Tips on buying petrol

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This is an email received from a friend:-

I don't know what you guys are paying for petrol... but here in Durban, we are also paying higher, up to 47.35 per litre. 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 litre.

Here at the Marian Hill Pipeline, where I work in Durban, we deliver about 4 million litres in a 24-hour period thru the pipeline.

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

The first tip from me is:-

Only fill up your car 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 denser the fuel, when it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening, you will get less than 1 litre with 1 litre price.

In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the petrol, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products play 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 are filling up, do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to the maximum rate. If you look carefully, you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping on low speed, hereby minimizing the vapors that created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pumps have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapor are being sucked up and return 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 tank is half full. The reason for this is, the more fuel you have in the tank, the less air occupying the 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 service station, here where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated, so that every litre is actually the exact amount.

Another reminder, if there is a fuel truck refilling the petrol station, do not fill up at the same time. Most likely the petrol is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some dirt that normally settles at the bottom.

Hope this will help you get the maximum value for your money

Compiled by Ramesh Patel.