I thought everyone could benefit from using these tips!
Gas Pumping Tips from someone in the Petroleum pipeline business!!
I’ve been in petroleum pipeline business for about 31 years, currently working for the Kinder-Morgan Pipeline here in San Jose, CA. 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. Eve ry 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’.
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First Post From Tom
G’day!
I have had a lot of very nice feedback on the Tips, Links and Tidbits newsletter over the last few years but thanks to changing server configurations, a concrete cutter putting a saw through a Telstra cable and other such nonsense I have not sent one out for some time now. Thanks to those who asked what happened to it and asked to be put back on if they had fallen off the list!
I plan to replace the email newsletter with this blog and to add more of my own content to the posts as well as to keep up the flow of links to other articles I feel worthy of passing on to you.
If you are in business you can look forward to a steady stream of ideas that will give you food for thought and perhaps inspire you to change some of the things you do now to a more efficient or profitable way of doing things.
Here’s the first! I was on a telephone conference call two days ago and the speaker said that the amount of computer screen area was a direct determinant of productivity. The bigger the screen area, the more productive the computer user. His words rang true with me as I can still recall the feeling of increased productivity when I went from a 17″ to a 19″ monitor and again when I made the jump to using two 19″ monitors side by side. Now when I work on only one screen it feels very constrictive and slow by comparison.
After the conference call I instantly rang a supplier to ask what a graphics card would cost that would accommodate 4 monitors. Call me extravagant if you will but before you do, check the figures! $150 each for two graphics cards, each of which can handle two monitors and $450 for another two 19″ screens and an hour and a half to order them, pay the invoice and to set it all up. Total outlay, $750 and an hour and a half of time. Pay back? If I only increase my productivity by 5% this year and I only value my time at $50,000 for the year, that’s an extra $2,500! That’s more than a 300% return on my $750 investment. Aren’t too many 300% returns advertised in the financial pages that I see.
I am also putting the finishing touches on a couple of on-line quizzes that will give you an insight into you and your business. I will post when they are ready to be tested by real users!
So that’s it for my first post. Hope you found it worth while and look forward to seeing you back.
Warmest regards,
Tom Grimshaw
P.S. If there is some topic on which you would like to hear from me, drop me a line!