Anybody know of some unique / innovative ways to cut down on fuel costs? Hey everybody, I am just wondering if anyone has ever used any products, or tried any methods that worked before. I can't think of anything more than keeping it on the trailer as long as possible for minimal distance coverage. :Banghead
The best money saver is to keep it from getting stolen.
That is definitely true. I think I heard somewhere that Bobcat, or Caterpillar (one of the two) has a new addition/option where the machine can come with GPS hidden in a few places so if somebody does steal it, you can easily track it down! I thought that was a pretty nifty idea. Considering how many other things that you can buy to try and prevent it being stolen, the robbers will probably always find a way around it. However, if you buy a $200 gps tracker you can watch it's location on the computer all day. If you install it yourself, they would have to look through the whole machine and tear the whole thing apart to get rid of the gps, BEFORE they even go anywhere with it. Heck, you can even see if your workers are just sitting there for too long if that is your style. How often do people actually steal equipment? I see on equipmenttraderonline.com that they have beware of fraud posted practically everywhere!
I was referring to keeping your fuel from getting stolen. But, yeah it's a real money saver if you can find your machine where you parked it.
Quality lubricants can help. I have some studies about power savings on shovels and draglines, but this is measured by how much electricity is saved. I've been part of some studies with fuel consumption regarding on road vehicles......between 1-2% for a premium synthetic (PAO not hydrocracked III's) on the motor oils, 3-5% when you change out the diffs and transmission. I've never seen a study with fuel consumption on tracked equipment. The variations would make it hard to do a reliable test especially on an excavator. Ill look around and see if I can come up with anything.
Not a fuel saver but a money saver. I turned 65 this month and I am now sales tax exempt here which relates to about $.22 a gal on fuel. I also have a DEC permit to collect waste oil and transport it for disposal. I collect JP-4 from around the airport. (sampled fuel before flights) and charge $1.00 for disposal. JP-4 is good enough to use as heating fuel just not as much BTU as #2. So I get paid $1.00 to heat my shop. I also recover fuel from equipment and cars going to the crusher which gets filtered and supplements what I burn in my equipment. Everything helps.
maybe a hybird excavator or machine if you can get one the komatsu hybrid excavators but if you are running a skid steer or something like that not really too sure what about a hydraulic oil recycler ? any one use one of these before ?