A question of horse power

Hawkflyer · Jul 18, 2002

Same idea only slower./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Anonymous Poster · Jul 18, 2002

Hawkflyer is correct its much slower and also controlled, I don't know how you determine when it becomes a explosion off hand but I would guess that it has to do with how violent the expansion/reaction is? Engine theory text books do not use the word explode in the description of the combustion process. I still remember the GM training I had many many years ago on engine theory, the first day they set you straight on this topic. John

dgood1 · Jul 18, 2002

Ok! I'll agree that explosion was probably the wrong term to use and I have no idea of what the threshold is for the difference between explosion and combustion. I'll have to remember that gasoline and diesel only combust.

Don

BigDave · Jul 20, 2002

A few years ago, I asked a Kubota salesman about the usefulness of 16hp in the B7400, he told me that diesel horsepower was different than gas horsepower. I still try to hope that he was trying to refer to the increased torque that diesel engines produce for the same amount of horspower, but I doubt it. That statement still gives me a chuckle every now and then.

RoyJackson · Jul 21, 2002

"I asked a Kubota salesman about the usefulness of 16hp in the B7400, he told me that diesel horsepower was different than gas horsepower."

Actually, he was right in a way...

There's gross HP, net HP, JIS HP (Japanese standard), Din HP (German standard used throughout Europe) all of which will give you different results for the same engine.

And, of course, we also now use Kw to measure engine output.

BigDave · Jul 21, 2002

I seriously doubt it.

The 16 gross HP as Kubota states in thier catalog is the larger of net & gross HP used in the U.S. by major manufacturers. I recently downloaded a European Shibaura catalog that states power in KW, SAE HP & DIN HP. Maybe European salesmen just pick thier favorite unit of measure, or maybe some of them make-up thier own units of measure like the previously mentioned Kubota salesman.

I'm not even remotely trying to pick on Kubota, but "dummer than dirt" comes to mind when I think about this particular salesman. He could have been working anywhere, well hopefully not NASA.