Tips on pumping Gas!

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-24-2008 17:21

An old friend of mine from New Jersey e-mailed this to me yesterday so, I thought I'd share it with everyone here...

TIPS ON PUMPING GAS

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.

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. 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 other 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. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

DO SHARE THESE TIPS WITH OTHERS!

WHERE TO BUY USA GAS, THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO KNOW. READ ON

Gas rationing in the 80's worked even though we grumbled about it. It might even be good for us! The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS.

Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don't import their oil from the Saudis. Nothing is more frustrating than the feeling that every time I fill-up the tank, I am sending my money to people who are trying to kill me, my family, and my friends.

I thought it might be interesting for you to know which oil companies are the best to buy gas from and which major companies import Middle Eastern oil.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell........................... 205,742,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco......... 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon/Mobil............... 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway... 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco............................62,231,000 barrels
Citgo gas is from South America, from a Dictator who hates Americans. If you do the math at $30/barrel, these imports amount to over $18 BILLION! (oil is now $90 - $100 a barrel)

Here are some large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco..................0 barrels
Conoco................. .0 barrels
Sinclair..................0 barrels
BP/Phillips.............0 barrels
Hess......................0 barrels
ARC0.....................0 barrels

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

Respectfully,
Henry

By Kix

Date 03-24-2008 18:02

I could see how the filling up on the slower speed with diesel could help. It foams so bad when you fill up that you have to sit there for an extra couple of minutes waiting for the foam to go down so you can fill up the rest of the way. I don't know how much of that became vapor. I thought Amoco was bought out by BP. All the Amoco stations became BP stations.

Thanks for the education Henry.

By Roadtrash (*)

Date 03-25-2008 03:10

Don't believe everything you read on the internet....... look at http://www.snopes.com/politics/gasoline/saudigas.asp and http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-25-2008 14:54 Edited 03-26-2008 02:14

Snopes.com is a good site, and is useful for certain situations but, to tell me that there would be more time wasted than worth the amount of money saved by using these tips + the other tips that have also been mentioned in the snopes rebuttals, assumes that the person attempting to save money by using these tips, has no time to do such things!!!

Maybe the person who wrote the rebuttal in snopes doesn't have the time or doesn't want to put in the effort to save such a meager amount of money yet, I am not that individual! The individual that wrote the rebuttal probably gets their gas paid for via expense account so, time as opposed to the minute money savings probably would be more important to them.

Remember one important aspect about the rebuttal in snopes.com... They DO NOT DISPUTE the money savings potential!!! They only dispute the amount of time and effort in order to achieve the results, and while I stake no claim as an expert in this, I thought that passing this info along might be of some benefit to some here that live on limited budgets whereby EVERY CENT SAVED COUNTS to them!!! Look folks, take what works for you out of this article, and use it FWIW!!! If it's too much of a hassle for you as was the case for the person who wrote the rebuttal in snopes.com then, hey! I was just trying to be helpful!!!

BTW Roadtrash, I don't believe everything I read online yet some of these tips would most definitely be useful to some in here, and that's the reason I posted the article!
Now, do you have anything useful to add here that could potentially save folks more money per gallon via fuel conservation besides what most of us already know with respect to proper driving habits, and whatever else mentioned in the snope.com rebuttal??? I await your response.

Respectfully,
Henry

By mountainman (***)

Date 03-25-2008 15:07

Henry, thanks for posting the tips. i've never thought about it that way but it makes perfect cents. i think i will record my mileage and money spent to see what my true savings will be by using these methods. it's a simple way to save some cash.

thanks,
JJ

By Kix

Date 03-25-2008 15:30

It makes me want to take a thermometer to the pump now and in the summer to see how much the change in temperature of the fuel fluctuates.

By Roadtrash (*)

Date 03-26-2008 00:57

you might be able to save money by following those tips, but for a 24 gallon tank it is probably negligable. As for the Don't buy gas from these companies part well it is all wrong. Some of the companies listed do buy their gas from over seas. If you really want to save money at the pump then do what I do. Drive slower. I drive one of those big 1 ton trucks with the welding machine in the back. By driving 65 instead of 75 or faster like most seem to. I get 2 to 3 miles per gallon better at 65 than 75. This means I get almost 100 miles more on a tank. Drive Smarter, don't try to save a penny on a fill up.

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-26-2008 02:24

If you drove at 55mph, you would save even more!!!
I believe most of us already practice the conservation method of driving slower than the rest of the crowd :) :) :)
Now making sure the tires are properly inflated on a weekly basis is another method of ensuring optimal gas mileage... Anyone else have some other tips???

Has anyone ever tried out one of those "Tornado" doo-hickies that go in between your air intake, and the air filter??? are they just a another worthless gadget???

