Short Fueling Tricks At Petrol Stations

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by visu03

Sorry I explained it wrong.

He filled 5 liters
Filled System-D
Continue to fill and stop when meter showed 30 liters

But while paying he said that he has reset the meter after filling 5 liters.

, Then you were definetly cheated!

[DirtyHarry]

One of the mail forwards that I received from a friend is this note on fueling tips. I'm yet to ascertain if this would make significant difference to FE but will revert with the figures the next time I go in for tanking up my car. Has anyone tried this before? Please comment.

I personally feel, this should make a difference.


Tips on filling your vehicles... This is a message 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. Only buy or fill up your car or bikkie 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.... Your litre is not exactly a litre. 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 1degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.

Compiled by ramesh patel on 16.03.2008 @ 10:00hrs. Page 1 of 2
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,

Compiled by ramesh patel on 16.03.2008 @ 10:00hrs. Page 2 of 2
Middle, and high. In slow mode, you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapours that are created, while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapour return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapour. Those vapours 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 tank is half full. The reason for this is, the more fuel you have in your tank, the less air occupying its 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 stations, 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 pumping into the storage tanks, when you stop to buy, do not fill up - most likely the petrol/diesel is being stirred up as the fuel is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

[vnabhi]

DirtyHarry, I too received that chain mail a few days ago, but replied to the sender saying that I had read that string in Team-BHP a couple of months ago! Not sure what the title of the thread was.

[Nitin]

This one's been doing the rounds for a while now. Pretty logical stuff.

[Sandeep_K_Ram]

Hi ,

I went through the entire thread and I was aware of pretty much all the tricks mentioned . But I didn't quite understand the STOP-START thing.

Does this Stop START thing or pumping in bursts cheat you ? How ?

So I am to tell him to set the amt/litres and put the nozzle in the tank , start and then let go of it till it pumps in the entire quantity ?

But I have noticed sometimes that the thing stops all by itself before the qty is dispensed and he has to retract it slightly and then press it to continue ... why is this ?

[joshdrive]

Originally Posted by RajaTaurus

Yes. the "Rupees 300" was never in the picture. The guys keep you engaged in conversation and suddenly he tells you "OK. Saar, Three Hundred rupees Saar." and Tries to reset the machine to Zero asap. Unless you catch him right there, he would reset (The actual reset takes place here) instantly and your Rs.300 will not show up in the meter again.

I always used to Fill in Rupees, just to avoid the change crisis.
As I said, I didnt face this trick until I was in the suburbs. The City guys thought they were smart...

And Yes, paying after filling is the best idea and I will follow that too..

And my best indicator is my fuel gauge. It doesn't cheat and I will go after the guys if that doesnt satisfy me...
I always set the Trip-A meter to Zero everytime I fill and refill at almost dry, (Below the last mark of the fuelgauge).

There is a BP outlet between Medavalkkam and Pallikaranai. It has a that big hoarding which says its company owned and company operated. They follow the above trick very often. They did this to me 4 times within a span for 4-5 weeks. I caught them red handed once and they pleaded guilty and apologized. Have filed a complaint on this outlet on the BP website.

[mmmjgm]

Coming from a pump owning family, the tricks of the trade are there, simply file a complaint against the pump attendant.

90% of the time the trick of the short burst filling and resetting of the meters is for the benefit of the attendant, this malpractice goes unnoticed by the owner. (Who incidentally gets penalised at the end if there is a complaint).

With the new pumps (digital display pumps) at IOC the tube connecting to the nozzle and pump has been caliberated, the display will show only the quantity dispensed (which flows out of the nozzle at the end of the pipe)

The owners resort generally to adulterated fuel. This is a controlled operation with naptha being mixed with petrol (all grades) and kerosene being mixed with diesel. Very rampant in the north.

Heck even us owners have to be careful against the fuel truck guys, we have to let the truck wait for over two hours for the fuel to settle within the tank before unloading to underground tanks. This is to decant the fuel, else the stick which is used to measure the underground tank quantity reads a higher reading.

Most of our customers are non automobile users of auto fuels They come with 200 litre cans which we have to fill, not promoting our enterprise but quantity and quality are 100% up to the mark else we loose business. Logic follows that if there are a lot of non auto users & taxis tanking up at a particular pump its 99% genuine fuel.

Cheers

M M

[HappyWheels]

Hello MM,

Great to get a point of view from the owner shoes.

True that these attendant-based pliferage is often for benefits for the attendants themselves. But I do believe that the owners have to own up the responsibility and make sure that their customers are getting the quality that they are supposed to, as you have done.

[mmmjgm]

Originally Posted by HappyWheels

Hello MM,

Great to get a point of view from the owner shoes.

True that these attendant-based pliferage is often for benefits for the attendants themselves. But I do believe that the owners have to own up the responsibility and make sure that their customers are getting the quality that they are supposed to, as you have done.

HappyWheels, well not being dependent on the oil trade and since the pump is a very old endeavour within the family it is a different story with quality and consistency. However the rule of the thumb is that if one gets 20 lakhs from a pump in a month with adulteration and some being passed onto the company officials and people down the line who care ? Had the pump been our only business we would have sold it and deployed the proceeds elsewhere.

The trade does not remunerate honesty. Yet none the less there are cases say 1 out of 20 which are honest, once again depending upon the quantity they do. If one does a huge quantity they may not resort to it. However there are cases where the transport guys pilfer from the tanker before it reaches the pump, here in this case in the urban areas, most oil PSUs provide their own tankers.

If you remember there was an IIT engineer who got killed for exposing corruption within the pumps. The engineer was an oil PSU employee.

The pumps are cash cows which fuel you know who comes asking around every 5 years

I know of a pump here in Mumbai near the Hiranandani area which was penalised for selling adulterated fuel. So the practice is rampant, all you need to ensure that you are focussed and attentive on the fill. Just make some important statements, note down the local representatives name and number, and mention to the attendant that did Mr. so and so come there, if even if you end up meeting him at the pump ask the PSU representative what measures do you have for prevention of adulteration.

Just a pointer so that the attendant knows you are a VIP. Heck, they dont even ask me money whenever I fill up at our pump.

cheers.

M M