Gas Tips! Buying Gasoline At The Pump

[thefishingline]

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline....but 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.

Tip #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. Just 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.

Tip #2: 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’re pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are
pumping on the fast rate, some 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.

Tip #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 is occupying the tank’s 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.

Tip #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.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

[LoKi]

Tanks are temperature regulated here...

$3.50 a Gallon isn't good. My folks are paying around $4.25 a Gallon, by U.S. measurements. It's around $1.50 a litre.

Only paying $1.30 a litre here... fugg.

[Pwozzie]

Europe taxes the crap out of fuel, that's why.

[mojofilter]

Thankx

[LoKi]

Originally Posted by pwoznic

Europe taxes the crap out of fuel, that's why.

I'm up here in Canada...

Same principle though. The taxes aren't as high as European or UK markets, but still pretty high.

I live in one of the places in the world so full of oil that we can't process it all fast enough, yet pay just as much for it as anyone.

Gotta have taxes though. If the taxes were lower, the fat cats in oil offices would raise the price to compensate. It's not the governments fault, all that tax money goes into all the stuff we need as an infrastructure. All that oil money goes into some overweight white dudes *or brown!* pocket.

[GibsonSlash]

This is educative, indeed!!

I always fill up my gas to full after work around 5pm, I almost return my car for not being as economic as advertised.

I will try tomorrow and see the difference it'll make.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by thefishingline

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline....but 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.

Tip #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. Just 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.

Tip #2: 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’re pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are
pumping on the fast rate, some 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.

Tip #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 is occupying the tank’s 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.

Tip #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.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

[decoy205]

Here in nyc it's about 3.65-3.99 a gallon. It's only gonna go up for the summer. Not looking foreword to this summer gas price wise. I've heard these tips before. Not in as much detail though.
Thanks!

[b-squared]

POINT #1: The point about buying gas in the morning is nonsense, unless you live in Death Valley.

Check this out:



Density of gas varies with temperature

For every five-degree (Celsius) change in temperature, figure about a 0.5-percent change in density.

Avgas (aviation gasoline) weighs about 6.02 pounds per US Gallon at 15 degrees C. That increases to 6.40 pounds per US gallon at -40 degrees C. Mogas (automotive gas) is, for the most part, the same.

The density of gasoline (C8H18) is 0.694 g / cm^3 at 300 K and 0.622 g / cm^3 at 400 K. Density shouldn't change that much relative to the ground temperature (300 K =80 F).

Flow Meter Tutorial

Reference: Engineering Thermodynamics, Volume 1, Spring 2002, Roger A. Gater, Mechanical Engineering, University of Florida

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POINT #2: If you're pumping at a slow rate, aren't you allowing the fuel in the tank more time to vaporize? There's two ways of looking at that.

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POINT #3: If gas evaporated "faster than I could imagine," then I'd get up every morning and have to fill my car, right? I rarely drive my SUV anymore, but there it is, still on 1/2 tank. C'mon--typical gas company propaganda to make me buy more gas sooner.

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POINT #4: I do like the idea of not buying when the tank is being filled...I could imagine some of the sediment is stirred up. Then again, maybe they don't want you buying the gas when it's coming in COLD off the truck.

Just my observations.

BB

[05hummer]

Ride a bike....

[b-squared]

Originally Posted by 05hummer

Ride a bike....

Best tip I've heard today...

BB