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Times-Advocate, 1982-03-17, Page 25Cheaper, cleaner than gasoline Times -Advocate, March 17, 1912 Paso 25 Many benefits gained in motor conversion to propane Avoiding the high cost of gasoline is Just one of the benefits of converting a vehicle to run on propane. According to Paul McNaughton of McNaughton Shell in Kirkton, propane is the fuel of the '80s. McNaughton has con- verted' 34 vehicles to burn propane, in the past year. McNaughton explained that the greatest amount of wear on an engine is when the choke is on and gasoline "washes down" the sides of the cylinders and the parts slide on bare metal: Since propane is a gas, not a liquid like gasoline, it is a dry fuel. With the dry propane, . there is no wash , down and less engine wear. Gasoline, McNaughton said, explodes ill the cylinder and drives the piston down. Propane ignites and shoves the piston down because of its slower bur- ning characteristics. "The fuel isn't trying to blow the engine apart," McNaughton said. The result again is very little engine wear. The exhaust from propane contains very little acids or contaminants. While you're not polluting the at- mosphere, your exhaust system is not rusting out as fast. After 75,000 kilometers, McNaughton said the sparkplugs may have to be regapped, but not cleaned as there are no carbon deposits. He noted oil changes would only be needed. every 20,000 to 30,000 kilometers since there is nothing to dilute or contaminate it. The dipstick on McNaughton's truck shows the oil looks almost new, after 28,000 kilometers. "Everything will last longer than in a gas powered vehicle." McNaughton said. Since propane is an alter- nate fuel, its use is en- couraged by the federal and provincial governments. There is no sale3 tax on propane conversion equip- ment and if the vehicle is converted before it is purchased (before the owner accepts delivery) there is no sales tax on the vehicle. Business users get a further incentive of a $400 federal rebate per vehicle if the vehicle is used at least 50 percent for commercial user The result is, McNaughton says, if .you buy a $10,000 pick-up and have it con- verted, you will save $700 sales tax and if used for 'business gain a further $400 rebate. A conversion will cost about $1,200 to $1,400 McNaughton said and with the incentives it just about pays for itself. The next benefit is the propane will increase an differential between the cost engine's power and perfor- of gasotIne and the cost of mance about 10 to 15 percent propane. in its low range, below 1,500 Propane has an octane RPM. But because of its rating of about 112, which slow burning, top end compares to gasolines' acceleration will be ratings of between 92 and 97. hampered. McNaughton said the A gas powered vehicle AIN marsay get 20 miles per gallon (mpg) on the highway and 15 mpg in the city. Converted to propane, the wper level fuel efficiency decreases. to abobt 11) mpg but city con- sumption will • increase to about 15 mpg, McNaughton estimated. The benefit appears when you compare the $1 per gallon propane price to the current $1.80 per gallon for gasoline. If an owner converts a vehicle he already owns, without the sales tax break and without the federal in - STEADY ON TOP — Tiffany Tryon, under the watchful eye of instructor Sandra McCurdy, steadies herself on the uneven bars before launching into another move. She was among about 25 other young athletes at a presentation night last Monday at South Huron High School where a capacity crowd of siblings and parents watched these members of the Exeter Gymnastics Club in action. Managerflent a skill is time management a excellent resource material skillthat can be learned'? for further study. Twenty farmers gathered in Neil Hemingway, Brussels Clinton on February 26 to area pork producer, outlined examine better ways to his methods of coping with manage their time and to machinery maintenance and identify the common time repair to minimize lost time. wasters. Holstein. Master Breeder The • course was co-. Cliff .,McNeil from Goderich sponsored by the Huron spoke on time -saving County Federation of methods . of livestock Agriculture and the. Huron management. Bev Brown,. OMAF office, Course leaders Brenda McIntosh, Program Chairman for the Huron Federation; Jack Hagarty, OMAF Management Specialist and Don Pullen, Huron Agricultural Representative, each shared with the group various methods of using time more effectively. A thirty minute film based on Alan Lakein's book "How to get control of your time and your life" was shown followed by a discussion of how to relate those methods