Why buy gas in the morning ?

[barrysharp]

Read a report today (by Sylvia Slaughter - The [Nashville] Tennessean) that claims the warmth of the sun expands the gas in the gas station's fuel tank and therefore if you buy gas early AM you will get as much as 5% more fuel for your money.

I find this hard to believe as the station's tanks are underground (in my local area at least) and the in-ground temp stays fairly constant.

Comments?

[budrichard]

Urban Legend being repeated by the unknowing to the all believing! -Dick

[SpudRacer]

Barry,

You're absolutely correct. The fuel is stored 18ft (can anyone verify that for me?) underground and the temperature remains quite constant. The only time it would vary significantly, temperature wise, is shortly after being refilled by a tanker truck. I assume the temp would be warmer after being filled.

Also, gassing up in the morning is not without risks of it's own. If you are a tank-topper and fill it to the brim, you may run into overspill while at work, when your XC70 is outside baking in the sun and heating that tank you topped off on the way to work. I feel it's better to fill up at your own discression (time-wise) and avoid topping off the tank unless you are on a roadtrip where you will be quickly burning off that fuel before it has a chance to heat up and expand at all.

Just my 2-cents worth.

Respectfully,

Spud

[Hiro's XC]

Also,

NEVER, EVER, EVER, NOT NEVER, fill up when the truck is there filling the storage tanks or just pulling out. The dealers, most of them anyway filter, but, not all do. There is a lot of crap and WATER in those tanks that gets stirred up and will cause all kinds of plugged fuel filter or running issues.

And the expansion is myth. Fuel stays at a constant 53-64F all year in the central region of the U.S.

Lastly, DON'T TOP YOUR TANK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You people are the reason the auto shut-offs don't work! The pumps have a vapor recovery system in all urban areas that is rendered non functional by doing this. Also you back flood the charcol canister on the vapor recovery system on your car. While an occasional overfill is no big deal, more than that you will riun the emmisions controls on the car. .25-.75 should not hurt in rounding up, but that's all.

[Avid Edit]

I disagree about filling up when a tanker is present.
    Just another urban myth... have done it quite a bit, and with no ill effects. Honest.

[Hiro's XC]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Avid Edit @ Sep. 23 2003,09:43)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I disagree about filling up when a tanker is present.
Just another urban myth... have done it quite a bit, and with no ill effects. Honest.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
It depends on which tank the driver is filling. They only fill one at a time. Also the premium is only topped once a week at a lot of dealers. They sell 87 octane 8 to 1 over 92 octane.

And, it&#39;s not a myth. Just ask some of the honest dealers. It can be an issue if they don&#39;t maintain the tanks. I used to insure about 300 gas stations and the horror stories I have heard..... Let&#39;s just say that there a re a LOT of unscrupulious &lt;sp&gt; gas vendors out there.