by John Beagle
Gas Prices are over $3 per gallon again in Middletown.

So here are some tips on saving money on every tank of gas.

The two big things you can do is fill up when it is cool out like early morning or late at night and don't let your tank run low before filling.

Here are Tips to Save on Gas:

1.        Fill up your car or truck in the morning when the temperature is  still cool. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks  buried  below  ground; and the colder the ground, the denser the gasoline. When it gets warmer gasoline expands, so if you're filling up in  the  afternoon  or  in  the evening, what should be a gallon is not exactly  a gallon. The specific gravity and temperature of the fuel (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum  products)  are  significant. Every truckload is
temperature-compensated  so  that  the indicated gallon-age is actually the  amount pumped.  A one-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for businesses, but service stations don't have temperature compensation at their pumps.

2.        If  a  tanker truck is filling the station's tank at the time you want to buy gas, do not fill up; most likely dirt and sludge in the tank  is being stirred up when gas is being delivered, and you might be transferring  that  dirt  from the bottom of their tank into your car's tank.

3.        Fill  up  when  your  gas  tank is half-full (or half-empty), because  the  more  gas you have in your tank the less air there is and gasoline  evaporates  rapidly,  especially  when  it's warm. (Gasoline  storage  tanks  have  an  internal floating 'roof' membrane to act as a barrier   between  the  gas  and  the  atmosphere,  thereby minimizing evaporation.)

4.        If  you  look  at  the  trigger  you'll see that it has three delivery  settings:  slow,  medium and high.  When you're filling up do not  squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to the high setting.  You should be pumping at the slow setting, thereby minimizing vapors created while you are pumping. Hoses at the pump are corrugated; the corrugations act as  a  return  path  for  vapor recovery from gas that already has been  metered.   If  you  are  pumping  at  the  high setting, the agitated gasoline  contains  more  vapor  which  is  being  sucked back into the underground tank, so, you're getting less gas for your money.

Source: Petroleum Insider