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Davidss

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  1. I don't know. What I recounted was my personal experience, which is what I thought the OP wanted. I added some background which I found reinforced my initial experience. In the light of comments by others, I feel I'd better add that at no time have I had personal or financial interest in any person or business selling 'fuel magnets', except as a one time customer. Note that nowhere have I indicated my belief or otherwise in what some marketing or sales person has said. Criticism of me for being 'hoodwinked' is therefore not founded on fact. I have recounted my experience, and the circumstances surrounding that experience. Engines have been a hobby interest of mine for many years, but the budget is limited. While I can afford to buy and try various items, I cannot afford 'thousands' in order to R&D a particular product. To expect me to do so is unrealistic. To criticise me for not doing so is farcical. I suspect many other hobbyists are in a similar position, whether their hobby is as a painter, trying different brushes and paints, a woodworker, trying different chisels and saws, or a cook, trying different recipes. The examples could go on and on. Regards
  2. I'm saying what I've written. I'm not letting you 'put words in my mouth'. Regards
  3. I agree entirely, but of course I don't have your professional experience. Regards
  4. Paul C, you bring up various points; for clarity, I'll deal with them individually. I brought up MRI to show that Magnetism could have an effect on 'matter' which is generally considered non-magnetic. Thankyou for endorsing that. Can you cite supporting evidence that the effect is lost as soon as the diesel passes out of the magnetic field, or is this your opinion? Perhaps an American TV show dealt with this point. That's YOUR conclusion, I don't think your arguments support your conclusion. I said I'd been told some pumps had magnets fitted, it was 12 years ago; after this time I can't cite further information on this. To turn the question round, YOU say 'fuel pump manufacturers' feel there is no need to incorporate magnets, but do you KNOW that? Perhaps you work on HP pumps fitted to car / boat engines? Please don't forget a lot of installations have lift pumps before the HP pump, and the supply to the tank is delivered by a means unknown to the HP pump manufacturer, so a magnet in the HP pump could be collecting particles delivered to the pump, not always from the HP pump itself. Automotive automatic gearboxes are an instance where plate magnets are fitted in the sump, as well as a physical filter. I think it reasonable to claim that ZF and others don't 'design their goods to shear off metal particles', but they do fit magnets. I'll just point again to the original question, although I realise it's common CWDF practice to ignore these as a thread progresses. To me, the phrase 'anyone found' implies personal experience required; I appear to be the only one with personal experience. It happens to be positive. All the negative views appear NOT to be based on the writers personal experiences of 'fuel magnets'. EDIT to say my post has crossed with that of Albion, who has also some personal experience. Yes, but as computer hard drives have shown, there has been continuous development in the area of magnets, becoming stronger and smaller as the development continues. So the 'performance' given by fuel magnets years ago may well be superseded by more modern developments. No-one, least of all me, is claiming comparability between the magnetic strength of fuel magnets and MRI scanners. As already stated, I merely introduced MRI scanners to illustrate the point that Magnetism could have an effect on 'matter' which is generally considered non-magnetic. Thankyou for apparently endorsing that. Regards
  5. How do you answer the point about MRI being an effective tool? I am told they do, inside some high pressure distribution pumps. Here they have the advantage of collecting the very small particles of steel that come from normal wear. I don't work on HP pumps myself, so haven't seen inside one.
  6. I agree, dynamometer data could be very interesting, but I don't have any. I can't claim an increase in outright power, which is what is normally measured on a dynamometer, because I had no means of measuring it. The improvement I did notice was smoothness and pick-up at low speed, typically first or second gear, from tickover or just above, when the engine was cold. My colleague also noted an improvement while the engine was cold. In his case he did a regular commute over minor roads, (thus little traffic to influence behaviour). The automatic gearbox would not lock-up in top gear until the engine was warm. The lock-up state was identified by comparing rpm to road speed. With the magnet in place, lock-up occurred earlier in the trip, attributed to the engine warming more quickly, which he attributed to the engine burning 'magnetised' fuel more efficiently. In my case, fuel consumption was measured by recording the mileage completed when refilling the tank; I tended to go from tank full to tank 'almost empty', which was generally around 80 litres. Easy enough to arrange while commuting, but deviated from when long trips were planned / undertaken. Obviously there were many factors affecting the fuel consumption over the 400 - 500 miles between each fill. There was no obvious 'step change' in my recordings. The magnet was in place from late 2000 to November 2009, during which time 95 thousand miles were travelled. I don't appear to have a record when the fuel pipes were changed. The original question was "Has anyone found these to be effective in improving performance/efficiency?". I am answering in the affirmative, and explaining the circumstances why I got the same answer twice. I make no claim about cost-effectiveness, as this can depend so much on the purchase price. Expensive UK pricing in my case, cheap China / Ebay in the case of my colleague. I no longer use that car, but I still have the magnet. If I was running a diesel car with plastic fuel lines I would install it again. HTH What is a standard plastic fuel line? You mean a flexible rubber fuel hose? How does one of those crack unless it's already perished? In my experience, 'standard plastic fuel line' means as fitted on the supply side by BMW to their diesel engines, and as Land Rover fitted to their 2.5 NA and TD engines. They perhaps still use it on their current engines, I have no experience with anything more modern. These are very stiff 'plastic', black in colour. Perhaps the BSS regulations don't allow their use in boats? Flexible rubber fuel hose does perish and crack. This type of hose is frequently used in the spill rail assembly, with perished hose being a common cause of air leaks. HTH
