Fuel Consumption

[ctgoldwing]

Yesterday I had my L3400 trucked to a small commercial building I own about 12 miles from here.

Although I have a commercial service do the snow plowing for me the building is in an urban setting and the parking lot 'shrinks' as the plow could only push the snow so high, so far from the retaining walls. The effective # of parking spots was cut in half and my tenants, although understanding, weren't real happy. The only alternative I have had in the past was bringing in a payloader & trucking the snow out. Now I have the fel and 5' Normand blower.

So not knowing what to expect for fuel economy running the blower for extended time I filled the tractor and brought 10 extra gallons with me. Well I worked for 2-1/2 hours straight cleaning up. The blower was used mostly to move the snow over the 3' retaining wall or onto an adjoining hill. I ended up using less than 3 gallons of fuel. It sure seemed like a small amount to me.

Is this typical fuel use?

 

[johnrex62]

No idea on the snow thrower aspect. My L3700SU tends to use under a gallon per hour brush hogging with a 5 foot shredder.

 

[RadarTech]

Yesterday I had my L3400 trucked to a small commercial building I own about 12 miles from here.

Although I have a commercial service do the snow plowing for me the building is in an urban setting and the parking lot 'shrinks' as the plow could only push the snow so high, so far from the retaining walls. The effective # of parking spots was cut in half and my tenants, although understanding, weren't real happy. The only alternative I have had in the past was bringing in a payloader & trucking the snow out. Now I have the fel and 5' Normand blower.

So not knowing what to expect for fuel economy running the blower for extended time I filled the tractor and brought 10 extra gallons with me. Well I worked for 2-1/2 hours straight cleaning up. The blower was used mostly to move the snow over the 3' retaining wall or onto an adjoining hill. I ended up using less than 3 gallons of fuel. It sure seemed like a small amount to me.

Is this typical fuel use?

I would say yes...
If I run mine hard for 6 hours doing loader work moving dirt it uses about 7 gallons.

Add in pto at load, then I would say that is right...

 

[George2615]

My tractor is 26HP. Over the years I found that on average it also uses a little less than 1 GPH. The 8 gallon tank is good for a days work.

 

[k0ua]

Sounds about right, loader work, less than a gallon/hr. mowing at 540 PTO, maybe a bit more. Even at the price of diesel, you get a lot of work out of one of these CUTS for a small amount of money spent in fuel.
James K0UA

 

[JJT]

I find snow blowing and brush hogging to be about the same in fuel consumption/hr, right about 1g/hr for my L3710. I'm running a 6' brush hog and a 6.5' rear mounted blower.

 

[crazyal]

I figure I burn a little over a gallon an hour with my 4240 while blowing snow. I'm almost never at full PTO speed , not sure if I would burn more if I was but I would guess that Kubota sets the size of the tank to give you 8 hours of work out of your tractor.

 

[flyingcow]

i do aprox a gallon an hour(or a little less) bush hogging(7ft) or snowblowing(7 1/2ft).

 

[Chilly807]

Sounds about right to me, it'll vary depending on the weight of the snow.

Sean

 

[RadarTech]

Sounds about right to me, it'll vary depending on the weight of the snow.

Sean

And how you hold your mouth can affect it too... at least that is what dad always said about alot of things!

 

[flyingcow]

FUNNY!

 

[JDGreenGrass]

I am amazed at how little the JD770 uses. Gear tractor.

I am guessing a gallon every 2 hours.....no bull.

 

[dex3361]

I have a new L3540HSTC (apx. 20 hours now) and use a 6' blower. On our last storm I would have averaged about 1 1/2 US gallons (converted our litres to US gallon) an hour. That may improve once it gets a few more hours but would be quite happy if it stayed that way.

Your fuel usage will get a little better after break in. But as a whole your fuel consumption will depend on your HP demand on your tractor. Each job will vary a bit. Most diesel engines will use aprox 0.075 Gal. per HP per hour. If operating in the 25-100% load range. :thumbsup:

 

[Jay4200]

So not knowing what to expect for fuel economy running the blower for extended time I filled the tractor and brought 10 extra gallons with me. Well I worked for 2-1/2 hours straight cleaning up. The blower was used mostly to move the snow over the 3' retaining wall or onto an adjoining hill. I ended up using less than 3 gallons of fuel. It sure seemed like a small amount to me.

Is this typical fuel use?

Yes. Actually that is high use for the time, but appropriate for running a HP hog like a blower. I've run my blower twice so far for a couple of hours each time on the same tank of fuel (800' drive and ~5000 sq.ft of parking) and my gauge shows 1/2 tank, or about 5 gallons of fuel used.

When I am running low HP applications, such as running my backhoe - engine just blasting along at 90% PTO speed - I'll easily run 12 hours or more on that same amount of fuel.

JayC

 

[SPYDERLK]

Your fuel usage will get a little better after break in. But as a whole your fuel consumption will depend on your HP demand on your tractor. Each job will vary a bit. Most diesel engines will use aprox 0.075 Gal. per HP per hour. If operating in the 25-100% load range. :thumbsup:

That fits perfectly with my experience throwing snow with a BX1500 at 100% load. 15HP and its definitely using a little more than 1GPH.
larry

 

[dex3361]

That fits perfectly with my experience throwing snow with a BX1500 at 100% load. 15HP and its definitely using a little more than 1GPH.
larry

I have completed some energy surveys on diesels as large as 1000HP and the rule of thumb is not far off from this it is usually between 0.075-0.085 gal per HP per hour if operating between 25% to 100% HP range.

 

[sunnyside360]

Just a couple more data points.
My JD 3720 uses about 0.62 gph running a front mounted 5' snow blower and uses about 0.6 gph running a 72" mid mount mower.
My JD 4320 uses about 0.7 gph running a 6' rotary cutter and pushing snow with a plow.
My Kubota 8200 uses about 1.2 gph running an 8' bush hog with A/C on.

 

[Soundguy]

sounds ok.. I don't know the specifics of kubota numbering systems, but can I assume that machine is in the 30ish hp range?

since fuel usage is tied to load, and hp used/needed.. here's something to thik about.

my 70hp diesel pulling a 10' mower will burn about 5g in 3 hours.. my 95 hp diesel pulling a 15' mower will burn about 5 gallons in 2 hours.. ( both mowing the same sized pasture )..

considering your available hp and possible laod.. I don't see your numbers as being out of the norm..

soundguy

Yesterday I had my L3400 trucked to a small commercial building I own about 12 miles from here.

Although I have a commercial service do the snow plowing for me the building is in an urban setting and the parking lot 'shrinks' as the plow could only push the snow so high, so far from the retaining walls. The effective # of parking spots was cut in half and my tenants, although understanding, weren't real happy. The only alternative I have had in the past was bringing in a payloader & trucking the snow out. Now I have the fel and 5' Normand blower.

So not knowing what to expect for fuel economy running the blower for extended time I filled the tractor and brought 10 extra gallons with me. Well I worked for 2-1/2 hours straight cleaning up. The blower was used mostly to move the snow over the 3' retaining wall or onto an adjoining hill. I ended up using less than 3 gallons of fuel. It sure seemed like a small amount to me.

Is this typical fuel use?

 

[devildog1]

My Kubota B3200 uses just less then a gal per hour when I'm out cleaning the large amounts of snow we have been getting. And it has been real cold which i believe causes the tractor to burn more fuel?
DevilDog

 

[flyingcow]

Fuel consumption will vary. bushhogging..my field conditions aren't yours.
snowblowing....my snow isn't yours
RPM's.....my throttle "use" isn't yours.

the last point...the most important one. IMO:thumbsup: