Cape Dorset (Dec 18/06) - It sounds too good to be true, but Claude Constantineau swears he isn't selling snake oil, magic beans, or the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Cape Dorset businessman has a device that, once dropped into your gas tank, can make your engine run cleaner and save you fuel at the same time, according to Constantineau. Called the Fitch, this product is simply dropped in the tank and savings are supposed to follow.

"It finds the loose chains in the molecules in the fuel, and puts them back together," said Constantineau.

He said the product has achieved better results in northern vehicles than his Fitch-selling counterparts in southern Canada.

"Up here, we get older fuel. That smell, when you open an old fuel container, that is the chains breaking down. Over time, there is less energy in the fuel," explained Constantineau.

Although he does have a relentless sales pitch for his product, he said the Cape Dorset water truck is getting a 10 per cent improvement on fuel consumption, Iqaluit's Bylaw department is seeing a 25 per cent savings - a figure that bylaw officer Robert Kavanaugh confirmed - and the Department of Public Works in Rankin Inlet is saving 33 per cent on fuel.

"Whatever it is doing to the fuel, it is doing it well. My snowmachine went from 100 kilometres a tank to 160," Constantineau said.

He sells a two-pack of Fitches for $10 and wants to attract the government as a client He estimated that his product has already been used in 150 vehicles in Cape Dorset.

"The manufacturer contacted all the dealers in Canada, asking for the results. We had the best," said Constantineau. "They (the government) say they want to fund a pilot that will save energy, and this fits right in."