Easing the Pain at the Pump

It has been some time since we posted articles due to our wonderful summer weather. Now with the approach of Fall, this is about to change. Look for topics on moccasins, moccasin slippers and boots as well as articles on current events as well as various tips on everday things.

To get started here are some tricks to help you get your money's worth at the pumps.

1. Fill up your car or truck in the morning when the temperature is still cool. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanksburied below ground; and the colder the ground, the denser the gasoline. When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you're filling up in the afternoon or in the evening, what should be a gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and temperature of the fuel (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products) are significant. A one-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for businesses, but service stations don't have temperature compensation at their pumps .

2. If a tanker truck is filling the station's tank at the time you want to buy gas, do not fill up; most likely dirt and sludge in the tank is being stirred up when gas is being delivered, and you might be transferring that dirt from the bottom of their tank into your car's tank .

3. Fill up when your gas tank is half-full (or half-empty), because the more gas you have in your tank the less air there is and gasoline evaporates rapidly, especially when it's warm. (Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating 'roof' membrane to act as a barrier between the gas and the atmosphere, thereby minimizing evaporation .)

4. If you look at the trigger you'll see that it has three delivery settings: slow, medium and high. When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to the high setting. You should be pumping at the slow setting, thereby minimizing vapors created while you are pumping. Hoses at the pump are corrugated; the corrugations act as a return path for vapor recovery from gas that already has been metered. If you are pumping at the high setting, the agitated gasoline contains more vapor, which isbeing sucked back into the underground tank so you're getting less gas for your money .

Hope this will help ease your 'pain at the pump'.

Quote of the Day:

"It's much easier to point out the problem than it is to say just how it should be solved. "
John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Economist