to farming. Copies of this book were availaule to the group for $2.50 each plus numerous handouts, which gave each participant some me 'Ti TOW TRUCK CONVERTED TO PROPANE —. Paul McNaughton, of McNaughton Shell in Kirkton, points out the features of an engine converted to burn propane. The Kirkton garage did 34 conversions in the past year for vehicles to burn the cheaper, cleaner fuel. . Kitchen refuse into gardens Should separate garbage at source from B & J Swine Management Services, reviewed a book by James T. McCoy called "The Management of Time" (Prentice -Hall), which goes beyond the superficial time saving techniques and un- derscores the intimate relationship between time pressures and rale of per- sonal growth. The group identified personal disorganization, lack of communication and crisis management as the Three greatest sources of wasted lime. The consensus wasthat any improvement in these three areas would result in considerable time saving. By Bill Hart the thiry-first you will be Your are aware of Mark amazed at how much you. Twain's comment, have accumulated. Anenter- "Everyone talks about the prising person collecting and weather, but nobody does rendering once a month anything about it." The might well end up with a same comment might be very real source of part-time applied to conservation. income. You and I would There is a difference. The have to have the gumption to Almighty attends to the save for him and in return weather, but leaves us the we might get a couple of free job of saving. He must be ., bars each. disgusted with the job we When I was involved with are doing. • making pottery a short time You need look no farther back, I had eight sets of than your own doorsteps shelving for drying and stor- here in town. Take the case ing. All the lumber came of garbage. Wet and dry are from dumps as did our kindl- collected together and haul- ing for the fireplace. See ed off to the dump, to swell that fine rock -maple bread - the acres of landfill. board on the counter there. A wise council would see That was' made from an to it that we separated at abandoned dresser top. source and all the wet gar- Here's a story that will bage went back to the land. I take us away from home, but don't know about you, but for one I am sure you will enjoy. the past 27 years we have Back in 1951 when I was dug every. last ounce , of kitchen refuse into our gar- den and flower beds. Why waste dollars on the com- mercial stuff? Even with just the two of us now retired this adds up to a plastic pail full in a little over two weeks. Our council has also taken our tax money to buy special equipment for the fall gathering of leaves. You and I have the job of raking them up: That's the big end. All we need to do after that is wet them down and leave them to turn into top quality leaf mold. . Did you know that no other farm or fertilizer produces as fine lettuce? It's also great mixed with soil for our potted plants. So we not only waste but pay for the privilege to boot. Back to the kitchen again. All our surplus grease and fat either goes down the drain or into the garbage. Is there one person in town saving this valuable material to turn into soap? A bit of research will show that the equipment for home soap -making is• surprisingly inexpensive. What we throw out in a day does not seem to amount to much. Save every last. spoonful for a month and by FAIR PLAY TROPHY – Bill Merner and Art Dunlapps of the North London Old Devils hold the fair picupmerr ir team was awarded at the Zurich Has Beans hockey tournament, Sunday. attending Ryerson Institute, have yielded a steady supply I had a summer job with the of rich dry fertilizer after Parks Commission. My the first six -months. supervisor had at one time a Down town we see the been invoi'•ed with garbage collection. He informed me that the most covetted run was through the wealthy . area of Rosedale. It seems that the rich were too lazy even topass on part- ly worn clothing to the Salvation ArntB'.; jut was just tossed out with the garage. Don told me that what one cf his friends collected more than half clothed his three children, afterbeing made over by his wife. Before our council made the decision to put in a costly sewage system that we will. be paving for for years, did they stop to ask whether it might have been better to have people swing over to aerobic toilets? These would Farm computers Cash crop farmers with an croppers without an ' abun- eye on futures market should dance of time on their hands, be taking a hard look at the the 'computer can help," microcomputer as a tool to Ross says. sharpen their skills. That's For Kent and Essex