Only fill up in the morning on a half tank and don't press hard

cormie

So I just got this email, makes sense, but I wonder if it's true?

TIPS ON FILLING YOUR CAR
I don't know what you guys are paying for petrol..... but here in Durban we are also paying high prices, up to R 8.50 per litre. My line of work
is in petroleum and has been for about 31 years now. So here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every litre.

Here at 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, LPR and Unleaded. We have 34 storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 litres .
Only buy or fill up your car in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold..


Remember that all Service Stations have their storage tanks buried beneath the ground. The colder the ground the more dense the fuel. When
it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or evening .......... your litre is not exactly a litre. In the petroleum business, the
specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play an important role. A one degree rise in
temperature is a big deal in this business but the Service Stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

When you are 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 minimising 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 into 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 you 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 petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimises 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 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 dirt that normally settles on the bottom.
Hope this will help you get the most value for your money. Remember to always fill your car when the tank shows 'half'. Always fill up in the
Early morning. Always fill up in slow mode.
The person that had sent this e/mail on had added a 'rider' which said the following. This actually works. I tried early Saturday morning
before I came to work. $30.00 from 1/2 tank filled up my car. Usually it is $55.00. Amazing. This has got to be the most useful e/mail I have
received all year.

Bandara

Its utter, utter crap.


TIPS ON FILLING YOUR CAR
I don't know what you guys are paying for petrol..... but here in Durban we are also paying high prices, up to R 8.50 per litre. My line of work
is in petroleum and has been for about 31 years now. So here are some tricks to get more of your money's worth for every litre.

Here at 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, LPR and Unleaded. We have 34 storage tanks here with a total capacity of 16,800,000 litres .
Only buy or fill up your car in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold..


Remember that all Service Stations have their storage tanks buried beneath the ground. The colder the ground the more dense the fuel. When
it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or evening .......... your litre is not exactly a litre. In the petroleum business, the
specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play an important role. A one degree rise in
temperature is a big deal in this business but the Service Stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

Bull****, the pumps dispense in units of liquid equalling one litre, it would be noticed on a daily basis via the electronic pump gauges and the hourly electronic tank dips. Not to mention that if what this guy was saying was true every forecourt operator would be making millions of fuel (trust me we're not)

When you are 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 minimising 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 into 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.

Again this is clueless tripe, Vapour recovery pipes are located beside the offset fills in a service station (ie beside where the fuel is delivered) I've never seen or heard of a pump that would ever have a vapour recovery built in. Seeing as vapour recovery consists of 3 x 15 ft high vertical 2 inch wide metal pipes you'd kind of notice it stick out of a pump!

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 you 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 petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimises 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.

lol, just lol, you think if this was the case some car manufacturer wouldn't have devised a system to make their car far more efficient than every other car on the road and sell millions of them as a result?

Another reminder. If there is a fuel truck pumping into 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 dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Christ this bloke is thick. All underground tanks have a triple valve system with filters in each valve, and then each individual pump on the forecourt has its own steel 'witches hat' filter. Get a clear bottle and fill it with petrol or derv, its going to be crystal clear, we're not in the 50's anymore !

Hope this will help you get the most value for your money. Remember to always fill your car when the tank shows 'half'. Always fill up in the
Early morning. Always fill up in slow mode.
The person that had sent this e/mail on had added a 'rider' which said the following. This actually works. I tried early Saturday morning
before I came to work. $30.00 from 1/2 tank filled up my car. Usually it is $55.00. Amazing. This has got to be the most useful e/mail I have
received all year.

LOL, the best till last, he gets 50% more miles out of filling his tank early Saturday morning. I love it.



Viral mails are the bestest.

:P

Steve

Given that that the average car holds 60l and petrol weighs around 750g/l (guess), if you never let the tank go below 1/2 then it's like carrying 22kg of extra weight around all the time.
It would be like having a bag of cement in the boot.

The most efficient way is to carry as little excess fuel as possible provided that re-fuelling stops are available on the planned route.

Wishbone Ash

What a load of rubbish!

I wouldn't be sad enough to want to spent any more of my valuable time than I have to queuing at filling stations. If my tank was twice as large, I'd still squeeze as much as I could into it.

