Bob's Track Friends Chat

[OldAIMGuy]

Thanks Bob, Re: Mothballing your car.............

I didn't think to look at Google for such references. The links were pretty good, I thought!

In a former life I was a combustion products sales engineer. Most of the products I fiddled with were fueled by natural gas, but there were others fueled by napthalene, "city gas" (mostly carbon monoxide from coke ovens), propane, hydrogen, and various fuel oils.

I went back to my combustion hand book for the references to napthalene's characteristics. It didn't occur to me that there were any moth balls that weren't napthalene, but then again, I don't wear woolen underwear!

The idea of adding napthalene to diesel is interesting. I'd experiment in a clear jar first, to see if it will dissolve in diesel fuel. Diesel is already a composite of very much heavier hydrocarbons than gasoline. The disbursal rate might be quite a bit less in the heavier fuel.

Also, remember that napthalene is a "solid" at room temp, so it's going to probably increase the overall fuel viscosity at any particular temp. and that might not be good heading into winter.

Finally, I'm not sure there's a cost benefit to either gasoline or diesel with moth balls. I can't remember what they cost, but adding them would only increase the overall cost of a tank of fuel. If there's a compelling reason to use napthalene in either gas or diesel, it would be a change in apparent octane, not a cost benefit. The diesel engine really doesn't need an octane increase and most modern gasoline engines wouldn't know what to do with it.

The best use of moth balls with automobiles might be winter storage. Critters don't like the smell of mothballs so putting a bag or box of moth balls in the interior might keep them from nesting in a stored car. I've had experience in the distant past of having mice eat the insulation off wires while nesting in the dash of one of my ancient English cars. Obviously they were Lucas mice!

I put a hand full of moth balls in my window wells around the house in the late Fall. It's helped to keep the field mice away when they're looking for a warm place for the winter.

Once, in a house I lived in as a bachelor, we had a problem with a momma skunk and her kits taking up residence under one of our porches. The whole house wreaked of skunk all the time. We thought we could scare them off with fire crackers - BAD IDEA!!!!! Guess what skunks do when they're scared!!!! So, after living with the windows open in the house through much of that season, I asked the county game warden what he might suggest. Guess what? Moth Balls!!!! He told us to toss big handfulls of them in anywhere we could under the porches. If we think skunks stink, apparently skunks think moth balls do, too!

It's hard to tell exactly, but they were most definitely gone after two days. They might have left earlier, but the stink didn't start to dissapate for a couple of days. Phew!!!!!!

Best regards, Tom