Tips on Gasoline Usage

Since I am on a roll in posting forwarded email messages, I might as well blog about useful stuff. With the rising fuel prices, here are some tips that I have received and read from the Internet on how to save precious gas. It doesn't hurt to follow them and some if not all of it makes sense if you think about it.

• Do not race your engine once started. Wait until the engine has warned up. Warming up the engine by driving gives you better gasoline economy.
• Avoid jack-rabbit starts, take-off and sudden stops. Gradual acceleration saves gas and car wear and tear.
• Keep proper air pressure in tires. Incorrect tire pressure reduces gasoline mileage, wears out tires faster and makes vehicle handling difficult.
• Shift to high gear as soon as you can and stay there as long as you can. Low-gear speed consumes much more fuel than high gear speed.
• Preferably use smaller cars. Smaller engines usually give better economy.
• Plan your trips. Avoid congested routes and cover as many errands as possible in a single trip.
• Avoid parking in the sun. Gas evaporates rapidly when exposed to hot weather.
• Use car pools and other public transport vehicles.
• Eliminate unneeded cargoes and fuel consuming loads.
• Do not fill your gas tank to the brim. Allow for expansion to avoid wastage.
• Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the 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 buying 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: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the 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 money.
• 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 compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount.
• Another reminder. If there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage 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.

I am currently trying several gasolines to see which ones give better fuel economy. So far I have tried Petron XCS and Blaze. I am now trying Shell V-power. A colleague informed me that among all the gasolines in the market, Shell V-power gives the best fuel economy. He mentioned that it actually adds around 2 extra kilometers for every liter of gas. I am trying to find out if it's true. Will tell you about it soon.