Fuel Consumption

[Reuben]

How much fuel per hour or 8 hr day would a ~350 size excavator , d6 dozer, (A35) truck burn?

 

[ror76a]

In my experience - Rented a D6R LGP to fill clay over a hyd dredge spoils site, long story short, I think I had those wide tracks pulling through the mud pushing a blade full of heavy clay working about as hard as you can work a D6, and I could only get it to burn about 10 gal/hr (I suspect in normal conditions, with narrow tracks it would be a gal or two less). I wasn't purposely trying to see how much fuel I could burn, just worked out that way ointhead. I have been told that 345Cs burn 7gal/hr on average, and a friend of mine that runs A25Cs claims they burn about 45-50 gal in a 8-10 hr day. Hope some of that helps.

 

[Hitachi350Man]

It all depends on the excavator.

A cat 330 will use between 10 and 14 gallons per hour.

And an Hitachi 350 or Komatsu 300 will use between 5 and 8 gallons per hour.

 

[camara]

My PC400-LC3 uses about 50 gallons per 8 hour day semi hard digging.

 

[Reuben]

Thanks a million guys.I am figuring a bid and I needed to know fuel consumption.Now I just have to try and gamble on how much fuel is going to go up. On road is up to $3.85 here.

 

[camara]

It won't be too long before it is $4/gallon. Bid appropriately! You might have to cut it close to the bone but don't cut too close or you will bleed green! If it is too close you might be better off parking your stuff before losing money!

 

[dayexco]

My PC400-LC3 uses about 50 gallons per 8 hour day semi hard digging.

that's VERY economical! touch over 6 gals per her. my 690 deere, 210 hyundai, and 210 case all burn between 6-7 gals

 

[Dirtman2007]

that's VERY economical! touch over 6 gals per her. my 690 deere, 210 hyundai, and 210 case all burn between 6-7 gals

That seems just an little high

Steady digging with the volvo 210 used about 5 gals max. the daewoo
220's are even better at 4-5 gals an hour. you can get 12-14 hrs out of a tank.

 

[dayexco]

all 3 machines have approx 80 gal tanks...in 12 hrs., you'd best be looking for fuel

 

[drag1line]

Yes, I think I would figure one tank of fuel per machine per 12 hour day is safe. If you are really able to push them consider one tank per 8 hours.

Fuel consumption CANNOT be stated as a given as a general stated burn rate...I do not care what your salesman tells you about XYZ machine!!! While there are slight differences in the rated fuel burn per HP/ hour as rated by the engine manufacturer, it all comes to Load factor on the engine. For example. If you were to install a fuel flow meter on X engine on X excavator, truck, whatever..and STALL the Hydraulics or torque converter at max HP setting on any job selector switch, that is 100% load factor. Note, do not do this for more than a few minutes or a HUGE amount of heat will build up.
Now put the machine to work in whatever job you want and remeasure the fuel flow again. The difference between full load factor fuel flow and working fuel flow is the load factor. A good operator can run an excavator at around 80% load factor..BUT that means it cannot be waiting for trucks or setting pipe, which reduces the load factor and so fuel consumption. Operators alone can change production and fuel consumption in the same machine by up to 15%.
If you have enough trucks to keep the excavator CONSTANTLY running, you might hit 70-75% load factor. Spoil piling, as in cross country, could hit 80-85%. Waiting on trucks could lower the load factor down to 50-60% and the same with fuel comsumption.
Efficiency is how many cubic yard per gallon of fuel used. Bucket size now comes into play, as it might speed up the loading, depending upon material and digging conditions, but it will increase fuel consumption as the load factor rises to lift the heavy bucket.
Hope this helps.
I will now get off my soap box.

 

[Reuben]

Yes, I think I would figure one tank of fuel per machine per 12 hour day is safe. If you are really able to push them consider one tank per 8 hours.