Respectfully,
Henry

By preston davis (**)

Date 03-26-2008 02:42

my 80 dollar K&N got me about .5 mpg in my 06 cummins

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 03-26-2008 04:15

Henry, fuel consumption is definatly dependent on the driver. ONE TIME I drove My '69 GTO for a whole thank without opening the secondairys, burning rubber, driving WAY over the speed limit, etc. and got 17 MPG. My usual was 12, 10 if I was cowboying it.

A friend has a big Ford sedan, He was lamenting the costs to fuel this beast [it has a high performance engine that is supposed to run on High Test only] After riding around Daytona with Him for a week without a hill bigger than a highway overpass, I mentioned that He would never get good economy, BECAUSE HE ALWAYS HAS HIS FOOT IN IT.

Fuel consumption with a given engine type [gas V/S diesel] is largely dependant on the work being done. Those 1800# Honda Civics My friends and I all drove in the late '70s & '80s had narrow easy rolling tires, minimal frontal area, and modest wind drag. The got good mileage even if We ran them hard, which We did.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 03-26-2008 13:57

I don't put much faith in those Tornado doohickees. Sensible driving seems to make the most of a gallon of gas, even in the most hungriest of trucks. Gradual changes in speed and take offs seem to net the best mileage for me, although it is tough to reign in those horses when you have them at your beckoning and you need to get going on that onramp to blend in with the rushing crowds of people on the highway....LOL (just another leadfoot, "guilty as charged")

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-26-2008 14:29

Same here JW!

I knew those Doo-hickies sounded too good to be true!!! I just needed to hear from someone else's opinion on those so-called "fuel economy improvement devices." ;)

I hear you Dave! I had one of those old Datsun (pre-Nissan) fuel efficient automobile/trucks - way back when, and plum beat it to near death!!! The vehicle would not die!!! Then when gas got less expensive, I got me an F-150... What a mistake!!! Oh well - such is life :) :) :)

Respectfully,
Henry

By Kix

Date 03-26-2008 15:26

Ponder on this though. If you drive slower it takes longer to get from point a to point b therefore possibly burning as much fuel as you would if you drove faster and got to point b quicker. Your motor is running for a longer amount of time when driving slower from a to b ya see. So you might be coming out close to even, but I don't know. I'm sure tests have been done to show that driving slower from a to b does actually burn less fuel.

By jwright650 (*****)

Date 03-26-2008 15:36

No, I believe you have a valid point. I believe there would be an optimal speed for each given car or truck for various reasons. Too slow and you burn more fuel and too fast and you burn more fuel. Probably the worst mileage would be obtained by letting the motor run while not moving for long periods of time...LOL

By aevald

Date 03-26-2008 16:22

Hello John, you have hit the nail on the head when you speak of "optimal" speed. This will generally be determined by a number of factors: peak torque, which will determine the optimum rpm, gearing of said vehicle, and mainly maintaining a speed that allows the motor to operate at it's peak torque and in the highest gear available, this will result in a particular mph that will yield the best mpg. Hope that made sense and my $.02. Best regards, Allan

By RonG

Date 03-26-2008 18:44

If use x amount of gas to go x amount of miles and the only thing you change is the time and the fuel consumption rate decreases at the slower speed you have saved that much on gas ($) but it took you longer to get there so leave out early and drive slow :).

By makeithot (***)

Date 03-26-2008 20:43 Edited 03-26-2008 20:46

I can see the advantages of driving slower all the time and the theory of driveing faster to go the same distance I don't belief holds much water. ie- myself and buddy leave a stop light at exactly the same instant, He lays into it and is well over the horizon before I even shift to second gear, He carries on passing everything in site on the verge of causeing an accident in doing so cause he can't stand not being the first in line. As time goes by and I have traveled a distance of 70 miles and come to the first stop light on the road who do I see beside me none other then that poor dumb SOB . I would almost garrenty, that not only did he burn more fuel , but the wear and tear on tires,brakes etc is going to far exceed any thing that I just spent. And just to rube it in I always do the right thing and wave as I go by and what always makes me laugh is that very same look that is present no matter the individual behind the wheel. Good post Henry just goes to show everything is never as simple as it seems.

By jrw159

Date 03-26-2008 20:29

I have seen two "Mythbusters" segments concerning gas mileage. One had to do with the tailgate of pickups, and the other, airconditioning on or off. Somebody call those boy's becuase I think we got a good one for them. LOL I agree that there is probably an optimal speed for different vehicles. imho I think common sense driving will result in the best milage possible for any given vehicle. Also there is a good article in the latest edition of Readers Digest about gas mileage.

By RioCampo (***)

Date 03-27-2008 01:19

15 extra minutes welding at jobsite, at 65 bucks an hour. It has to be like VISA. priceless.