  7. Yes, I have. I also know one other person who could detect an improvement on a repeat basis. In a thread on a small mailing list, he was the only other person to admit using a fuel line magnet. The two installations were magnets from different suppliers, but were sold for this particular purpose. However, these were fitted to diesel engined cars, with 'plastic' fuel lines. I'm not sure a UK narrow-boat diesel engine has the same scope for improvement; to my mind they are not expected to deliver the same performance (which I suppose can be classed in this context as 'they don't flow fuel at the same rate or quantity'). I'd expect steel fuel pipes to have a detrimental effect on the strength of the magnet field the fuel actually passes through (the steel would effectively route the magnetic field around the fuel). As a matter of interest, I inadvertently made an experiment. I trialled the installation using the standard 'plastic' fuel line, let's say 6mm ID, but there was a concern that the weight of the magnet might mechanically stress the fuel line and cause it to crack. Having noticed an improvement, I mounted the magnet on the engine, which necessitated installing a longer (plastic) pipe line. I noticed that the improvement seemed to have diminished or even disappeared, but couldn't explain why. As you will note, most respondees will be inexperienced, but sceptic, so I didn't ask for assistance. Ironically, some time later my new pipeline fractured, as it was not a plastic intended for the use I was putting it to. My fault. For the repair I used the correct grade of plastic pipe, of the original diameter, but routed through the magnet. The improvement returned, which caused me to consider the problem again. My first pipe fitment was, for various reasons, 8mm ID, and at first glance this doesn't seem much different to the original 6mm. Only after fitting the second pipe did I do the maths, 6mm = 28.28 sq mm, 8mm = 50.27 sq mm, a considerable increase. Note that the void between the magnets was not altered. I doubt whether the amount of fuel flowing through the 'magnetic void' increases as the pipe diameter increased, although it must be borne in mind that this fuel flow is not just what the engine burns, but includes the fuel that eventually passes back down the spill line. I'm not sure quite why the greater amount of fuel in the 'magnetic void' should have such a marked effect; I can only think the magnets were only just strong enough, although they did seem very strong. In previous discussions, elsewhere, some people doubt the effectiveness of magnets on fluid that is not obviously magnetic, but I can only point to the effectiveness of Magnetic Resonance Imaging used on human bodies. The magnetic void is obviously larger, but I don't know how strong the magnetic field is; possibly the measuring equipment is very much more sensitive than a 'mere' engine operator :-) HTH. Hopefully, any sceptics, inexperienced in this field, will excuse me if I don't bother to respond to every slight on my sanity, truthfulness, or other personal quality they wish to call into question. If you have a technical query, by all means ask.
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  10. You had better let us know when you are going again, so we know when to avoid :-) I've been there, but only for a couple of hours 'while passing through the area', and I agree, a very impressive structure. Regards
  11. GRP means Glass Reinforced Plastic, which takes us back to almost where you came in!! HTH :-)
  12. I have bought something similar from Aldi in the not too distant past, and I made use of the full refund they offer. The 'problem' is the lighting. It's adequate if the dark space is small, like the inside of a 1" pipe. When I put it down a 3" x 5" Land Rover chassis rail there wasn't enough light to see the walls, unless the lens was resting on the steel wall, when I could see a very small part of that wall. There is also minimal range. Where it does work adequately is where there is some 'natural' light, but you can't get direct line of sight from your eyes. So, you may well be able to see under the calorifier, especially if you also shine a small torch in that area. The same applies to seeing that bit further when you have found or cut an inspection hole. HTH
  13. I assume we are talking about Tug Harry. (ETA, Ahh Yes. I initially followed the link in your posts here, which goes to the last post on the Star blog. I then neglected to go back to your first post in this thread. I still think my question is valid ;-)) The Harry blog has more white space than words, and unless you have hidden pictures and not linked them, there are no external pictures of the current state of the tug. Which is a long-winded way of getting to the question, what is the boat trimmed like? Static horizontal or static bow high? You have told us the stern drops when under power, but this 'natural' tendency will be made worse if the starting attitude features a wedge under the flat hull base, with the wedge thicker at the front and thinner at the rear. HTH
  14. A useful link, giving real world development and use, is to the blog http://www.narrowboat-waiouru.co.uk/search?q=ladder which in this case I've searched for posts including 'ladder'. Readers will have to judge for themselves if what they read applies to their situation. HTH
  15. There is at least one re-chargeable version mentioned in the thread about 'Gadgets you can't do without', wherever it is. I'm taking it as read that if an item appears in there it must perform to the users satisfaction. HTH
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