Do the morons who write this crap not factor in the cost of wasted time?

ninty9er

Even if it was true, it's not like it would make a difference here given our climate!

Type 17

Snopes.com is aware of this, and while it doesn't say that it is entirely untrue, they do (rightly) point out that these 'tips' are going to save so little fuel as to be not worth trying, when compared with more sensible tips like correct tyre pressures, lighter right foot, etc

dr.bollocko

Is there any truth to the first point though? About the fuel being denser at colder temperatures? I know it won't help much, but from a sheer scientific point of view I would be interested in finding out.

robbie99

This actually works. I tried early Saturday morning before I came to work. $30.00 from 1/2 tank filled up my car. Usually it is $55.00. Amazing. This has got to be the most useful e/mail I have received all year.

This bit I can believe .

dr.bollocko

Haha I can't believe you got that far into the post! I for one only noticed that now.
lmao.

pburns

Hammertime wrote: »

Its utter, utter crap.

I'm pretty sceptical about most or all of the points made by the OP but as a fuel-station mogul with an eye on the bottom line I'd expect you to say this!.:P

dr.bollocko

Although it did make me google how to conserve fuel whilst driving. So I learned something from all of the above sillyness anyway.

jhegarty

The person that had sent this e/mail on had added a 'rider' which said the following. This actually works. I tried early Saturday morning
before I came to work. $30.00 from 1/2 tank filled up my car. Usually it is $55.00. Amazing. This has got to be the most useful e/mail I have
received all year.

Well that explains everything....

that why after filling up on a cold Saturday morning my car exploded in the evening when the fuel added 50% to it's volume and burst the tank

:P

KhanTheMan

Filling up in the morning LOL . Utter rubbish.

If Petrol expanded and contracted that much based on a difference of a few C then You would see a closed petrol can breathing

dr.bollocko

jhegarty wrote: »

Well that explains everything....

that why after filling up on a cold Saturday morning my car exploded in the evening when the fuel added 50% to it's volume and burst the tank

:P

I was thinking it is uber sarcasm. As in, it would cost 55 bucks to fill the tank if the tank is almost empty but only 30 if the tank is half full? Therefore, the whole, most useful email I have received remark, which is just adding more fuel to the sarcasm fire. Compressed fuel. Dangerous business.

Biro

robbie99 wrote: »

This bit I can believe .

$30 for a half tank instead of the usual $55? If the fuel is less dense, shouldn't you be getting more fuel in the morning?
In the case above, if the "dense" fuel was as dense as they say above, almost 50% more fuel is going into the tank... when the evening comes and the fuel in your car's petrol tank that you filled that morning expands by 50%, wouldn't that cause your car to explode?

robbie99

Biro wrote: »

$30 for a half tank instead of the usual $55? If the fuel is less dense, shouldn't you be getting more fuel in the morning?
In the case above, if the "dense" fuel was as dense as they say above, almost 50% more fuel is going into the tank... when the evening comes and the fuel in your car's petrol tank that you filled that morning expands by 50%, wouldn't that cause your car to explode?

What's funny here is that he normally fills an _empty_ tank with $55 worth of fuel.

Type 17

dr.bollocko wrote: »

Is there any truth to the first point though? About the fuel being denser at colder temperatures? I know it won't help much, but from a sheer scientific point of view I would be interested in finding out.

Yes link (to Google's html version of a New Hampshire Weights & Measures pdf document), but the difference is about one percent on 15ºC versus 26ºC, so it's not a serious loss/gain for the vendor or the buyer of the fuel.

Esel

robbie99 wrote: »

This bit I can believe .

Now now, don't be misquoting Cormie - he has his reputation to think of!

cormie

Yeah cmon, do you actually think I'd go out and fill my tank before annoying you guys about it?

unkel

Hammertime wrote: »

Viral mails are the bestest

Indeed

Thanks for the detailed response

Bandara

pburns wrote: »

I'm pretty sceptical about most or all of the points made by the OP but as a fuel-station mogul with an eye on the bottom line I'd expect you to say this!.:P

lol Mr PBurns,

you really think us petrol station monkeys give even a little bit of a damn about selling fuel?

Trust me, earning less than 1.5 cents a litre its the least thing we care about, I'd rather you spent 60 cents on an apple than bought €60 of fuel.