About once or maybe twice a year I might run a tank of top tier fuel, but mostly I just use Casey's ,HyVee or Sam's club. None are top tier but so far no issues. Even non top tier fuel has some detergents in it. The closest top tier station would be Costco, but we are already Sam's club members and I am not going to join Costco and pay another membership fee just to get top tier gasoline. Millions of vehicles running just fine on standard non top tier gasoline for years and years.
Updated Top Tier Fuel list, to include now diesel
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Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
Originally Posted By: shanneba
Originally Posted By: racin4ds
I find this funny as I see the same truck that fills the supposed top tier Shell station, go a few miles down the road and fill the non-top tier Circle K or other mom and pop station...
All this is is marketing, allowing these "Branded" stations to mark up the price of fuel.
Most fuel truck have at least 4 different compartments. Next time you see a truck filling tanks look to see how many outlets it has.
Some tank trucks are able to carry multiple products at once due to compartmentalization of the tank into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or in some rare cases more tank compartments. This allows for an increased number of delivery options. These trucks are commonly used to carry different grades of gasoline to service stations to carry all products needed in one trip.
Great info, thanks!
Agreed, thanks.
Originally Posted By: shanneba
Originally Posted By: racin4ds
I find this funny as I see the same truck that fills the supposed top tier Shell station, go a few miles down the road and fill the non-top tier Circle K or other mom and pop station...
All this is is marketing, allowing these "Branded" stations to mark up the price of fuel.
Most fuel truck have at least 4 different compartments. Next time you see a truck filling tanks look to see how many outlets it has.
Some tank trucks are able to carry multiple products at once due to compartmentalization of the tank into 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or in some rare cases more tank compartments. This allows for an increased number of delivery options. These trucks are commonly used to carry different grades of gasoline to service stations to carry all products needed in one trip.
Great info, thanks!
Agreed, thanks.
As said the tankers have compartments and the additives are added as the compartments are filled. Gas terminals with move branded and unbranded fuels. Sometimes the gas is different between the two but most of the time it isn’t. Some of my terminals have top tiere additives and generic additives while some only have the top tiere addative. The generic Gas from the terminals with only top tiere additives gets the top tiere stuff but less of it than branded gas.
The quality control on branded and unbranded is the same. It has to met specific specs and is tested not only by the terminal but also the state. If you get a bad tank of gas let the station and/or the brand company know. Mistakes happen and off spec fuels have been sent out. It isn’t a conspiracy having to do with ethanol or poor fuel. Something went wrong. Lots of money gets spent recovering off spec product.
The quality control on branded and unbranded is the same. It has to met specific specs and is tested not only by the terminal but also the state. If you get a bad tank of gas let the station and/or the brand company know. Mistakes happen and off spec fuels have been sent out. It isn’t a conspiracy having to do with ethanol or poor fuel. Something went wrong. Lots of money gets spent recovering off spec product.
I honestly can't tell the trolling from the honest interest in this thread.
Gasoline volatility is controlled seasonally, NO terminals segregate "no name" gasoline for 60 days minimum, it would be in big, big trouble with the EPA & DOJ if that occurred, especially in summer. Gasoline moves from refineries to terminals in less than a week on average, the closer a terminal is to a refinery, the shorter the delay. Quality is checked before a refinery ever transfers a shipment to a terminal, including terminals directly at refineries. This is true whether the product is shipped by pipeline, railcar, or marine transport.
Additive injection is metered and instrumented, and has provided an audit trail for EPA reporting since 1995, same type of instrumentatoon is used for Top Tier as "no name" additive blending.
The same is true for ethanol addition these days and has been for some time.
Tankers typically have multiple compartments for hauling multiple grades. Trucking operators have good incentives to optimize their deliveries.
I've posted the Colonial Pipeline rules on additives allowed and additives not allowed in yheir pipeline transport, which is a typical list. None of the detergent additives are permitted in pipeline transport, there are solid reasons of chemistry they're added as a cargo is being loaded for station delivery, same as ethanol. Now Top Tier has added another good reason.
Gasoline volatility is controlled seasonally, NO terminals segregate "no name" gasoline for 60 days minimum, it would be in big, big trouble with the EPA & DOJ if that occurred, especially in summer. Gasoline moves from refineries to terminals in less than a week on average, the closer a terminal is to a refinery, the shorter the delay. Quality is checked before a refinery ever transfers a shipment to a terminal, including terminals directly at refineries. This is true whether the product is shipped by pipeline, railcar, or marine transport.
Additive injection is metered and instrumented, and has provided an audit trail for EPA reporting since 1995, same type of instrumentatoon is used for Top Tier as "no name" additive blending.
The same is true for ethanol addition these days and has been for some time.
Tankers typically have multiple compartments for hauling multiple grades. Trucking operators have good incentives to optimize their deliveries.
I've posted the Colonial Pipeline rules on additives allowed and additives not allowed in yheir pipeline transport, which is a typical list. None of the detergent additives are permitted in pipeline transport, there are solid reasons of chemistry they're added as a cargo is being loaded for station delivery, same as ethanol. Now Top Tier has added another good reason.
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Originally Posted By: Nyogtha
Gasoline moves from refineries to terminals in less than a week on average, the closer a terminal is to a refinery, the shorter the delay. Quality is checked before a refinery ever transfers a shipment to a terminal, including terminals directly at refineries.
That is mostly the case but sometimes refiners with park product in tanks for months at a time. Usually it is an out of season rvp Gas they made and need to store it till the season changes. It is still within spec when sold. Tank space in terminals is at a premium so even the old stored stuff gets mixed through with newer product when it is finally delivered. In all three of the terminals on my pipeline we didn’t have to jet any tanks during blend down this year. Product was in and out that often.
Gasoline moves from refineries to terminals in less than a week on average, the closer a terminal is to a refinery, the shorter the delay. Quality is checked before a refinery ever transfers a shipment to a terminal, including terminals directly at refineries.
That is mostly the case but sometimes refiners with park product in tanks for months at a time. Usually it is an out of season rvp Gas they made and need to store it till the season changes. It is still within spec when sold. Tank space in terminals is at a premium so even the old stored stuff gets mixed through with newer product when it is finally delivered. In all three of the terminals on my pipeline we didn’t have to jet any tanks during blend down this year. Product was in and out that often.
Originally Posted By: racin4ds
All this is is marketing, allowing these "Branded" stations to mark up the price of fuel.
It's the additives. All the fuel comes from the same refinery, generally speaking, and yes, often on the same truck. Now, as for pricing, of course, that's location dependent. Here, most stations are Top Tier, and the most of the ones that aren't are also not offering a discount. There are discount gas stations here, but I've been stung before.
The company holding the brand can and will check that station operators aren't cheating, too.
All this is is marketing, allowing these "Branded" stations to mark up the price of fuel.
It's the additives. All the fuel comes from the same refinery, generally speaking, and yes, often on the same truck. Now, as for pricing, of course, that's location dependent. Here, most stations are Top Tier, and the most of the ones that aren't are also not offering a discount. There are discount gas stations here, but I've been stung before.
The company holding the brand can and will check that station operators aren't cheating, too.
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