one of the ways the computer County cash crop farmers, industry relates to the computer can do the agriculture that will be technical analysis in highlighted at the second minutes. Done by the far- annual ar- annual Agricultural mer, the job takes hours. Microcomputing Seminar Ross says the contribution to and Show at the Ridgetown the program made by Mr. College of Agricultural Doman should help fill a gap Technology on March 24. that has been apparent to This year's program futures market -minded features. W. Blair Doman, farmers for about two years. President of Community Another program com Communications Corpor- ponent that should generate ation (Canada) Ltd. who will interest is the inclusion of a discuss microcomputers in farmer panel to discuss the futures market. And, his computer applications on the contribution will focus on • farm. technical analysis or the Commercial exhibits and charting aspect involved in displays are included in the futures market study. computer show. Computer "There are at least 200 sales representatives will be people in the southwest who available to discuss are familiar with futures questions on farm computing market and technical as well. analysis," says Farm Registration for the Economist at Ridgetown Microcomputer Show and College, Randy Ross. Seminar is at 9:00 a.m. in "Technical analysis is very Willson Hall on March 24 at time consuming. For cash Ridgetown College. More than 8,000 jobs for youth this summer This summer, the Govern- ment of Ontario will offer young people more than 8,800 jobs through its $12 million Experience Pro- gram. Experience '82 pro- vides persons aged 15 - 24 with opportunities to use their energy and education and develop special skills in a wide variety of public ser- vice positions. "Providing young people with employment oppor- tunities is a major concern of this government", said Phil. Gillies, M.P.P. (Brantford) who is responsible for the programs of the Ontario Youth Secretariat. Mr. Gillies is Parliamentary Assistant to the Honourable Margaret Birch, Provincial Secretary for Social Development. This year 25 government ministries are offering 105 different programs through Experience '82. For the young people employed, summer will offer a variety of work opportunities such as conducting agricultural research, acting as proba- tion counsellors, operating small businesses and taking part in artistic and dramatic enterprises. in order to provide as many young Ix•npte as possi- ble with career -oriented jobs, the provincial minimum wage is paid. "Besides • I uranciai reim- bursement young people have the additional reward of making \cor'thwhile con- tributions to their communi- ty", said Gillies. The Ontario Youth Secretariat has published a guidebook to the Experience '82 Program outlining details. Guidebooks and ap- plication forms are available at secondary schools, post- secondary placement offices and Canada Employment Centres across Ontario. former lawn in front of the Jack's jottings library removed to make way for brick paving. Surely our mayor, a high school teacher is aware that green living things use up carbon - dioxide and give back ox- ygen. You say, but this is a ,t.rjtling,item too small to be worthy of comment. Unhap- pily the %we•ld over we are paving over and losing vir- tually forever land by the hundreds of acres. I've just finished John Fraser's recent book. The Chinese. This careful nation puts us to shame with our wasteful habits. Surely our relative affluence should not he regarded as a licence to waste our children's and our grandchildren's heritage. We Canadians along with our American neighbours share the shameful reputa- tion of being the most wasteful people on earth. It's time we shaped up. centive the vehicle will pay for the converstion in about 18,000 miles, In converting a vehicle to burn propane anything deal- ing with the gasoline system is removed. The gasoline tank is replaced with a propane pressure vessel and the engines carburator is replac- ed with a fuel lockoff, con- verter and mixer. The distributor must be reworked and the engine's timing reset, McNaughton said. The only new equipment McNaughton's garage need- ed for the conversions was an Infra -red Exhaust Analyzer. This is used to properly set up the system and also illustrates how clean the propane fuel is. Gasoline engines will range up to 150 parts per million of hydrocarbons and up to two percent carbon monoxide. The propane engine puts out no hydrocar- bons and only one percent carbon monoxide. The ultimate tool to set up propane conversions would be a chassis dynomometer McNaughton said, but this is out of the range