A short while ago I received an e-mail from a friend forwarding a piece of advice from a worker at the Marian Hill Pipeline, Durban.

He says 'My line of work is in petroleum and has been for about 31 years now. So here are 3 tips to get more of your money's worth for every litre.'

1. Only buy or 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 beneath the ground. The colder the ground, the more dense the fuel. When it gets warmer petrol expands, so buying in the afternoon or evening your litre is not exactly a litre.

2. When you are 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, middle and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimising 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 into 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.
 

3.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 you tank, the less air occupying its empty space. Petrol evaporates faster than you can imagine