Even More Ways To Save Money When Getting Gas
I wrote in a previous article about the rising gas prices are causing me to be especially cheap when ti comes to buying and using gasoline. That article covered some about ways to get the best gas prices and to avoid being cheated at the pump.
Now, I will discuss ways to maximize how much gas goes into your car at each fill-up.
Purchase your gasoline early in the morning. The ground temperature is at its coolest early in the day causing the gasoline to be denser. As the gas becomes warmer, it expands so one gallon of gas is actually less than a gallon. The pumps have no way to compensate for time of day or temperature.
Let the gas flow slowly. This is difficult to do on cold or windy days, but forcing the gas from the pump as fast as you can causes some of the liquid to turn into a vapor that does not go into your car. The slower you pump, the more full your tank gets.
Keep your gas tank full. I realize it is easy to neglect filling your gas tank when it's not empty, especially with the gas prices we are dealing with. However, if your tank is full of air instead of gasoline, the gas you add to your car causes excess evaporation.
Do not fill up your car when a gasoline trunk is pumping gas into the gas station. While this tip does nothing to save you money on gas, it can save you money on car maintenance and repairs. When gas is being pumped into a station, the gas is stirred up and dirt from the bottom of the gas pump may travel into your vehicle's gas tank.
Sorry, but I think that only one point could hold and that is the lower temperature in the morning. But even if you assume that the temperature difference is in the range of 20°, the change in density is only about 2-3%. As gas is stored in underground tanks, the change in temperature is in fact negligible.
For the other points: If you pump the gas in fast, even if you have evaporation, the Joule-Thomson-Effect kicks in, effectively cooling and thus offsetting any evaporation effect.
Any gas pump is equipped with multiple filters, so no solids will enter your car. Also the gas is filtered more than once during production.
And finally, keeping your gas tank full means pulling over more often at the station and that will cost you a lot more than you save. Also the full tank has to be carried around.
No, the only way to consume less is driving less, a smaller/newer car, better driving (can save up to 20%).
Best regards