Filling up tips

[Disco Dan]

Got this emailed today:

Tips on Filling your Vehicles...

This is a Message received from a friend:

I don't know what you guys are paying for petrol... but here
in Durban, we are also paying higher, up to 47.35 per litre.
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 litre.

Here at the Marian Hill Pipeline, where I work in Durban, we
deliver about 4 million litres in a 24-hour period thru the
pipeline.

One day is diesel; the next day is jet fuel, and petrol, LRP
and Unleaded. We have 34-storage tanks here with a total
capacity of 16,800,000 litres.

ONLY BUY OR FILL UP YOUR CAR OR BIKKIE 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 denser the fuel, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so
buying in the afternoon or in the evening.... your litre is not
exactly a litre.

In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the
temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and
other petroleum products play an important role. A
1degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business.
But the service stations do not have temperature
compensation at the pumps.

Compiled by Ramesh Patel on 16.03.2008 @ 10:00Hrs. Page 1 of 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,
Compiled by Ramesh Patel on 16.03.2008 @ 10:00Hrs. Page 2 of 2
middle, and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping on
low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are
created, while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump
have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate,
some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour.
Those vapours 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 TANK IS HALF FULL. The reason for this is,
the more fuel you have in your tank, the less air occupying
its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can
imagine. Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating
roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol
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 litre is
actually the exact amount.

ANOTHER REMINDER, IF THERE IS A FUEL TRUCK
PUMPING INTO THE STORAGE TANKS, WHEN YOU STOP
TO BUY, DO NOT FILL UP - most likely the petrol/diesel is
being stirred up as the fuel 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 maximum value for your
money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS! LET’S SHARE
INFORMATION AND BENEFIT ALL, FOR THE BETTER OF
MANKIND.

***********************

[martybabe]

I don't know about the benefit of mankind but an interesting read,thanx.

[The Pastor]

not sure if its hoax or not.

either way its not going to change my filling up times.

[vindy500]

i wonder if its something like u can get 0.0001% more fuel! almost as useful as those 4cent off things, hmm

[McDuck]

The temperature thing dosnt apply here, there is not a big enough swing, i equally dont know about the vaper return thing but the half full thing is definitely real. Coupling that with driving a km out of my way to fill when it is half full...

[vifferman]

Firstly, although Kalifornian pumps have a vapour return, I doubt that ones here do.
The thing about ground temperature is kinda true. When I were a lad, there was a service station in downtown Rotorua which was a crap place to get petroleum from, due to underground thermal activity. They bought x litres of fuel, put it in there tanks, where it miraculously turned into "x plus a bit". Once into car's tanks, it probably turned into "x minus a bit".
Or that was the story.
Maybe the warmed over fuel just disappeared out the tank breathers...

A few metres of earth is pretty good insulation, and as nowhere here (apart from mebbe Chch) has continental-type climates, I doubt whether there's significant variation in temperature in underground tanks during the day.
Why else do 'they' use cellars for storing stuff? Stable temperatures, innit?
Except when there's hot springs bubbling away down below, or in the cellars...

[hang0ver]

If ya pullin' ya throttle nice and hard like ya should, this is probably not gonna help much...

[Choco]

I've heard the 'fill up when its cold' thing, but when you have a 10L fuel tank it doesn't make a HUGE difference.

[Boob Johnson]

i wonder if its something like u can get 0.0001% more fuel!

Exactly!


I call BULLSHIT! The added weight of the second half of the tank would surely counteract any fuel saving from vapors lol


And if im wrong and this is all true then ill be sure to invest the extra $0.50 per annum I saved

[martybabe]

Exactly!


I call BULLSHIT! The added weight of the second half of the tank would surely counteract any fuel saving from vapors lol


And if im wrong and this is all true then ill be sure to invest the extra $0.50 per annum I saved

Ah ,what to invest your fuel cost savings in, might have enough saved for a 10c lolly after a couple o months.Oh no wait the petrol just went up again, there it goes.

[Boob Johnson]

Ah ,what to invest your fuel cost savings in, might have enough saved for a 10c lolly after a couple o months.Oh no wait the petrol just went up again, there it goes.

lol exactly, all this time, effort & energy (no pun intended...honest ) to save such a pathetically minuscule amount is laughable. You would be better off spending time investigating how to get off petroleum altogether.

[Disco Dan]

It has prob made a few people very pedantic at gas stations, and a few others feeling not so bad about the fuel prices.

i think that was the point - does not really matter if it works/hoax, the idea appears to be too improve morale !

[notme]

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


"The bottom line is that there are much easier and better ways of improving the efficiency of your car (and thus of saving you money at the pump) than the tips outlined above."

[Badjelly]

This document at this link

http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/super...e1/ti01sol.doc

says the fractional thermal expansion coefficient for petrol is 0.95x10-3 C-1.

In ordinary language, that means petrol expands 0.095% for every 1 C rise in temperature, so 0.95% (near enough 1%) for 10 C. Almost enough to get worried about, I suppose, if you're the sort of person who worries about that sort of thing, which I'm not.

[Steam]

Firstly, although Kalifornian pumps have a vapour return, I doubt that ones here do.

All NZ pumps have it, that's the little tube at the end of the nozzle, it also works to cut off the fuel flow when it stops sucking vapour and starts sucking petrol.