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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
It either violates federal law or it doesn't. May is doing a lot of heavy lifting here. Not to mention there are signs for both up to 10% and up to 15%...
If the purpose of the warning is to make sure people get the blend they want then just say that.
Fuck you if you own a motorcycle, I guess.
My RV200's tank only holds 1.7 gallons, and my CH50 will only take one. I guess I'm meant to just dispense the remaining three gallons onto the ground, then...?
From morocyclistonline.com:
Running your bike on E15 may cause your engine to run hot and could possibly damage your bike's catalytic convertor as well as cause crud buildup on your valves and pistons.
Found it. Since the gas goes through the same hose as the other blends, if you're buying gas you need to get at least 4 gallons so the previous gas flushes out what was left in the hose from the previous sale, and fills enough of the container that the blend is primarily what you selected.
If you buy E15 and fill your tanks, then the next guy buys E10 and only gets 1 gallon, they might end up with a higher ethanol mix than intended, and if they use that on a small motor, like a chainsaw, it could ruin the seals.
I'm in Europe and I have never in my life seen a gas station that dispenses every fuel through just one hose.
Every fuel has its own hose and "pistol". Each "pump" has two or three or four hoses.
How fucking big are American canisters? In Germany the regular size is 5l, [Edit: ~~just shy of~~ a bit more than] one gallon.
5l, just shy of one gallon.
5L can't be shy of a gallon. 4L is more than a gallon.
checks
Yeah, a gallon is 3.7854118 L.
Oh...wait. You're in Europe. I bet that you're thinking of imperial gallons.
checks
That's about 4.5 L. Still not the case even with imperial gallons.
When people are talking about gallons in the US, they won't be using imperial gallons. They're using the US gallon.
Well, I just typed “1 gallon in liters” into google and took the first number, because I couldn’t be bothered to deal with your system of measurement more than necessary. My point stands regardless of the exact volume of one gallon.
OF COURSE THERE IS MORE THAN ONE DEFINITION OF GALLON
I'm not from the US so my biggest surprise here is that you don't get separate hoses for each grade.
Imagine getting Diesel in Germany. “Sorry, that was actually 15 liters of regular gas. ¯_(ツ)_/¯”
Edit: Ok, it’s not as bad as I imagined, since this picture seems to be about E15/E10, not diesel/regular.
diesel absolutely DOES get a separate hose, every time
I've seen pumps that have individual hoses for each octane grade in the US, but they're definitely uncommon, at least where I am, and I believe more prevalent on older pumps. But diesel always has its own hose.
I didn't know this before and it adds credence to my feeling that it's better to let my tank get below 1/4 full before filling it up, rather than continually topping it up.
I fill up when I hit 1/4 tank as well. Don’t wait for it to go below though, as it can be bad for the engine with deposits and other stuff in the tank.
Thanks for the explanation! I wonder what they would do if they caught someone dispensing only 3 gallons.
Federal law states the punishment is a bare bottom spanking.
😳
Federal law states the reward is a bare bottom spanking.
FTFY
I'm sorry officer. Looks like I only bought 3 gallons. I guess you'll have to...punish...me.
Probably nothing. I guess it's possible if you kept switching back and forth between pumping a gallon of premium and a gallon of regular on different pumps to try to steal a few dollars of higher grade, they can use it to give you a ticket, but I'm pretty sure they won't really care if you were just topping off a tank of gas with 3 gallons before a road trip.
I honestly don't know what one does if one runs out of gas down the road from a gas station and doesn't want to call AAA or similar. I assume that gas stations must keep a jerrycan or similar around that they'll let someone take with a deposit.
I definitely wouldn't want to be lugging more gallons by hand than would be necessary to get my car to the gas station.
As it's a federal regulation, it would need to be the feds pursuing it. It's highly unlikely they'd come after the individual. They would be more likely to pursue the gas station.
Presumably, you buy a grade other than the E15 that doesn't have the "minimum 4 gallons" restriction.
So, I don't know what the deal is with E15 -- what's unusual there is the ethanol content -- but insofar as high-octane blends go, and if that's the factor here...I mean, while I realize that there's a certain contingent of people who buy them because they think that they're just better for their car, and for all I know that may dominate the actual market, in theory you're supposed to only use high-octane fuels in cars with engines that require it.
I guess they'd probably function without it, but...
Buying E10 fuel (a mixture that contains 10 percent ethanol) from a hose that also supplies E15 fuel (a mixture that contains 15 percent ethanol) must buy at least four gallons to protect customers following behind. Ethanol is hard on engines and less efficient than regular gasoline. E15 can even cause engine failure in smaller or older engines. So if you’re using a blender pump to buy E10 that sells both E15 and E10, the residual amount of E15 left in the hose from the previous customer could cause significant damage to those smaller and older engines—unless you purchase at least 4 gallons.
Hold the fuck up.
Customer A buys 10 gallons of E15.
Customer B buys 1 gallon of E10 from the same pump.
Customer C buys 1 gallon of E10 from the same pump and puts it in his chainsaw. If that gallon ruins Customer C's chainsaw, it's legally Customer B's fault? What the fuck?
Forcing B to buy more gas than he might want, to protect the customer after him, because of the customer that came before him, is some horseshit.
This seems like it's flipped around backwards. The picture says you have to pump more than 4 gallons if you are getting E15, but the explanation seems to explain why someone pumping E10 would want to pump more than 4 gallons.
I bet the real reason is that someone could pump a couple of gallons of cheaper E15, knowing they'd actually receive E10, leaving the next person to actually get that gas.
Ok, that makes sense, but why a federal law?
Why force companies to buy pumps that blend when you can force all liability onto the customer?
Gas stations can get away buying cheap blending pumps and if it breaks someone's older car just shrug and say it must have been the previous customer's fault, we're not liable.
I think it has to do with how it’s dispensed. If the person before you bought regular fuel, the hose still might have residual fuel from the other kind, meaning you could end up with a different ethanol level than expected. That’s a fire hazard. 4 gallons is probably overkill but better safe than sorry.
Edit: basically, if you accidentally get half a gallon of 10% ethanol fuel and half a gallon of 15% ethanol fuel, you actually have 12.5%.
Has that always been the law and I just never noticed a sticker like that before?
Not sure how long it’s been a law but not a ton of places sell E15. I only ever see it on road trips personally.
https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/ethanol-e15
E15 is available in 31 states at just over 3,000 stations. E10 remains the limit for passenger vehicles older than model year 2001 and for other non-road and small engines and vehicles that use gasoline, such as lawn mowers, motorcycles, and boats.
