shaft

FROM A FRIEND

Tricks to get your money's worth

TIPS ON PUMPING FUEL -- GOOD INFO


I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline....Here in
California we are also paying higher, up to $3.50 per gallon. But my line of work
is in petroleum for about 31 years now, so here are some tricks to get
more of your money's worth for every gallon.

Here at the Kinder Morgan Pipeline where I work in San Jose , CA we
deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline. One day
is diesel the next day is jet fuel, and gasoline, regular and premium
grades. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000
gallons.

Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the
ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have
their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense
the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the
afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the
petroleum< SPAN style="COLOR: blue"> business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline,
diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important
role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the
service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a
fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages:
low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed,
thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses
at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some
of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being
sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting
less worth for your money.

One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF
FULL or HALF EMPTY. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in
your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster
than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating
roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the
atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations,
here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so
that every gallon is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage
tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the
gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up
some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

Dinner

May have to try some of this the next time I fill up. Granted pumping slow, I'll be there for an hour, but hey, more fuel for less $ is good!

97' CTD

X2 good tips!
Brandon

dieselfuelonly

Well since our diesel fuel doesn't evaporate fast like gas does, would pumping slow really have any benefit?

wcbcruzer

That's all some great info.

Probably, but then if you forget something in your house so you leave your truck idling for a few minutes in the driveway, you'll probably lose more fuel there than you would've gained by pumping slow.

infidel

You can probably gain more than you lose to evaporation by draining the hose when your done filling.
Just do whatever it is that signals the pump you are done filling. Usually this is putting the nozzle back in it's holder. Then put the nozzle back in your tank and squeeze. Quite a bit of fuel runs out especially on the long hoses that come from above.
Even more on the large diameter big truck hoses, over a gallon.
The next guy who comes to fill will pay to fill up the hose again.
Of course this won't work if you fill up to the brim while the meter is running, it will only make a mess.

JKM

I don't know about down there , but all our pumps up here in canada say right on them that they are temperature compensated... And i don't really see an in ground tank heating up that much during the day...

infidel

When you get down to about four feet the temperature is a steady 55F year round in all but the most extreme locations on earth.

offroadcpa

This is now a forwarded email floating around the internet. I received it mid morning.

JyRO

Those are good points guys. The same point I've tried to make on other forums. I'm not sure that too many of those suggestions makes much more than a negligible difference.

I agree with Infidel about draining the hose, and I agree with wcbcruzer about idling the engine for even a minute would probably use more fuel than you gained by pumping slow.

upjeeper

and the last "suggestion" about not filling up when the tank is there, don't believe that either. there are considerable filters that clean out all the junk from the tanks so it's not a concern


i got this in a forward and my dad, wife and i bantered back and forth about it (2 mech engs and 1 chem eng had fun with the "suggestions")


---
EDIT: i just reread my post and hope i didn't sound like a jack EDIT. any suggestions are greatly appreciated with as expensive as fuel is lately, but these above have been sent around and aren't really all that valid

ytodd

I will call BS....

Snopes is on the case

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

Dinner

Are they temperature Compensated...or "Volume Corrected to 15 degrees Celsius"?

wcbcruzer

So far I've tried putting the pump back and then trying to squeeze the fuel out of the lines on two occasions. I don't know if it worked but it didn't sound like it.

millco

If anyone thinks these are valid points: let's see some formulae for figuring out what the volume difference is for a given variance in temps.... Then we need some real world data to see how much the temps vary since it is about the same temp down there most of the time.
Dan