good one out of these products.
What scares me is that they do not work. They do not have any effect on fuel economy and they will not allow you to run on unleaded petrol. I am amazed that they continue to be sold and that nobody has put a stop to their sales.
Imagine that you had bought one of these gadgets and used it to run your car on unleaded petrol. Any car that runs on 4* is already sufficiently old that any engine wear could be dismissed as a result of age. Fuel economy is impossible to measure and compare accurately without a laboratory and whenever these products are independantly tested the results are...surprise surprise...that they have no effect. Yet they continue to be sold. People who run these companies should be locked away for fraud.
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This reminds me of the devices that claim to treat the incoming water supply to your house by magnetising the limescale molecules (or something like that). These things are shown in the adverts with a coil of wire wrapped around the pipe, connected to a 'black box'. Do these 'Broquet' or 'Gainex' devices look anything like this?
I think that for these things to work, you have to have faith. You have to really *believe*!
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