By DaveBoyer (*****)

Date 03-27-2008 03:17

The reason it takes more fuel burn / horse power to go faster is that wind drag increases on the square of the difference. I am on some meds for chemo symptoms, so I cant think enough to elaborate on this.

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-28-2008 04:39

It's okay Dave!
I can definitely relate, and sympathize what you mean by the chemo, and the coefficient of drag. ;)
Hope ya feel better soon Bro :) :) :)

Respectfully,
Henry

By swnorris (****)

Date 03-28-2008 11:00

Last Saturday was our fifth wedding anniversary. My wife wanted me to take her someplace expensive, so I took her to an Exxon station.

By jrw159

Date 03-28-2008 13:32

ROTFLMAO!!! I do not think my wife will find it as funny as I do, But I am going to take her to Exxon as well!! Just kidding, she will think it is funny too, as long as I follow it up with jewelry. You know what they say "Diamond's, she will pretty much have too!"

By swnorris (****)

Date 03-28-2008 14:37

Actually, that was the first time I'd spoken to my wife in the last eighteen months, because I didn't want to interrupt her. I've often heard that women don't pass gas. Now I know why. They can't keep their mouths shut long enough to build up any pressure.

By jrw159

Date 03-28-2008 15:18

ROTFLMAO again!

By RonG

Date 03-28-2008 18:58

That concept could go on forever.
If you think of engine RPMs in relation to distance traveled you would no doubt have to concede that in driving fast vs. driving slow there would be some difference due to having your foot in fuel system you would spin tires thus have lost motion of the vehicle while the engine RPM is considerably high and then there is the thing about acceleration and the amount of energy required to achieve a particular velocity in a giving amount of time etc. etc.

But common sense dictates that slow and steady is the best approach.

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 03-28-2008 19:08

Since Arco no longer exist they truly do not import oil for the ME. Any refinery along the gulf coast will have a mix of M-E, S-A and MX crudes with occasional bonny light from the north sea. Heck, they even pump Myan up to Saint Paul.
If you want ot save gasoline, pump up your tires 5 psi over the recommended pressure, check the inflation every week, have the engine tuned up (new spark plugs) and drive 5 MPH slower. These things alone will ADD 10-15% to your mileage. And what does that come to on a 20 mpg car?
24-26 MPG.
Oh and for those of you who are looking at buying a hybrid? The average Hybrid cost $5-7K more than a regular car. If the hybrid gets 45 and the non gets 38, you will have to drive the hybrid a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOg time to ever pay for the difference.
Here goes
Hybrid Cost $37,000 Non- $30,000 Difference $7K (local dealer pricing)
Hybrid gets 45 MPG, Non-38 MPG
100,000 miles
Hybrid uses 2222 gallons @ $3.50
Non uses 2632 gallons @$3.50
Difference of 409 gallons @ $3.50 per gallon that is $1,433.00 in 100,000 miles.
Again, pressure up the tires, keep it tuned and slow down a little and you can get almost the same mileage, and save the $7k

By Kix

Date 03-28-2008 20:25

No no no you guys got it all wrong.;-) I'm talking of two vehicle already in motion at their constant speeds and rpm's going from point a to point b. You have to remember that just because you spinning more rpms doesn't necessarily mean your burning more fuel. Once you're set at a constant throttle position and rpm you start to settle into a high # negative MAP ( vacuum manifold pressure) where you don't burn much fuel. What I'm saying is that a car running at 3k rpm's with a -27psi MAP will burn darn near the same amount of fuel as a car running at 2K RPM's with a MAP of -27psi. Every time you touch the throttle or get wind resistance it will jump from -27 to a higher MAP such as -10psi. -10psi MAP will eat more fuel then -27ps MAP. I understand that the faster you go the more wind resistance you will have to overcome therefore raising you MAP from-27 and burn some more fuel. You might have a tail wind though so to many factors play a role in this discussion.;-)

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-29-2008 00:56 Edited 03-29-2008 00:59

Hi Dbigkahunna!

That's exactly what I do as far as tire pressure is concerned, and I change my plugs every other oil change along with any other components that need replacement as part of the tune-up. I have to be honest though... I'm still kind of a "lead foot" myself so, I'll need to get used to being a bit slower on the road. ;)

Not being familiar with the acronyms you used in your post, would you mind educating us in the meaning of those acronyms that represent the types of crude supplied to the refineries in your neck of the woods???

