Hot fuel not a hot deal

I say sue the tobacco lobby. Yeah, they have nothing to do with it, but they have so many lawsuits already they won't notice another one.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(TonyPSchaefer @ Dec 27 2006, 09:50 AM) [snapback]367213[/snapback]</div>

I'm a scientific type (astronomer) and I'd like to join the suit, especially against this administration that is allowing global warming, the obvious culprit. (Did we have any lawsuits before Bush's administration? Proves my point!) Pretty soon I'll have to wear asbestos gloves at the pump.

I'm really against suing the frikin' sun, however. It's my main stock in trade and I just can't stand another hit right now. Bad enough I lost Pluto!

As a Californian, in the heat of things, so to speak, I take a cold compress to Costco each time I fill up and wrap it around the hose. I manage to get a little over 12 gallons into my Prius with some work. (Be ready to slap the gas cap on real fast if you try this.)

(And please watch the name-calling on PriusChat! Troglodytes have feelings too. You want another law suit? We have Moderators to keep this sort of thing down.)

 

I don't see anything ridiculous about this. Let's reverse the tables for a moment, do you think, even for a moment, if there was some way the oil companies could come up with a new way to "game" more cash out of what they manufacture, no matter how incredulous the mechanism, they wouldn't? :lol:

Just think of W.K.T.E.C... More has been lost over a lot less... h34r:

 

I've pretty well managed to put my previous life as a TWA pilot behind me but this got me to thinking. On my L-1011 I ordered fuel by the pound, not the gallon. The airplane gauges registered pounds burned per hour.

This was because of fuel density. Depending on the temperature, 10,000 pounds of fuel took up more or less space in the tanks. This was not normally something I had to think about too much because I seldom ever took off with full tanks. (You burn fuel to carry fuel, a waste.) But an individual tank might be full and any excess I required had to go in another. Fuel density would limit the number of pounds I could put on board but it rarely was a problem because we had so many tanks.

In our car, we ALWAYS order a full tank. In the same way, the number of gallons we get weighs something different depending on the temp. It's the pounds, the "mass" of the fuel, that counts. E = mc^2.

In a 10 gallon tank it would be interesting to see the difference in pounds delivered in winter vs. summer. For us, the whole thing is probably a wash but a professional truck driver might see some important differences. As Sen. Proxmire once famously said about the budget, "A billion here, a billion there... Pretty soon we're talking about real money." (I think he said "million" but that isn't real money anymore.)

So, the solution for this is to sell gasoline by the pound, I think. This would require a density sensor that varied with the temperature be put on each fuel pump. This alone would probably send the cost of gas to astronomical levels.

Give the truckers a subsidy and forget all this. It's cheaper.

 

Sales of large wholesale volumes take temperature into account, and Hawaii and Canada require gas prices to be adjusted for temp at the pump.

 

Well, the solution is to gas up when it's cold. Even in California it gets into the 60s or lower at night. So you just have to find a station where you can gas up at 3am. Should be pretty cold then. Of course that station will probably charge more for being open 24 hours so in the end it will be a wash.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Alnilam @ Dec 27 2006, 04:33 PM) [snapback]367280[/snapback]</div>

As much as this?


[attachmentid=6027]







Taken at a fill up about two weeks ago...!

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(efusco @ Dec 27 2006, 03:47 PM) [snapback]367331[/snapback]</div>

Teehee! Don't forget that first we have to commission a "Blue Ribbon" panel to discuss the idea...that ought to add another decade, easy, onto the lag between ideation and implementation.

 

I call BS. At least in regards to retailors. Years ago, I managed a gas station. It is expensive enough for an operator to put in a tank, let alone put in heating elements. And by the way...How much would the electricity cost to heat up a tank of about 7000 gallons? I would guess that it costs much more than any supposed increase they'd get by the fuel expansion.

I can see the oil refineries storing their tanker trucks in a heated warehouse (esp. here in the north) to keep the fuel warm, but that's about it.