The Siren Board

I find it odd that they'd even bother to run a siren on gasoline. I can see that it might have been cheaper in the 50s, 60s and 70s but Gas prices have skyrocketed from this BP mess and Propane is more of the same. I'd just stick with 240 volts of sheer 3 phase electricity. I have had my encounters, with 120 volts, not 240... yet.
But Running a siren such as the Thunderbolt, Let alone the Mobil Directo on Gas would be unbelivably expensive in these times of economy. I can see where they got the idea of running a siren on Gas, since electricity was "Dangerous" back then. But hey, If it was a good alternative to electricity, I can see that it may be cheaper, but I also see gas as more of a "Fire Hazard" than electricity.

MKIIProductions wrote:I find it odd that they'd even bother to run a siren on gasoline. I can see that it might have been cheaper in the 50s, 60s and 70s but Gas prices have skyrocketed from this BP mess and Propane is more of the same. I'd just stick with 240 volts of sheer 3 phase electricity. I have had my encounters, with 120 volts, not 240... yet.
But Running a siren such as the Thunderbolt, Let alone the Mobil Directo on Gas would be unbelivably expensive in these times of economy. I can see where they got the idea of running a siren on Gas, since electricity was "Dangerous" back then. But hey, If it was a good alternative to electricity, I can see that it may be cheaper, but I also see gas as more of a "Fire Hazard" than electricity.

I don't think it has anything to do with the efficiency, cost, or danger to run the siren, but the availability of power. Not everywhere that needs a siren has the resources to power it, that is were gas or propane can come in. Takes a whole lot of juice to power up some of this stuff.

When the power goes out, an all gas siren (though from the sounds of it, the the previous reason seems to be more likely with the thunderbolt) will still roar. Think of it like an old school DC siren.

MKIIProductions wrote:I find it odd that they'd even bother to run a siren on gasoline. I can see that it might have been cheaper in the 50s, 60s and 70s but Gas prices have skyrocketed from this BP mess and Propane is more of the same. I'd just stick with 240 volts of sheer 3 phase electricity. I have had my encounters, with 120 volts, not 240... yet.
But Running a siren such as the Thunderbolt, Let alone the Mobil Directo on Gas would be unbelivably expensive in these times of economy. I can see where they got the idea of running a siren on Gas, since electricity was "Dangerous" back then. But hey, If it was a good alternative to electricity, I can see that it may be cheaper, but I also see gas as more of a "Fire Hazard" than electricity.

Please don't take this the wrong way (not trying to be mean or anything) but none of that makes any sense. It would take only a few cents of gasoline to run the siren for a full cycle. And electricity being "dangerous" had absolutely nothing to do with it (that's back from the 1800's, not the 50's). It was simply an option for locations which couldn't supply a large electrical load (think plugging in an entire thunderbolt into a wall socket). And a fire hazard is pretty much nill. With that being said however, a 3-phase thunderbolt is definitely your best bet.

JasonC wrote:

MKIIProductions wrote:I find it odd that they'd even bother to run a siren on gasoline. I can see that it might have been cheaper in the 50s, 60s and 70s but Gas prices have skyrocketed from this BP mess and Propane is more of the same. I'd just stick with 240 volts of sheer 3 phase electricity. I have had my encounters, with 120 volts, not 240... yet.
But Running a siren such as the Thunderbolt, Let alone the Mobil Directo on Gas would be unbelivably expensive in these times of economy. I can see where they got the idea of running a siren on Gas, since electricity was "Dangerous" back then. But hey, If it was a good alternative to electricity, I can see that it may be cheaper, but I also see gas as more of a "Fire Hazard" than electricity.

Please don't take this the wrong way (not trying to be mean or anything) but none of that makes any sense. It would take only a few cents of gasoline to run the siren for a full cycle. And electricity being "dangerous" had absolutely nothing to do with it (that's back from the 1800's, not the 50's). It was simply an option for locations which couldn't supply a large electrical load (think plugging in an entire thunderbolt into a wall socket). And a fire hazard is pretty much nill. With that being said however, a 3-phase thunderbolt is definitely your best bet.

I can see where you come from with that, And i have no problem with what you're saying. But from what I've heard Gas Powered sirens didn't do too well in the market, and in these times of economy it would cost a bit more to run the sirens on gas, given everyone's financial situations here, Especially the county's situations.

Mac wrote:

MKIIProductions wrote:I find it odd that they'd even bother to run a siren on gasoline. I can see that it might have been cheaper in the 50s, 60s and 70s but Gas prices have skyrocketed from this BP mess and Propane is more of the same. I'd just stick with 240 volts of sheer 3 phase electricity. I have had my encounters, with 120 volts, not 240... yet.
But Running a siren such as the Thunderbolt, Let alone the Mobil Directo on Gas would be unbelivably expensive in these times of economy. I can see where they got the idea of running a siren on Gas, since electricity was "Dangerous" back then. But hey, If it was a good alternative to electricity, I can see that it may be cheaper, but I also see gas as more of a "Fire Hazard" than electricity.

I don't think it has anything to do with the efficiency, cost, or danger to run the siren, but the availability of power. Not everywhere that needs a siren has the resources to power it, that is were gas or propane can come in. Takes a whole lot of juice to power up some of this stuff.

When the power goes out, an all gas siren (though from the sounds of it, the the previous reason seems to be more likely with the thunderbolt) will still roar. Think of it like an old school DC siren.

Yes, that's where a gas powered system comes into play- A power outage. (Completely forgot to cover that in my post, oops.) I can see that's where the system would be more Reliable and accurate. Then there's the challenge of sirens sounding in the unthreatened area.

Given how much operation a siren sees, my hot-rodded snowblower probably uses more gas, and if I can't afford that, well I guess I'm screwed given how much snow we've had here!
No offense, but our FSAE engine on the dyno here at school (KTM 525 turbo) costs WAY more to run than even a Wisconsin V4, and fuel costs are a non-issue.

No offense, but our FSAE engine on the dyno here at school (KTM 525 turbo) costs WAY more to run than even a Wisconsin V4, and fuel costs are a non-issue.

You on the team? I was on our school's team in '98.

MKIIPRoductions wrote:Yes, that's where a gas powered system comes into play- A power outage. (Completely forgot to cover that in my post, oops.) I can see that's where the system would be more Reliable and accurate. Then there's the challenge of sirens sounding in the unthreatened area.

the problem is what with as infrequently as a siren gets used, you have to worry about the gas going stale. if you have service, an engine running on natural gas might be more preferable. no fuel age issues and AFAIK it'd start more reliably in various weather types.

Gas engines and their controllers have many more points of failure versus an electric motor counterpart. Gas engines are only used when an electric connection isn't feasible.

And running a siren every day would only cost a few bucks a year so gas prices aren't an issue whatsoever, just mere simplicity.

I last saw the San Dimas Thunderbolt 2000 in October of 2009. I didn't have my good camera with me at the time (only my phone) though but I did open up the blower cover again to take a look.

It had an "A" type blower with the large diameter spoked pulley and a 2 cylinder horizontal engine that appeared to be an Onan where you'd normally find the electric motor. I didn't see anything at all that resembled a generator but there was a mysterious looking box with wires coming out mounted over the blower. The box had a single toggle switch on it that could be accessed through a sliding cover on the side of the blower box.

The engine did not appear to be converted to propane or natural gas from what I could see though, it still had the original fuel tank and carburetor. There was some brownish-orange stuff (really stale gas I suppose) in the very bottom of the glass bowl fuel filter under the tank.

I only have 2 good pictures I took that day.

Some older pictures










(There is a toggle switch accessible under the sliding orange cover)