Car petrol filled from 2 stations(Esso +Total) But HUGE difference in Tank level ??

RichardD1970

RichardD1970 wrote: »

Hmm,

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.500773,-1.759421,3a,75y,280.22h,77.08t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1skFlMQgAcitC8BbG3LSojgg!2e0

Image from July 2012, (just) over 1 year after your link, and I'm pretty sure it's still the same. Will check tomorrow.

Checked today and......




























































it's an Esso :rotfl:

I'm not afraid to admit I was wrong, unlike some on certain threads on here.

SunReader

Knowing someone who has been an independent fuel retailer for years, he told me the chances of weights and measures actually checking the dispensers is very rare, and problems will be blamed on the pumps not the retailers. Give the low margins on petrol, there is definitely a temptation to underfill.

There are strict checks and balances to measure tank leakage and any discrepancy between fuel in/fuel out apart from a small allowance for evaporation will show up pretty soon.

Tesco got away with it for months,:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/7974289.stm

taxiphil

SunReader wrote: »

Knowing someone who has been an independent fuel retailer for years, he told me the chances of weights and measures actually checking the dispensers is very rare, and problems will be blamed on the pumps not the retailers. Give the low margins on petrol, there is definitely a temptation to underfill.

I've heard similar things.

There was a theory doing the rounds in Stoke on Trent a few years back. One of the slightly dodgy-looking independent garages allegedly rigged pumps 1 to 5 to undermeasure, while pump 6 overmeasured, thereby balancing the books for the total amount of fuel in / fuel out.

Apparently a select group of taxi drivers (no doubt friends of the garage owners) were "in on it" and would only use pump 6. The giveaway was that you could sometimes drive past and see a queue of taxis 3 deep waiting for pump 6 while the other pumps were all available.

anotheruser

Stoke wrote: »

What's the point in your comment? The OP is asking for our opinion. Most car gauges are unreliable, doesn't mean we don't use them.

motorguy wrote: »

As has been said, whats the point of that comment??

Its a fuel "gauge" - ie, it helps you gauge how much fuel you have left in your tank.

:S - My comment was suggesting if those people who are saying the petrol gauge is "never accurate", "aren't reliable" and "naff"... surely that's like saying a simple ball point pen is "naff" and "un-reliable"?

My fuel gauge fulfils the function it is intended to... that is to tell me when I am running low and should top up with fuel. In the grand scheme of things, I would suggest they are accurate and reliable.

It was merely a general observation and a suggestion that if you think they are "never accurate" and "un-reliable", then don't use it.

motorguy

anotheruser wrote: »

:S - My comment was suggesting if those people who are saying the petrol gauge is "never accurate", "aren't reliable" and "naff"... surely that's like saying a simple ball point pen is "naff" and "un-reliable"?

My fuel gauge fulfils the function it is intended to... that is to tell me when I am running low and should top up with fuel. In the grand scheme of things, I would suggest they are accurate and reliable.

It was merely a general observation and a suggestion that if you think they are "never accurate" and "un-reliable", then don't use it.

Thats a particularly blinkered and frankly pointless viewpoint.

Its a "gauge" - you use it to gauge roughly how much fuel you have left. When it gets near empty, you refill your car.

Its does its job which is to give you an indication of how much fuel is sloshing about in your tank.

Is it absolutely pinpoint accurate to the nearest millilitre? No.
Doe it need to be? No.
Should it be used as an absolute reference between two different amounts of fuel going into a car with no indication of how much fuel was there in the first place? No.

Given the above, would any sane person be suggesting we should all rip the gauge out? No - because that would be a silly suggestion. You simply work within its parameters of operation.

SunReader

Most taxis in stoke are diesel -I live there. but plausible I accept.

reeac

forgotmyname wrote: »

I was going to say because it was hotter when you put the 2nd lot in so the fuel had expanded more

Quick search shows that coeff. of volume exp. of oil is 0.07% per degree C. The underground storage tank will be at a constant temp. but the car tank might be at 5C one day and 25C on the other day and we'll assume that the new fuel quickly assumes that temp. so it's 20C difference or 1.4% i.e. negligible. That assumes that that "oil" figure applies to car fuel.