of a small dealer. McNaughton took courses on propane conversion spon- sored by Inter -city gas. The Ontario government now runs similar courses. He holds three licences, to con- vert vehicles, store propane and dispense the fuel. Though Canadians must be licences to fill vehicle fuel tanks, in the United States the permits are not necessary. McNaughton said he thought the licences were more for government con- trol than for safety reasons. Propane is said to be 53 percent safer than gasoline. McNaughton said that gasoline will ignite at most concentrations, but a specific mixture of propane OPP looking for help The Ontario Provincial Police is continuing it's investigation into the death of a 39 -year-old Goderich woman who was found lying on Huron County Road 8 north of Clinton early Friday morning. February 19. Patricia Atine Henry. 39, of 97 Lighthouse Street, Goderich, was found on 'the County Road by a passing motorist at 2:30 a.m. and rushed to Clinton Hospital by ambulance. She was later transferred to University Hospital, London, where she died at 1:00 p.m. Friday. An autopsy authorized by Coroner Robin Shearer of London revealed the woman suffered head injuries, The Police investigation, headed by Detective Inspector Scott Raybould of the O.P.P. Criminal Investigation Branch, Toronto. continues as they try to determine how -and why Henri ended up on County Road 8 barely more than an hour after she was seen in Goderich. Two vehicles believed to have been involved in the incident were seized and sent to the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto. The car of the ixissing motorist who spotted Henri was sent to the Forensic Centre as, well as a second car. Nothing conclusive has been established as 10 their involvement, the vehicles have been released. The Police are requesting anyone .who was, in the vicinity of Huron County Road 8 around 2:00 to 2:30 a.m. .to please contact Goderich detachment of the Ontario provincial Police. W.G Hassall, 3649 Provincial Constable. By Jock Riddell MPP and air ii; needed to ignite. A ratio of 21 to 91/2 parts propane to 100 parts air are needed for it to burn. Quoting government statistics McNaughton noted a propane fuel tank is 20 times more rupture resistant than a gasoline tank. The tanks cap only be 'filled to 80 percent capacity to allow a pressure factor for the system to work and to allow for pressure variation from outside temperatures. The propane is put into the tank in a compressed liquid form. The pressure of the fuel depends not on the amount in the tank but the outside temperature. Below minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit the propane is a liquid. Otherwise the propane is a gaseous and cold weather starts are not a problem. At the engine's converter, a line from the radiatior warms the converter and prevents the system freezing when the propane is allowed to change from a liquid to a gaseous form. Government sources estimate there have been 10,000 vehicles in Ontario converted to burn propane. The provincial government would like to have 40,000 vehicles converted by 1985. McNaughton said a lot of fleet operators such as taxis, school buses and highway vans are converting to take advantage of low fuel costs and rebates. McNaughton just finished a conversion for Earl's Taxi of Centralia. - McNaughton has had private cars converted too. He said many people feel because of car prices, this may be their last new car and they plan to drive it longer than previous vehicles. Everytime, the price of gasoline goes up, Speech on economy The _ Throats?... 5peach, opening the Second Session of the Thirty -Second Parliament, focused on' the depressed state of the economy. At considerable length, blame was laid at the feet of the federal govern- ment. Ottawa was, at the same time, urged to cooperate in upgrading rail services, improving drydock facilities on the Great Lakes, developing an Ontario Hydro fusion program and establishing an autotechnical centre. The federal government was also asked to restrict car imports and oblige foreign manufacturers to increase to 85 percent the Canadian content of cars manufac- tured here. A number of vague promises were made, in- cluding jobs to be created for construction workers, out-of- school youth and foresters in Northern Ontario. Proposed social reforms included improved•equal pay legislation for women. support for day care and mandatory automobile restraints for children under 5 years old, or weighing less than 50 lbs. Since no dollar values were attached to any of the Throne Speech proposals, we shall have to wait until the budget comes down next month to assess