North East F-Body Association

Hi!
With gas expected to reach $5 per gallon by summer, these tips that I received from a friend might come in handy.

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

I don't know what you guys are paying for gasoline.... but here in
California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. 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.

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 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. You should be pumping on low mode, 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. 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.