Posted on 09/27/2005 10:52:42 AM PDT by xzins
It's not legal to drive half-tanked is it?
Well, yes, if you're talking about your car. (If it's you, then hang it up, Bubba, you're going down to dui gahenna.)
Going off half-tanked is a great strategy in a time of high and fluctuating gas prices. Pull into the station and only fill half the tank.
This half tank will be treated more carefully; you'll be more likely to nurse it along....maybe even do less driving.
Also, you can play the good consumer game. IF you happen to see a low priced station, you can pull in and top off at the best price, thereby rewarding that low-priced station with your business.
So, forget no-gas Sundays; boycotting Mobile; etc.
Just drive off half-tanked.
The employer was "less than thrilled" to determine that his driver was not being safe. So, he was suspended. While suspended, they needed drivers, so they called him back!
Then, of course, when he was no longer needed, they terminated him.
Bad move on their part...
Spelling isn't one of my strong suits ......
Where I live in the Florida panhandle, the gasoline stations obtain 90% of their product from a local Citgo terminal supplied by fuel barges. After Dennis, Emily, and Katrina, we have had intervals of a week or more when no gasoline was available anywhere locally. The waters of the Gulf were too choppy for the barges to make it over to us. Tourists told to evacuate the area in advance of these storms would naturally fill up before leaving the area for the drive home. Evacuees from LA, MS, and AL took what gasoline was left. So unless you are prepared to get by for a week on a half a tank of gas, which may be impractical depending on your commute, I don't see how your approach would work in these circumstances.
We fill up at the half-tank in North Dakota, especially in winter.
A few gallons can make the difference between life and death when the mercury gets well below zero, particularly if you get stuck in a snowdrift or hit the ditch.
Roads might not be well enough travelled to count on help, cell service is not universal and a payphone is a rarity.
Why should anyone need play mind games with themself to not make unnecessary trips, anyway?
BY that logic, we should only have a quarter tank, or better yet, if you have only a gallon, think of all of the weight you are not carrying!
Actually, you carry more junk in the trunk and glove compartment than what a full tank in today's average car weighs.
It's better to have a full tank. I bet those that ran out of gas in Texas running away from the storm would have loved a full tank, and I bet the guy stuck behind him would have definately been in a much better mood.
The choice is either to be prepared and out of the strike zone of an emergency or you can meet everybody at the Superdome. My wife and I have emergency kits that contain everything, except gas, enough to survive for five days.
"As an optimist, my tank is always half full. "
As an engineer the tank is too big.
But there are 220,000,000 cars in the US.
If "everyone" decides that they aren't, by golly, going to let the fuel get below the filler neck in their rig, all the stations would be sucked dry, so the government is trying to maintain adequate short term supplies already in the system by encouraging people to avoid "topping off".
*When I was an Army officer, we were informed we should always fill up at half empty so we always had a good supply in case of emergency.*
As others have said, excellent advice. Here in earthquake country, it is critical. Remember, if a good quake hits, power goes out, gas pump no pump no more. No warning like a hurricane.
And that idea of driving with less gas to reduce the weight hauled around: BS. Let's see, about 7 gallons is half a tank typically (for a normal car, not SUV gas guzzler) so that half tank missing is about 42 pounds. You really think that will make a detectable difference in gas used to move the car? I do not think so either.
It is the half and quarter tanks that draw in the moist air and then condense it with the coolness of night that puts water in your fuel. The water ruins fuel pumps, injectors, and plugs fuel filters.
It is much more practical to use the half tank theory on the top half of the tank.
A quarter tank, even in my F-150 will get me about 100 miles. Besides, like I said, we have supply here at the hide out for emergencys, and a fuel station pretty close by. Beat driving around with a full fuel tank and the weight of a full fuel tank.
Actually, you carry more junk in the trunk and glove compartment than what a full tank in today's average car weighs.
Not hardly. Full fuel tanks in cars and trucks can easily weigh several hundred pounds.
It's better to have a full tank. I bet those that ran out of gas in Texas running away from the storm would have loved a full tank
If you want to run around with a full fuel tank all them time, be my guest.
You got some kits eh?
I can't begin to tell you about our preparedness. Good luck to you.
Excellent! LOL
In reading the "half tankers" posts here, it becomes obvious that should any auto manufacturers be tuning in, the next extra we will be paying for is the cusom sized gas tanks.
Let's see ... there will be the 2 gal. size for the weight conscious, up to the 50 gal. size for the paranoid. ;)
Did you read the part about topping off when you drive by the cheapest gas in the area, rewarding (in good free market fashion) the guy who's out there competing for your business by lowering his price?
Also, if you KNOW you've got only half a tank, it'll nudge you into asking whether each and every trip is necessary or frivolous.
Also, the President asked us yesterday to begin conserving.
His reason: affect supply. He wants us to cause an increased supply of gasoline by using less of it.
Wonder why he'd want that?
Gasoline weighs about 6.25lb per gallon.
Driving half tanked in a typical midsize car with a 17 gallon tank will save you about 50 pounds out of 3500, 1.4%.
In a truck with a 30 gallon tank, doing this saves around 90 lbs out of 5500, or 1.6%.
Might save you as much as 3-5 gallons per year.
Let me re-emphasize, I don't make a habit of driving around just for the hell of it, I drive when I need to.
Consumers only filling their tanks half way will only increase the supply of gasoline here:
Great idea...I think I will also load my gun with half a clip of ammo in case I find it cheaper elsewhere...
While I am at it...do you know where I can get half full bottles of water?
Ask those folks that were trying to get out of Houston the other day if they preferred having 1/2 a tank or a full tank!!!
I hear ammo is in short supply.
Did you hear that, too?
Sorry, but I still think running around with half a tank or less is stupid. And in Iowa in winter, it could mean your death if stuck in a blizzard.
If you want to run around with half a tank, feel free. But you'll never convince me to.
Winter is definitely cold and Iowa is such a desolate corner of God's green earth.
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