Diesel Idling

[a k]

Next time you hear one idling, look up and realise a Boeing MD80 burns 6800 lbs of fuel/hr. No emmisions. Whats wrong with that picture?

[Mike Canter]

After 20 years working as an engineer for the largest aerospace company I can say that I don't think that is a correct statement on those MD-80 engines. All aircraft engines are better than they used to be and we have figured out how to stop that black smoke from coming out of them while at full power but they still pollute.

[a k]

My Cummings never smoked but the new ones have to have the new exhaust.

[a k]

In just one year (2000) the total of all the international airlines used 19 BILLON gallons of jet fuel.

[Gadget Man]

I think we've gone a bit

[a k]

I believe your right.

[Jerry J]

Originally Posted by Craig P.

Uh oh, this could get ugly...

Or off topic!

[Mopar1973Man]

Originally Posted by a k

Next time you hear one idling, look up and realise a Boeing MD80 burns 6800 lbs of fuel/hr. No emmisions. Whats wrong with that picture?

In the same token a forest fire put out more emmissions than you care to think about... EPA, USFS, and USDA need to get together... Control burns are OK... But a diesel idling is a problem... Just a major sore spot with me...

[rough road]

I don't think this has gone off topic in the least; the observation/objection was made to a fellow rv'er letting his diesel idle for some reason-more than likely or for no reason, not very likely.

It is good for all of us to hear other 'act' which contribute to someones perception of creating air pollution-air travel is a big one, as is the use of power equipment, however the largest source continues to be gasoline powered vehicles, and the impact has increased a thousand fold since the blending of ethanol.

Diesel has, is and will continue to be the LEAST harmful fuel; this distallate uses far less engergy to refine, provides more energy per unit of gallon, get one much further per per gallon, has little if any, evaporative emissions and releases less co2 when burned compared to gasoline-these are facts and are undisputable.

[Mopar1973Man]

Originally Posted by rough road

It is good for all of us to hear other 'act' which contribute to someones perception of creating air pollution-air travel is a big one, as is the use of power equipment, however the largest source continues to be gasoline powered vehicles, and the impact has increased a thousand fold since the blending of ethanol.

Diesel has, is and will continue to be the LEAST harmful fuel; this distallate uses far less engergy to refine, provides more energy per unit of gallon, get one much further per per gallon, has little if any, evaporative emissions and releases less co2 when burned compared to gasoline-these are facts and are undisputable.

To add to that they just found out that BioFuels produces 400% more emissions that standard petroluem fuels...

Biofuels emit 400 percent more CO2 than regular fuels

[Hudsoner]

Originally Posted by rough road

Diesel has, is and will continue to be the LEAST harmful fuel; this distallate uses far less engergy to refine, provides more energy per unit of gallon, get one much further per per gallon, has little if any, evaporative emissions and releases less co2 when burned compared to gasoline-these are facts and are undisputable.

You are only partially correct. Diesel burns rather dirty and incomplete and emits rather high amounts of fine particles that are aggressive carcinogens.
Daimler Benz, the world largest manufacturer of trucks and diesel engines for motor vehicles, also recommends to turn diesel engines off, and not let them idle for a longer period of time (by the way, Freightliner, the largest US truck manufacturer, is a subsidiary of Daimler Benz).

I made my living as one of the health persons of the environmental safety and health group of one of the largest manufacturing companies in the US. We would not allow any truck to idle for more than a few minutes when they were on company property. This was due to the emission testing we had conducted and found rather large amounts of fine particle emissions were coming out of the exhaust pipes of idling diesel trucks.

[wirelessenab]

Originally Posted by rough road

....
I witnessed power left idling for months at a time-MONTHS, massive 16 cyl engines with pistons the size of 55 gallon drums swilling fuel day in and day out-sop and no one could tell me why.

Makes for a nice metaphor but common large locomotive engines like the V16 EMD 16-710, 4300 hp, had a bore of 9.02", stroke of 11", and the GE 12 EVO is 9.84" bore, stroke of 12.59".

They might have idled for months but the pistons were not the size of 55 gal drums which are about 22.5" in diameter and about 33.5" tall.

[a k]

Well, you answered the size of the pistons but can you tell us why the never shut them off?

[wirelessenab]

Originally Posted by a k

Well, you answered the size of the pistons but can you tell us why the never shut them off?

Because they are 185 liter engines vs our RV's 6-14 liter engines. It takes a lot of battery or compressed air power to spin one of them over when the oil is cold. For the yard crews it was easier to leave them running.