I recently got an email from a friend who passed along some tips about saving money on gasoline. I went ahead and edited it down and would like to share:

Tips on pumping gas

• Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold: Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening … your gallon is not exactly a gallon. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal, but the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps.
• When you’re filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode: If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3)stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you’re getting less worth for your money.
• One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY: The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation.
• Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up:most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.

Where To Buy Gas

The Saudis are boycotting American goods. We should return the favor. An interesting thought is to boycott their GAS. Every time you fill up the car, you can avoid putting more money into the coffers of Saudi Arabia. Just buy from gas companies that don’t import their oil from the Saudis.

These companies import Middle Eastern oil:
Shell……………………… 205,7 42,000 barrels
Chevron/Texaco……… 144,332,000 barrels
Exxon/Mobil…… ……… 130,082,000 barrels
Marathon/Speedway… 117,740,000 barrels
Amoco……………………….62,231,000 barrels

Here are so me large companies that do not import Middle Eastern oil:
Sunoco………………0 barrels
Conoco………………0 barrels
Sinclair………………0 barrels
BP/Phillips………….0 barrels
Hess………………….0 barrels
ARC0…………………0 barrels

All of this information is available from the Department of Energy and each is required to state where they get their oil and how much they are importing.

I didn’t come up with all this, as I said in the beginning, the information was passed along to me and I’m just sharing with everyone. I am going to try my best to only buy oil from companies that do not import from the Saudis. I really think this is a good way to send a message to the big oil companies.

Aside from changing the oil and filters on your mower, it’s a good idea to clean it out underneath. I should have probably done this last year before putting it away. Run the mower till it is out of gas so you don’t leak gas all over the place. Disconnect the spark plug so the mower can’t start up with your hands hear the blade. Flip the mower over.

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See all that grass? Scrape it all off.

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Now your mower should be ready to mow again.

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My mower is a Craftsman so to change the oil I have to roll he mower over and empty the oil through the fill on top of the mower, so I changed the oil as well while cleaning it. Now that the mower is clean underneath it should not conk out as much when cutting high grass.

I haven’t been keeping up with the blog because I’ve been a bit too busy.  I started taking classes again at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell Online, traveling for work (spent a whole month in Hawaii), taking care of my family and many other little things.  School is done till the end of month, I’m taking a summer course.  I’m going to try and start posting again, so for anyone who reads this blog it’s not dead!

I’ve been thinking about doing some post about tools, how to use them, and projects.  I work as an industrial equipment technician and I get to work with a variety of tools.  Anything for basic hand tools to laser and electronic alignment equipment, plus I’m going to be doing some home projects as well over the summer.  I am going to try and incorporate these things into the blog here. Keep an eye out :)

Shack