Dear Joe,
Here we go again with the gas prices. These are good tips for you all to use on your upcoming road trip. Drive safe!
Love,
Dad

---

I don’t know what you guys are paying for gasoline…. but here in
California we are paying up to $3.75 to $4.10 per gallon. 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-storage 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 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. You should be pumping on low mode, 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. 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.

Have a nice day!