Gasoline tips ...
Tips on Pumping gas-getting your money's worth - sent to me this morning.
Interesting.
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, re gular and
premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks he re 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 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 fil ling 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.
[:D]
Interesting.
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, re gular and
premium grades. We have 34-storage tanks he re 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 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 fil ling 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.
[:D]
0
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I believe this has been debunked several times. 0 -
quote:spanielsells;
I believe this has been debunked several times.
Not according to Snopes - they've listed it as 'Undetermined.'
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp
.... what's debunkable about it?
[:D]0 -
It all makes ferpect sense to me. 0 -
quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
quote:spanielsells;
I believe this has been debunked several times.
Not according to Snopes - they've listed it as 'Undetermined.'
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp
.... what's debunkable about it?
[:D]
The part about filling the car when it is half-empty/half-full. There are OTHER reasons for doing this (sediment doesn't get sucked into the fuel line), but the gas-saving reasons don't make sense.0 -
quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
quote:spanielsells;
I believe this has been debunked several times.
Not according to Snopes - they've listed it as 'Undetermined.'
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp
.... what's debunkable about it?
[:D]
The OBVIOUS thing that's wrong with it is.The truck that delivers the gas, does NOT PUMP it into the tank.Their is NO metering device on the tanker either. Product is metered ONTO the hauler, and is GRAVITY-FED into the storage tank.When the driver gets to his delivery point, he first "STICKS" the tank, to make sure ALL product that was ordered will fit.If not NO PRODUCT is delivered.0 -
Interesting - never knew that - I've always wondered why they 'stick it' before unloading.
I've always wondered why there isn't a more 'high tech' way to do it - dropping an 'extended ruler' into a fill hole has seemed a bit primitive.
Thanks! Always nice to cram in another fact or two at 7:30 in the morning.
[:D]0 -
Besides the main reason they give for filling up in the morning: the gas is denser because of the cold, just doesn't fly in the face of the fact that 8 to 12 feet underground the temperature does not fluctuate more than a degree.
No wonder Snopes says "undetermined". That part is absolutely false.0 -
quote:Originally posted by fishkiller41
quote:Originally posted by zipperzap
quote:spanielsells;
I believe this has been debunked several times.
Not according to Snopes - they've listed it as 'Undetermined.'
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp
.... what's debunkable about it?
[:D]
The OBVIOUS thing that's wrong with it is.The truck that delivers the gas, does NOT PUMP it into the tank.Their is NO metering device on the tanker either. Product is metered ONTO the hauler, and is GRAVITY-FED into the storage tank.When the driver gets to his delivery point, he first "STICKS" the tank, to make sure ALL product that was ordered will fit.If not NO PRODUCT is delivered.
fishkiller41 is correct on most of what he says with only some fine tuning needed. since this is what i do for a living i can give a little insight into the process.
1) the driver calls the staion to make certain that the load will fit. the station uses an electronic measuring device that is already in the tank called a "vedder root" to give the tank reading. with that said, we all know that alot of the people working in stations are not from here, and their english sucks. also, the meter does need to be calibrated from time to time to ensure an accurate reading.
2)the 98% majority of stations are gravity fed, but out in the more rural areas you do find above ground tanks. most do not have independent pumps, so the truck must pump it into the tank(pto).
3)even though the driver calls the station prior to loading, he still does stick the tank when he gets there, for the reasons mentioned in#1 (bad english,calibration). now if for what ever reason it will not fit, the driver can either divert the entire load to another station or deliver what will fit and divert the rest. the trailer is divided in to 4-6 separate compartments depending on the company.
4)as mentioned in the original article about not filling up during a delivery, i have had people ask me the same question while at a station. this is what i tell them: there is a filter in the tank, there is a filter in the line between the tank and pump, there is a filter in the pump and there is a filter in your car. so the chance of any debris/sediment getting into you engine is very, very small.
ok, just my 2 cent, well ok it was kind of long, so just my $2.0 -
You could probably question the evaporation theory too. The fuel tank in your vehicle is pretty much a closed system. It seems there is a pressure relieve built into that system and it is unlikely that any gas leaves the system until the pressure builds enough. You can really notice this on filler cans. Those plastic ones will bloat considerably before the start to leak. If you by chance overfill your vehicle from an underground tank and leave it parked on a hot afternoon it will definately vent some fuel but it's due to expansion not evaporation. 0 -
The part about the temperature of the gas making a huge difference is almost certainly false. The volume of liquids in general don't fluctuate much with temperature changes. I'll do alittle research and see if I can come up with some numbers.
The floating roofs on storage tanks is bunk too. The reason the roofs float is to eliminate vapor from the tank. This is done because liquid gasoline isn't flamable, only the vapor is flamable. If the tank doesn't contain anything flamable it wont catch fire.0 -
Gasoline and special fuels like diesel and kerosene do react to changes in temperature.
I have been looking at bill of ladings from terminal locations for 20+ years and on the bill of lading there is a net gallons and gross gallons figure. Net gallons is a temperature adjusted gallons while gross is actually what went through the meter at the terminal. The temperature is also located on the bill of lading.
Some oil companies bill on net and some on gross while others take the highest. While on small purchases there is not much difference, on the tanker loads which take 7500-8500 gallons it can amount to about 100 gallons depending on the temperature being really cold or really hot.0
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