Fuel consumption CANNOT be stated as a given as a general stated burn rate...I do not care what your salesman tells you about XYZ machine!!! While there are slight differences in the rated fuel burn per HP/ hour as rated by the engine manufacturer, it all comes to Load factor on the engine. For example. If you were to install a fuel flow meter on X engine on X excavator, truck, whatever..and STALL the Hydraulics or torque converter at max HP setting on any job selector switch, that is 100% load factor. Note, do not do this for more than a few minutes or a HUGE amount of heat will build up.
Now put the machine to work in whatever job you want and remeasure the fuel flow again. The difference between full load factor fuel flow and working fuel flow is the load factor. A good operator can run an excavator at around 80% load factor..BUT that means it cannot be waiting for trucks or setting pipe, which reduces the load factor and so fuel consumption. Operators alone can change production and fuel consumption in the same machine by up to 15%.
If you have enough trucks to keep the excavator CONSTANTLY running, you might hit 70-75% load factor. Spoil piling, as in cross country, could hit 80-85%. Waiting on trucks could lower the load factor down to 50-60% and the same with fuel comsumption.
Efficiency is how many cubic yard per gallon of fuel used. Bucket size now comes into play, as it might speed up the loading, depending upon material and digging conditions, but it will increase fuel consumption as the load factor rises to lift the heavy bucket.
Hope this helps.
I will now get off my soap box.

We were just talking about that today in the office. we need to figure cubic yards per gallon. We set up our excell bid sheet to figure our bids that way.

 

[IowaCat08]

Our 345C averages 13 gals. per hour

 

[Hitachi350Man]

Wow a KOMATSU PC400-LC averages about 6 gallons an hour.

 

[d6peg]

This is a thread that I started about the D6R fuel consumption. Check it out
https://www.heavyequipmentforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=4996

 

[drag1line]

Wow a KOMATSU PC400-LC averages about 6 gallons an hour.

See above discussion on load factor. A 300 HP machine cannot and will not burn 6 gallons and hour have actually be digging productively.

 

[Northart]

Fuel Consumption ?

In my experience, most contractors have the fuelers and oilers log in, each machine, fuel and oil useage, for a job site, history.

This way, it's accurate. No second guess's ! Actual for the job conditions, machine age, and operator experience !

Most machines are built to run on AVERAGE 10 hrs on a tank of fuel. I emphasize average statistics . Heavy fuel hogs need refueling at midpoint in shift.

Operator experience, machine condition, job site conditions, all affect fuel consumption rate.

The way current fuel prices are , you better put a fuel escalator clause in it, or buy a fuel contract for future delivery, at a fixed price .

 

[JDOFMEMI]

As I run the same equipment you asked about, I'll add to this

Cat 350 loading trucks averages 10 gal/hr
D-6R Dozer average 6 gal/hr
Volvo A-35C average 4.5 gal/hr

This is in my conditions, not heavy mud. There is no substitute for actual experience in the area you will be digging.

 

[Hitachi350Man]

dragline1 if you look even further up you'll see camaras pc400 uses 50 gallons in an 8 hour day of semi hard digging.
And your right though it would be more than that if it was production digging, but I was just illustrating the point of how bad Cats
are on fuel.

 

[ror76a]

I have been told that 345Cs burn 7gal/hr on average,

Typo - I ment to put 10 gal/hr for a 345C.

dragline1 if you look even further up you'll see camaras pc400 uses 50 gallons in an 8 hour day of semi hard digging.
And your right though it would be more than that if it was production digging, but I was just illustrating the point of how bad Cats
are on fuel.

I don't believe that a 20+ year old PC400 (-3 series he said) only burns 6 gal/hour, well maybe if it was idling all day...
I know that the Cats are usually not the best on fuel, but that seems hard to believe.

And I aggre with dragline on the load factor have just about everything to do with fuel consumption, thats kind of what I was saying with my D6 in the mud pit example (burning 10 gal/hr when the same machine in good conditons burn 6-7).

 

[Hitachi350Man]

Regardless, compared to a Komatsu or Hitachi, Cats are bad on fuel.