I agree with Karl Overbey. Unless the filling station is very busy, any leftover gas - no matter how little - will evaporate before the next patron arrives, and will therefore be wasted - resulting in increased photochemical smog. This is also the reason we are supposed to fill our tanks late in the day - for the sake of the environment. Waste not - want not.
Responsible general aviation pilots do a similar thing (during pre-flight inspections) after inspecting fuel from the fuel sump drains. They pour the tiny amount of fuel back into the fuel tank (assuming there is no water or contamination of course). To the economic bottom line of the pilot, the tiny amount may be inconsequential, but the cumulative effect of volatile hydrocarbons on the environment is not necessarily so inconsequential, and is entirely unnecessary.
Gasoline also is a solvent for asphalt, and spilled gas will eventually rot away such pavement.
So give a hoot, don’t pollute, and Heidi: You go girl!
As I finish filling the fuel tank on my motorcycle, I hold the nozzle over the opening in the tank until the drops stop falling. Recently, just for kicks, I lifted the hose to see if anymore gas came out. It didn’t. The valve that stops fuel from flowing is in the handle, not inside the gas pump, although there is probably another valve inside the fuel pump for safety reasons.
The problem is you can’t see the end of the nozzle to see if any gasoline comes out when you lift the hose. If you could see the end of the nozzle, you would know you are wasting your time.
I stopped into my local gas station with measuring device in hand. I placed the cup on the ground before I started pumping my own gas, pulled the trigger and out came just about 1 tsp. or 1/6 ounce of gasoline. I then filled my tank, shut off the pump and again measured the gas remaining in the hose. Another teaspoonful (a little less but almost). Keep in mind that I had the cup on the ground, far lower than anyone would be able get gas from the hose to the tank. Gas was selling for $3.56 per gallon or 2.78? per ounce. A grand savings of .463? about half of one penny. The official word from the Emperor of Elysburg. (pennsylvania)
I have a friend who would push the stop button on the pump when he was finished fueling up. He claimed that it purged the line of gas. I figured pushing that button would cause some kind of alarm to go off in the station. I was with him when he did it and no alarms went off, but I don’t know if it purged the line like he said it would either.
More of the same. In the early 70’s, my friend and I worked at a gas station, and each night after closing, when the power to the pumps was shut off we’d drain the hoses into into a gas can, and transfer it to whose car we happened to be using. As I remember, we’d get about a quart out of each pump, and with the 4 pumps that was $0.26 worth of gas at the time! Now, Heidi’s one hose could same her a buck. But it’s still stealing. Unless the guy before you does it to. Therefore, everyone should do it, just in case. That’s logical, right?
After listening to the show I drove across the state to bring my daughter to college. I decided I would experiment on the fill ups coming home. My first fill was a station that had three individual hoses for each grade. Before inserting my debit card I put the nozzle in the tank and squeezed the handle. I got a decent amount of gas into the tank. Then I filled up. After that I took the same hose and squeezed the handle again. I got a bit more but it seemed like not as much as the first time.
When I filled up next, it was a single hose, select-a-grade type. Squeezing the handle got me nothing at all. I tried once more at another station and was able to get a splash from each grade.
As far as the ethical dilemma this poses…I treat it like sticking your finger in the coin return slot of a pay phone or soda machine. If someone left it there ? I say ?Finder’s keepers.?
Tom and Ray: I love your show. I always time my Saturday mornings to be near a radio when you guys start broadcasting from the “XXX Department.”
I was intrigued by Heidi’s call because I also lift the hose of the gas pump before removing the nozzle from the gas tank. I learned this method when I observed my younger brother doing it 15 years ago. I don’t know why he did it, but it was a blinding flash of the obvious to me: what better way to keep gasoline from dripping out of the nozzle onto the paint job. I have heard that gasoline ruins a car’s paint job.
There are a few other reasons for “emptying” the hose. Allowing gasoline to spill on the ground is not doing the environment any benefits. When I was stationed in Germany with the Army, we were VERY conscious of our impact on the environment, because the U.S. Government had to reimburse the German Government for any damage. During our maneuver exercises (through cities, towns, fields, on- and off-road), the refueling points were manned exclusively by certified fuel handlers who placed drip buckets under the nozzle to catch the errants drops, under the watchful gaze of German monitors. Fuel spills meant more expense to the U.S. Government. Why shouldn’t we try to be as conscientious about our own environment?
Looking at this question from the monetary point of view: where is the meter located that measures the gas that we dispense. I would imagine that it is somewhere in the pump itself. In other words, by the time it gets to the hose, you have been charged for it – you might as well take it. If you decide that it is too much work or too messy to claim what you have paid for, you leave it for the next person.
I was a little upset that Heidi’s question was turned into an issue of taking what might not be hers. Last week’s response from a science teacher seemed to address the question from the standpoint of practicality: how many drops are there in the average hose and how many hoses would you have to empty to fill your tank. I don’t think that Heidi has ever spent a night driving around to closed gas stations to get a free tank of gas.
The bottom line is that the simple act of emptying the hose protects the paint job and preserves the environment, while giving you what you have already paid for. The only drawback is that your hands will smell like gas for the rest of the day.
Even though gas has grossly been inflated in recent years, I still don’t bother to have a ritual for snaking the last few drops out of the nozzle. It clicks, I tap it to make sure I don’t drip any on the paint surrounding the cap, and hang it up.