Rules of when to fill up w/ gas.

I fill up every time I approach a gas station; my 30 mile commute to work takes about 3.5 hrs to and from doing this, but I never run out of gas
Seriously though, I fill up when I need gas. If that means I have 4 miles til empty, I get gas. If it means I have less than a quarter tank, and my commute the next day requires a quarter tank or more, I get gas.

 

I abide by the 1/4-tank rule. I believe its good to have enough in the tank to keep the pump cool(er).

So in my case I have a 19 gallon tank...I usually end up putting 13 or so in at "1/4 tank" left. Gas light comes on and I still have about 4 gallons left....its rare I see that light.

 

Duh, and I live in Florida, you think I would have thought that. But 80 million gas stations in Florida, you're never far, and in Hurricane season, I keep like 80 gallons on non Ethanol gas in gas cans in the pump house.....

 

I always fill up around 1/8 - 1/4 tank. I don't like stopping at gas stations.

 

My personal method of operating is to never, ever get below 1/4 tank.

If I know I am going on a drive of any significant distance (say >100 miles) within th enext day or two, I fill up if I am 1/2 tank or less, just to make extra certain that I have no issues. You never know when your trip might get delayed by a traffic accident, road construction, E.T. landing on the road right in front of you..... and you may spend an extended period idling and burn unexpected fuel, and/or may end up in a situation where you can't get off that road and get to a gas station for a while.

 

1/4 rule here too.

 

i fill up weekly unless that week im running out then as soon as I get the please fill up msg

 

When hurricanes are churning up the gulf, I make sure everything I got is sitting on the full mark.

 

Katrina and Ike, when they made landfall if you didnt have enough in the tank to get 200 miles in bumper to bumper evacuation traffic, you may well have been SOL. You could find electricity sooner than 200 miles, but they were sold out and fuel trucks were unable to get in to refill them.

 

At 1/4 tank I start looking.
gasbuddy.com rules!

 

I mean if you are in the path of a hurricane and you didn’t fill up your tank you are an idiot. I live in California so we could have an earthquake anytime. But I won’t be running from a storm. Like I said, 30 years of driving in California and I have never seen a situation where you couldn’t get gas.

 

I did not read through this entire thread but one thing to remember is that fuel pumps are inside the tank on almost all modern vehicles. That fuel also serves as a cooling agent for said pump. If you run your tank almost dry that pump in theory is warmer and thus some claim can cause premature failure. I typically try and fill up at a quarter of a tank for this reason.

 

It's been said like a hundred times, the fuel tank has a divot in it to hold fuel around the pump, unless you run it dry, impossible, there's always fuel the pump can't pick up, there is fuel surrounding the pump.

 

I top mine off every 10-15 miles to stay prepped for the zombie apocalypse.

Actually 1/4 tank or maybe down to 1/8 on occasion because I don’t care to needlessly fill more frequently than reasonable for my area.

 

I'm more worried about filling up my generator these days....

 

In every day life, we typically refill all tanks at the half mark. Since I'm all over the place in out of the way areas, I often refill the Tacoma at the 3/4 mark, just to be sure I even can get home.

 

Perhaps on some models but every one I have changed (more than a few. GM vehicles mostly) that is not the case. In every case the fuel pump is mounted from the top of the tank with the pump suspended in the tank near the bottom just over the strainer where the fuel is picked up. Most are designed to be cooled from the fuel that is actually running through it and thus as long as fuel exist it is technically cooling. However! When also suspended in fuel it assist in cooling the pump greatly and in some poor designs (GM) can actually prevent complete failure. Not sure I have ever witnessed a design that plants the pump at the bottom of a tank where it bathes in a pool of fuel. Most tanks are designed to be flat and void of areas where contaminants can settle. Just my experience.

 

Alot of people talking about disaster prep and there fuel tank, don't think I would worry about the amount of gas in my tank, I would probably just keep some amount of gas in storage for emergency use and cycle it out once a year.

 

I second this.

We have four 5-gallon cans at any given time. Three full ones, and one "in-use" can. That's 15+ gallons for anything that might arise. We rotate through them with lawn equipment and the generator on the rare occasion that it gets used which alone holds four gallons.

 

I take it to empty and then take out a 2nd mortgage to fill up out her in California.