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total BS?

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ivymike

ivymike

Mechanical
Nov 9, 2000
5,653
this sounds like total BS to me, but they're trying to sell it to a friend of mine so I thought I'd ask for some additional input - see the "enercat" tool on this website
 
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The reads like those adverts years ago about this plate/spacer that you installed between your car's carburetor and the intake manifold to increase power and gas mileage. It had a couple of little spinning propellers that was supposed to help "ionize" the air and gas mixture. My dad bought one and he swore by it. I never did.

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
 
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Difficult to say.

There seems to be a fairly impressive list of clients he's managed to fool if indeed it is BS. I suppose trying to get a discussion with someone whose tried it before is the next step.

Ultimately what's the downside versus potential upside to stop someon trying one out in a suitable well and see what happens.

Not everything is explainable scientifically, but still works as shown by performance testing.


Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.
 
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? Artisi,

I'm not an oil guy or chemist but seems their claimed technology (they have a hypothesis and everything) only applies to crude or at least heavy distallates etc. not typical refined car fuel.



Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
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Reminds me of the "Moleculator" that was supposed to improve diesel engine power and efficiency back during the second oil crises. It as just a piece of aluminum with pretty engine turning. You were supposed to put in the fuel supply line and tap it with a brass hammer. Then it would "align" the fuel molecules, allegedly improving combustion efficiency. One of the big trucking fleets pressured us into testing it saying they would never buy another of our trucks if we didn't. So we dyno tested it in our lab and of course it did exactly nothing. The next month the con men had the nerve to add a line to their magazine ads "AS TESTED BY ____ TRUCKS"! The poor engineer that got assigned the task of testing got ribbed about it for years.

----------------------------------------

The Help for this program was created in Windows Help format, which depends on a feature that isn't included in this version of Windows.
 
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This is a downhole tool for oil wells. I looked at some detailed tech data earlier this year as was not convinced. Phrases like "Is a composite of quartz, semi-precious metals and rare-earth elements fused with aluminum" raise my hackles since aluminium lasts for minutes in a sour environment. We never run anything with aluminum or copper downhole.

Then I did a semantic analysis on
The ENERCAT tools work by utilizing physics to drive chemistry through the transmission of acoustic waves via lattice oscillations (vibrations) of the solid composite material to the crude oil.
Click to expand...
and came up with a null value. It actually uses a lot of sciencey words to say absolutely nothing. I advised my client that if he just HAD to run it he should get the manufacturer to post a bond equal to the cost of a fishing job when this thing came apart and dropped the bottom of the tubing into the well.

I don't know if it works or not, but I've found that anyone who uses phrases like the "...physics to drive chemistry ..." nonsense above has something to hide. I just don't want him hiding it in me.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist
 
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lol @ hiding it...

My initial response was "It sounds like total BS to me. The parts about "transmission of acoustic waves via lattice oscillations (vibrations) of the ENERCAT’s solid alloy composite material, which is enhanced by reservoir heat and pressure" and "the amplitude of the reservoir fluids oscillations at preferred frequencies providing the energy necessary to increase paraffin solubility enough to withstand the uphole decreases in temperature and pressure" sound like psuedo-scientific mumbo-jumbo to me. "

I asked why there were no testmonials from the USA, my friend replied "They explain that as follows - US oil and gas have to have a scientific explanation and high dollar marketing showing trade secrets and how things work before they will test it. Science and science equipment is just beginning to get to the level to understand and show how this tool works. The alloy is mixed in CA and formed to the sleeve there. Then it is sent to Canada for the magic charging that activates the alloy. "
 
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"They explain that as follows - US oil and gas have to have a scientific explanation and high dollar marketing showing trade secrets and how things work before they will test it. "

That's already pegged the BS meter. ANY data they could show that it makes an improvement would be grounds to do further testing even without any detailed explanation.

After all the reading and the posts, I still don't know what it's supposed to do.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert! faq731-376 forum1529
 
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It is supposed to cause paraffin to stay liquid at temperatures where thermodynamics would predict it turning to a solid. It is so easy to fool Mother Nature, that these guys do it with a lump of material encased in Aluminium.

[bold]David Simpson, PE[/bold]
MuleShoe Engineering

In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual. Galileo Galilei, Italian Physicist
 
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Glad I have support here.. thanks for the help guys!

..and thanks for making your replies so awesome David!
 
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I'd have paid more attention on the lattice vibrations if they had a power source to excite them to resonance or some such, or even claims about how the form of the tube did it from the motion of the fluid through it but throwing in fluff about catalysts doing it stretches my belief beyond the BS level.

Posting guidelines faq731-376 (probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​
 
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I find it very interesting that their technology is referred to as a hypothesis!

hy·poth·e·sis
hīˈpäTHəsəs/
noun
noun: hypothesis; plural noun: hypotheses
A supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation.
Click to expand...

Gotta say though, it's somewhat honest in a technical way...

That may help explain why their testimonials all come from people for whom English is a second language. They don't really understand that a hypothesis really is just a best guess.
OK, sorry, one from Canada and one from new Zealand... maybe not.


"You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you had to overcome to reach your goals" -- Booker T. Washington
 
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Well, the Canadian one could still be a situation where English was a second language. Now for the New Zealand testimonial...

John R. Baker, P.E. (ret)
EX-Product 'Evangelist'
Irvine, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

The secret of life is not finding someone to live with
It's finding someone you can't live without
 
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Have you ever washed your automobile and felt the seat of the pants performance improvement?

Just another gadget made by a deluded inventor.
 
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Have to disagree with the statement "Not everything is explainable scientifically, but still works as shown by performance testing."


In looking through the Relevant site, I noticed they also have a water treatment gadget:


Supposedly works:

"Aragonite is chemically identical to calcite but does not deposit on surfaces in the same way, meaning that it does not deposit inside your pipes."

Calcium carbonate forms as both Aragonite and Calcite, and these two minerals only differ in their crystallization. Calcite, the more common mineral, forms in trigonal crystals, whereas Aragonite forms orthorhombic crystals.

Other gadget makers have used the same nonsense (Aragonite) to sell this BS:



Rating: Totally B.S.

Others have tried to sell this dubious stuff to the oil producers as well:

 
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Not so fast. The "thread" that you are referring to was paid for and managed by user H20Girl (Industrial).

The "thread" was deleted some time in the past, probably when H20Girl (Industrial) stopped paying for the Alternative Water Technology forum.

H20Girl (Industrial) has not been around for some time either.

 
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