I got this Mass e-mail sent to me and wanted to know if anyone thought this information was legit or if this was simply a waste of time...
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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-storag e 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 th e 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 b uying 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: lo w, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low
speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are&n bsp;
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 mone y.
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 compens ated so that
every gallon is actually the exact amount.
Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the st orage
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!
WHE RE 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 d on't import
their oi l 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 comp anies that do not import Middl e Eastern oil:
Sunoco..................0 barrels
Conoco..................0 barrels
Sinclair..................0 barrels
BP/Phillips.............0 barrels
Hess......................0 barrels
ARC0.....................0 barrels
If you go to Sunoco.com <" target=_blank>http://sunoco.com/> ;
; , you will get a list of the station locations near
you.
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.
But to have an impact, we need to reach literally millions of gas buyers.
It's really simple to do.
Now, don't wimp out at this point.... keep reading and I'll explain how
simple it is to reach millions of people!!
I'm sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at
least ten more ( 30 x 10 = 300)...and those 300 send it to at least ten
more (300 x 10 = 3,000) .. and so on, by the time the message reaches the
sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION
consumers !!!!!!! If those three million get excited and pass this on to
ten friends each, then 30 million people will have been contacted!
If it goes one level further, you guessed it ..... THREE HUND RED MILLION
PEOPLE!!!
Again, all you have to do is send this to 10 people. How long would all
that take?

 

Car Talk had a caller recently that posed this in the form of a question. The response back was yes, buying gas in the morning provides you a little extra gas. No, the little extra gas is not worth worrying about. The upside was less gas fumes emitted to the air by filling in the morning. The downside was potential overfilling and gasoline spilling out of your tank when it expands later in the day.

Gas boycotts do more to hurt the vendor than the suppliers or corporations...the vendor makes most of its money by selling the goods in the store...no gas sales historically means no candy/soda/beer sales.

 

Yeah i'm not one to boycott, but the trick of pumping on the "low" setting rather than filling the tank at full speed also raised my eyebrow, it seems like it would work, but thoes guys that sell that stupid "tornado" for the air intake sounds like it would work but it is a scam as well.

 

Whenever I have a question about a mass e-mail, Snopes is the first place I check.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/household/gastips.asp

The important take aways from this are that while the temperature of the fuel matters, the fuel and air temperature can be quite different. Also, some areas (Canada for example) have temperature compensating pumps.

 

Well, the one about buying gas in the morning has a possibility of being true - if all fuel tanks were above ground !! But since none are above ground, then the claim of a change in temperature in the fuel below ground is not possible since the the 24-hour variance of the ground temperature due to the change in air temperature above or solar heat gain has virtually no effect below about 6" from the surface.

I do abide by the one about not buying gas when there's a tanker truck there, because they do stir up the junk that's settled at the bottom of the tanks when they're filling them.

 

There was a blurb about this on the news this week. They said that yes, these tricks do get a little more gas for your money, but the increase was so slight that it's not worth it--only a few cents per tank.

 

The temperature underground in the lower 48 states stays around 54 degrees all the time. The gas tanks will be at about that temperature except right after the tanker has dumped gas in; at a large station with a big tank it still won't change that much. I suggest people that are really curious take a thermometer and stick it on the metal of the pump nozzle while pumping gas or just after. Don't do anything stupid like trying to stick it in the stream of gas or pull the nozzle partly out while pumping! I used to work in a gas station the summer before going to college. I can assure everyone that gas is always pretty much the same fairly chilly temperature. We did personally wait a few minutes for crud to settle after the tanker added gas, but nowadays, especially in California, the tanks are required to be pulled out and replaced so often in order to prevent leaks, that sediment is not so likely.

 

Besides the issue that the temperature underground does not change by a measurable amount, the idea of keeping your tank full to minimize evaporation is bogus. There may be other good reasons to keep your tank full (and one reason not to - weight) but modern cars all have sealed fuel systems and vapor recovery systems, so no gas is lost due to evaporation.

Overall, I would say this message has very little factual content.