Finally, I really appreciate what you laid out in simple yet very understandable terms, the cost comparisons between a conventional high efficiency vehicle, and a "Hybrid" which really shows that one doesn't save as much as one would think in the long run, and that using the above mentioned practices result in similar efficiencies with respect to gas savings. Once again,thanks for your input. :)

P.S. Scott! you just gave me a great idea on where to bring one of my girlfriends in order to break up with her ;) ;) ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By 357max

Date 03-29-2008 21:55

Check out the April issue of the Readers Digest. 150 mpg with Honda civics. They have competitions to see how far a car can go on one gallon.
I notice on the Interstates that the highway patrols and big rig trucks are slowing way down. Five to ten mph lower than the speed limit.

By dbigkahunna (****)

Date 03-30-2008 15:54

M-E Middle East
S-A South American
M-X Mexico
Bonny Light North Sea Sweet
Bonny Heavy North Sea Sour

By ssbn727 (*****)

Date 03-31-2008 06:43

Thanks! ;)

Respectfully,
Henry

By johnnyh (***)

Date 04-04-2008 17:28

I ran across this today:

Speeding on the highway adds a surprising amount to your fuel costs.

With gas prices rising, gas-saving advice abounds: Drive more gently, don't carry extra stuff in your trunk, combine your shopping trips.

This is all sound advice but there's one driving tip that will probably save you more gas than all the others, especially if you spend a lot of time on the highway: Slow down.

In a typical family sedan, every 10 miles per hour you drive over 60 is like the price of gasoline going up about 54 cents a gallon. That figure will be even higher for less fuel-efficient vehicles that go fewer miles on a gallon to start with.

The reason is as clear as the air around you.

When cruising on the highway, your car will be in its highest gear with the engine humming along at relatively low rpm's. All your car needs to do is maintain its speed by overcoming the combined friction of its own moving parts, the tires on the road surface and, most of all, the air flowing around, over and under it.

Pushing air around actually takes up about 40% of a car's energy at highway speeds, according to Roger Clark, a fuel economy engineer for General Motors.

Traveling faster makes the job even harder. More air builds up in front of the vehicle, and the low pressure "hole" trailing behind gets bigger, too. Together, these create an increasing suction that tends to pull back harder and harder the faster you drive. The increase is actually exponential, meaning wind resistance rises much more steeply between 70 and 80 mph than it does between 50 and 60.

Every 10 mph faster reduces fuel economy by about 4 mpg, a figure that remains fairly constant regardless of vehicle size, Clark said. (It might seem that a larger vehicle, with more aerodynamic drag, would see more of an impact. But larger vehicles also tend to have larger, more powerful engines that can more easily cope with the added load.)

That's where that 54 cents a gallon estimate comes from. If a car gets 28 mpg at 65 mph, driving it at 75 would drop that to 24 mpg. Fuel costs over 100 miles, for example - estimated at $3.25 a gallon - would increase by $1.93, or the cost of an additional 0.6 gallons of gas. That would be like paying 54 cents a gallon more for each of the 3.6 gallons used at 65 mph. That per-gallon price difference remains constant over any distance.

Engineers at Consumer Reports magazine tested this theory by driving a Toyota Camry sedan and a Mercury Mountaineer SUV at various set cruising speeds on a stretch of flat highway. Driving the Camry at 75 mph instead of 65 dropped fuel economy from 35 mpg to 30. For the Mountaineer, fuel economy dropped from 21 to 18.

Over the course of a 400-mile road trip, the Camry driver would spend about $6.19 more on gas at the higher speed and Mountaineer driver would spend an extra $10.32.

Driving even slower, say 55 mph, could save slightly more gas. In fact, the old national 55 mph speed limit, instituted in 1974, was a response to the period's energy crisis.

It was about more than just high gas prices, though. The crisis of the time involved literal gasoline shortages due to an international embargo. Gas stations were sometimes left with none to sell, and gas sales had to be rationed. The crisis passed, but the national 55 mph speed limit stayed on the books until the law was loosened in the 1980s. It was finally dropped altogether in 1995. (The law stuck around more because of an apparent safety benefit than for fuel saving.)

Despite today's high gas prices, don't expect to see a return to the national 55 mph speed limit. The law was unpopular in its day, and higher speeds have become so institutionalized that even the Environmental Protection Agency's fuel economy test cycle now includes speeds of up to 80 mph.

Driving 10 miles per hour faster, assuming you don't lose time getting pulled over for a speeding ticket, does have the advantage of getting you to your destination 50 minutes sooner on that 400 mile trip. Whether that time difference is worth the added cost and risk is, ultimately, up to you.

Copyrighted, CNNMoney. All Rights Reserved

By CK Welding (**)

Date 04-08-2008 04:08

Correct me if I am wrong but, Isn't the temp. of the ground 56 degrees all year around. I know the top 2 or 3 feet change with the seasons. Below that the ground dosn't change much. Hints the reason we keep pipes buried deep in the ground, they can't freez know matter how cold it gets outside. I am pretty shore the underground storage tanks are below this level so I thaught I might put in my $.02