Filling up petrol with smart tactics

This is a message related to filling petrol:

I don’t know what you guys are paying for petrol ... but here in Durban, we are also paying high for petrol, up to 47.35 per litre of petrol. But my line of work is in a petroleum company for about 40 years, so here are some tricks to get more of your money’s worth for every litre of petrol.

Here at the Marini Hike pipeline, where I work in Durban, we delivery about 4 million litres of petroleum in a 24 hrs period thru the pipeline.

One day is diesel, the next day is jet fuel, and petrol, LRP and Unleaded. We have 34 petroleum storage tanks here with a total capacity 16,800,000 litres.

Tip #1

Only buy or fill up your cars or bike in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all petrol station have their petrol storage tanks buries below ground. The colder the ground, the denser the fuel, when it gets warmer, petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, your litre is not exactly a litre of petrol.

In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum product play an important role. A one degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this petroleum business. But the petrol station do not have temperature compensation at the petrol pumps.

Tip #2

When you are filling up petrol, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look, you will see that the trigger has three stages, low, middle and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping petrol on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the petrol pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your petrol tank becomes vapour. Those vapours are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you are getting less worth for your money.

Tip #3

One of the most important tips is to fill up petrol when your tank is half full. The reason for this is, the more petrol you have in your tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine. Petroleum storage tanks have an internal floating roof, this roof serves as zero clearance between the petrol and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.

Unlike petrol station, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated, so that every litre is actually the exact amount.

Tip #4

Another reminder, if there is a fuel truck pumping into the petrol storage tanks, then you stop to buy, do not fill up. Most likely the petrol is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom of the petrol storage tank.

Hope this will help you get the maximum value for your money. Please share this information with others! Lets share information and benefit all, for the better of mankind.