the value of the promises made. Apparently the Premier and his colleagues continue to place their faith in the Board of Industrial Leadership and Develop- . melt (BILI)) Program and the upturn, in economic conditions in'North America predicted for later this year. The province is at present supplementing L'o 'u ;•loy- ment Insurance payments to provide employment for forestry workers. It seems the Treasurer is to negotiate • further with Ottawa for the use of UiC funds to "provide employment in other areas of worthwhile endeavours." and the intention is to do the same • for workers in the mining industry as has been done for forestry workers, Farmers have been promised an expansion of the Farm Adjustment Assistance Program. and there is to be more start-up capital assistance for young farmers. Laid --off workers arc promised additional protection under the Employment Standards Act. Severance pay is to be given priority over other claims upon a bankrupt company. McNaughton gets more inquiries: Though the cost of conversion may discourage those thinking of converting a car they own now, McNaughton expects more conversions in the future. McNaughton also expects to see road tax on propane by 1985, so the savings are now he said. He also noted it is becoming easier to get auto grade propane. He said it would be hard to drive 25 miles without seeing a source of the propane. Only Dome Petroleum in Sarnia makes the auto grade propane, no matter who distributes it. He noted the . auto grade is 95 percent pure propane with 5 percent petroleum lubricants added. Industrial propane is not suitable for engine use. McNaughton said it is only 5 percent propane with 15 percent butane added. The butane is dirty and will freeze too, the propane advocate said. Propane is refined from natural gas, and McNaughton noted Canada produces more propane than it can use. A government report noted Canada exports 63,000 barrels of propane of an estimated production of 130,000 barrels. The fuel supply is expected to be constant though 1995. Natural gas would be the best fuel to use McNaughton said as it is a virgin fuel and is clean burning. The biggest holdback is the problems el storing the fuel for a vehicle. If a person buys a new car converted to propane, they don't easily notice the benefits .McNaughton said. But if they convert an existing car from gas the comparative advantages of less maintenance, better starting (in cold weather too) and Less cost are readily apparent. Non-union employees are to be given their first protec- tion against . unjust dismissal. There is tope assistance to Northern communities to establish facilities to provide extended -care services to the elderly. Special ad- vanced, training in car- diopulmonary resuscitation. is promised for ambulance personnel, as well as homemaker programs to serve the elderly, frail and disabled. Although given Third Reading last December 7th, the Human Rights Code will not be proclaimed until June, to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the original Ontario Code. A general review of long- term options for improved commuter service is. promised. • •There is to be legislation to permit municipalities to conduct business in• French as well as English and to allow wills and land registration documents to be in French. .Once the constitution is patriated. Ontario will opt into all the provisions of the new . Canadian Charter of Rights. Opposition reaction Both Opposition Leaders accused the government of failing to grasp the seriousness of the economic recession. Describing the Throne Speech as a major disap- pointment, Liberal Leader David Peterson said it was - "a rehash of old *programs and a restatement +of universal principles...(with) absolutely no sense of urgency." He had hoped the Speech would announce a major commitment to job training, 'particularly for "jobs in th fit ore" and renewable enEtt`gy. There was also "a glaring absence of interest rate relief for homeowners." "If the Premier had been out of this building more in the last two or three months,, he'd know the economic situation is far more serious... Peterson claimed there were .a' "whole host of meaningful responses" which Ontario could make, similar to those taken by other provinces. "He has to find room to move. He'll argue all the time that he doesn't have room to move and then he finds money to buy an oil company or...a jet" LIONESS CLUB DONATES -- lioness Laurie Dykstra, Celebrity Bowler for the Exeter Lioness Club presents o cheque to Alvin Epp. President of the Big Brothers and big Sisters Association (right) and member Jim Chapman (left) from the "Bowl For Millions". 1