Food for thought for gas

[unfaithfulsfan]

Got this in an email. It has some pretty good tips for getting more out of your fuel dollar.....

"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.

1) 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 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.

2) Pump at a lower speed.
All hoses at the pump have a vapor
return. 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.
If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other 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 actual fuel for your money.

3) 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 e very gallon is actually the
exact amount.

4) 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."

My dad was a WWII veteran in the Corps of Engineers and I remember him telling me they always fueled up early in the morning because of the cooler temperatures causing the fuel to contract. Had never thought about the vapor return factor, though.

Jack

[Methious]

It might make some insignificant difference to fuel in the morning, contraction should affect the equipment dispensing the gas as well as the gas, then liquids just don't condense well.

It makes sense not to fill when a tanker is dropping but not for the reason stated. The dirt/contaminants won't ever make it to the cars tank due to modern regulations on filtering. Unless their like ancient pumps which the Weights and Measures department won't even allow to operate any more it's heavily filtered and the filters monitored electronically. Recently they went to Ethanol statewide, stations switching from gas to ethanol suffered tremendously because the ethanol cleaned the sludge out of the tank.

No big rash of clogged injection ports was noticed because of modern filtering.

Filtering is however for particulate matter, if a tanker is dropping it will stir up the water in the tank which normally is below the pump line and you might get a higher percentage of water in the fuel than normal. Usually that's not going to hurt any thing but mileage might suffer.

You'd be much better off getting a loyalty card. Like Flying J. I use their card religiously and depending on the non-gas purchases you make you get a discount per gallon. My discount runs 30 cents a gallon up to a hundred gallons a month. You can get duplicate cards for you the wife and kids and all use the cards to increase the stepped discount. But each group of cards only gets the discount for a hundred gallons.

At that rate if you consume a hundred gallons you save $30 bucks or 8 free gallons, equaling out to 96 free gallons a year, and for what buying a coke every time you hit the pumps. Makes a lot of sense. (and no I'm not affiliated with Flying J I just live up the road from one).

[vicaphit]

3) 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 e very gallon is actually the
exact amount.

I don't quite understand this one. Does this mean you are going to spend less money to "Fill up your tank" because you don't have as much empty space to fill up? If that is what it means, it is dumb, because you are just wasting more gas to stop at the gas station ever couple days.

[vbironchef]

I heard that filling up in the morning makes no difference because the tanks are underground and have less temp. change because of that reason. The best ways to save gas are driving less, properly inflated tires, drive slower, take off roof rack to reduce drag. Keep windows up for the same reason.

[DMB2000uk]

I never trust advice given in chain emails.

Snopes has a good analysis of the points in the email.

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

Dan

[stev]

dumb dumb dumb !!!

"...The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening.. "

Buying gas in the afternoon and evening is the hottest time for temps during the summer. The best time to buy gas is at 5am when the entire evening has cooled down those ground tanks.

[vbironchef]

I don't think so steve. First of all, do you really want to pump gas at 5am? Most cars run fine on 87 octane. If you buy 89 or higher octane, I think you are just wasteing your money, unless your car calls for the highest octane. Give your car or truck 30 sec. to warm up before you put it in gear will help save on gas. Avoid fast starts.

[The gonz]

I have received this email MONTHS ago and since I keep EXTREMELY accurate records of my Gas usage, miles driven, MPG, etc. I tried this out.

I pumped at the minimum speed the pump would work and very early in the morning and guess what???/ NOTHING!

Not even a 2% rise in MPG. Sorry guys but the gas cap on your car is a vapor return cap that is designed to keep the fuel inside. The best way to save fuel is just accelerate gently and drive passively. I squeeze out 34 MPG in my 02 Nissan Sentra. I see it drop to 28 when I am even a little heavier with my foot.


You want to save gas? Then YOU need to change YOU.