Here's some information about 'hot fuel' in real numbers

Some estimate that hot fuel is costing consumers over $2.3 billion a year.

By JOHN EWING
Truckers Connection

2/25/2008

John Ewing is a former owner-operator and the author of The Truckers Helper business management sofrware for truckers. He offers the following opinioin on the hot fuel debate.

Hot fuel has been around for years and it’s estimated that it’s costing consumers over $2.3 billion every year. A large portion of that is paid by America’s truckers, and with the ever-rising cost of fuel, it’s something you need to be aware of and take action on.

So what is “hot fuel?”  Hot fuel is expanded fuel that is sold at truck stops and gas stations around the country at temperatures higher than the government standard, which is 60 degrees. All of the pumps are calibrated to pump a gallon of fuel at 60 degrees. When the fuel is expanded by heating it, you receive less than a gallon through the pump. So you’re actually being charged for a gallon of fuel but you’re not getting a full gallon.

So what’s the effect of this “hot fuel?” Here’s a typical example. If you get six mpg, 200 gallons of 98 degree fuel is going to take you 36 fewer miles than 60 degree fuel. For the average owner-operator who’s running 120,000 miles a year, that represents 20,000 gallons of fuel a year and 3,600 fewer miles on that fuel, which translates (at $3.00 per gallon) to $1,800 per year. That doubles for a team. If fuel prices keep going up, and a lot of people are predicting $4.00 per gallon, that cost will keep rising with it.

The “rack,” the place where the fuel that the truck stops carry is purchased, has fuel compensation on the pumps. So, the truck stop is getting an actual gallon when it purchases fuel and when it pays the road tax on that fuel. Truck stops and gas stations do not pay the government based on what they collect at the pump. They pay the taxes at the time of the purchase from the distributor. So, if they then turn around and sell the fuel to you and collect a gallon’s worth of tax for less than a gallon in fuel, they pocket the difference in the tax paid and the tax collected. It’s estimated that the oil industry is pocketing over $140 million dollars every year in additional taxes that they collect and never pay to the government.

So, what can you do about it? Pulp your fuel and let the station know when you get hot fuel. If you don’t have a pulp thermometer, you can pick one up at almost any truck stop. After you finish fueling, take a minute and pulp your fuel. A big truck is already set up for this operation, and with the large opening at the top of the tank, it’s an easy process to pulp the fuel. Granted, it may be affected a little by the fuel already in your tank and the temperature outside, but if you just purchased 200 gallons of fuel and put it into your 2,150 gallon tanks, the temperature of that fuel is still going to be within a couple of degrees of what it was coming out of the nozzle.

If the fuel temperature is high, go in and ask the clerk to show you the current tank temperature. All the stations have monitoring equipment they use to check tank levels, and since temperature affects the actual number of gallons present in the tank (remember it expands and contracts with temperature changes), they also monitor the temperature so they can calculate the true number of gallons in the tank. Keep a record of fuel temperatures and don’t return to truck stops that have excessively high fuel temperatures. Report hot fuel to OOIDA (Owner Operator Independent Drivers Association) at 800-444-5791 and to your representatives in Congress. Spread the word to other truckers and to the four wheelers you know about hot fuel and ask them to let Congress know that they want a solution to this rip off. Every American who drives is being cheated every time they buy hot fuel. The technology exists to put a stop to this problem, but as long as big oil is raking in the profits, there’s no motivation for them to stop cheating us. We are going to have to raise our voices loud and clear if we want the Congress to bite the hand that feeds them.

If you want some more information on this subject, here are a few places to find it:

Hot Fuel: www.ooida.com and look for the link to “Turn Down Hot Fuel.”

You can also Google “hot fuel” and you’ll find a lot of links to organizations who are working on this problem and reports on the problem. If we all speak up, we can get something done, but it’s going to take everyone speaking out to overcome the millions of dollars the oil companies are spending to keep Congress at bay.

Did you know?

Fuel experiences significant expansion and contraction with temperature changes.

For each 15 ºF in temperature change:

• Gas experiences a 1% change in volume
• Diesel experiences a .6% change

 What that means:

• A 25-gallon fill-up of 75 ºF gasoline equates to a loss of nearly one quart. 
• The same fill-up at 90 ºF equates to nearly a half gallon changes.          
• A 200-gallon fill-up of 75 ºF diesel equates to a loss of 1.2 gallons.          
• The same fill-up at 90 ºF equates to a 2.4 gallon loss. That’s over $7.00 a fill-up.
• At 60 ºF a gallon is 231 cubic inches of gas, but at 90 ºF that same gallon is 235 cubic inches of gas.
• Pumps measure the number of cubic inches flowing through them.
• A car with a 20-gallon tank that gets 20 mpg will go 500 miles on a tank of gas at
  60 ºF, and 490 miles on a tank of gas at 90 ºF.