How can I save petrol?

Here's some petrol saving tips.

Someone who has been in petroleum pipeline business

for about 31 years and is currently working for the

Kinder-Morgan Pipeline in San Jose, CA
wrote the following information:

We deliver about 4 million gallons in a 24-hour
period from the pipe line; one day it's diesel, the next day

it's jet fuel and gasoline. We have 34 storage tanks here

with a total capacity of 16,800,000 gallons. Here are some

tricks to help you get your money's worth.


1. Fill up your car or truck in the
morning when the temperature is still cool.

Remember that all service stations have their storage

tanks buried 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. Every truckload that we load is

temperature-compensated so that the indicated gallonage is

actually the amount pumped. 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

is being 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'!