Looking for fueling tips. someone suggested to me the other day of putting only 100 gallons in the tanks. never fill them up. They say I'm putting my profit in my tanks, I agree with this anaolgy. Has anyone else been doing this..
when I was hauling cars, I could fill the tanks and still make a god living, but pulling this reefer around, I noticed that, i'm eating my profit up by topping off the tanks.
Anymore tips to fueling and saving a few hundred bucks?

 

You're gonna burn the fuel either way. Only difference is you'll be stopping more to buy more.

Kinda like my friends that only put 5 bucks in the cars at a time.

 

I'd think the best way is to find out where you can fill up for the cheapest price and if you don't need to idle, don't. Also, finding that sweet spot on the speed would be a good idea.

 

So by only putting in 100 gallons at a time your truck burns less?

 

Only partially filling the tanks also allows more opportunity for condensation in the tanks, which results in water in the fuel, which results in more likelihood of fuel line freeze ups in cold weather.

You're not saving any money in the long run, so why increase the chances of being stuck in BFE with frozen fuel lines?

.

 

No wonder, industry in a such a deep scit.....

 

The key is knowing what the fuel tax rate for each state is, subtracting that, and then you will know the price of the fuel. Illinois, for example, has a higher pump price than Iowa or Indiana, but when you factor out the tax, most of the time the fuel is cheaper than either one. You only pay actual tax on the fuel you use in the state. You are refunded the rest. If you are leased on with a carrier that does all the fuel tax and you are not responsible for IFTA filing, then just look for cheapest fuel price.

Use online fuel price checking. I have all the major Truckstop websites bookmarked on my laptop and I can click and see what the current pricing is for every station in any state. The carrier I am leased to also provides current discount pricing for every stop in every state, updated every couple of hours on their website. I also check that to make sure I am gettting the best price.

I never do the partial filling, except to get me to a cheaper fuel in my run. Then I top the tanks. With dual 150 tanks, I hardly ever partial fuel.

Since you are pulling a refer, make sure you are not having to pay tax on fuel in that goes into that refer unit! Fuel that goes in there is non taxable! Same for an APU.

Only other thing you can do is make sure you are getting a decent fuel surcharge and operate your truck in the most effecient manner you can. Speed (based on engine and drivetrain gear ratios), tire selection and air pressures, idling, etc all have an effect. Depending on your engine and gear ratios, you may not have to do the old Schnieder "55" to get good fuel mileage. Based on my gearing and other issues, I can average above 7 mpg while running at or near 65 mph. If you do most things right, you should get at or above 7 mpg and still make realistic time running down the road. Whatever you are getting for mpg, pulling 1 mpg better will give you near $6000 or more improvement in your yearly net. Heck, in most cases, getting that much better fuel mileage, you could take a full month off each year and still make the same money as you are with lower fuel mileage.

 

Why? If you are in a position to fill up on cheap fuel and you only get 100 gallons, how have you profited off that?

 

Yup..

That was about the stupidest thing i've heard so far....and everytime i hear something mind blowing like that and think that it cannot get any worse, i get suprised.

 

All the above advice is all very good advice as far as keeping fuel expenses lower. To answer your question though, the opposite of what you were told would be true. The more fuel in your tanks, the better mpg you should realize. The reason being the cooler the fuel, the higher the BTU value. and the higher the BTU value, the more energy. Also the cooler fuel helps to keep temperatures down in pump and other items that are dependent on fuel for lubrication. Hot fuel is returned to the tanks via fuel return lines and the more fuel you have in your tanks the better job it will do cooling down that hot returned fuel. Even so, I would love to know the difference in mpg between 50 gal. vs 250 gal with all else being equal. That would be a great project for an engineering student.