winter gas/summer gas questions

so since prices are so low i was thinking of filling a big tank, so when prices go up again it wont hurt as bad. upon doing some checking it seems there is a difference in the gas in different regions of the US. would running winter gas in the summer make much difference? i have read milage is worse in the winter mix, thats not going to change much, but will it make any difference in reliability/drivability on a daily basis in the summer? and if it will is there anything i can add to the gas to make it work for summer? i’ve heard people talk about vapor lock issues as well as the RVP of the gas, but does it really make that big of a difference? especially if i do stop at a gas station and fill up there sometimes too?

honestly, i think you would be better off just buying stock to hedge the price increase.

Basically in the winter more oxyagents are added to help reduce emissions bc of the cold starts and warm ups. I dont beleive it will hurt anything other than gas milage if you ran this gas in the summer. Its like running e85 better emmisions but worse gas milage just not as strong as e85

I’d think it would deteriorate pretty quickly in storage.
On other hand unless you’re running something with a carb I do not think lower boiling point would be an issue.

gas prices aren’t going to jump anytime soon.

What is your definition of soon? Only a few months until the summer cars come out…

We probably won’t see gas prices over 2.50 per gallon for over a year. During summer there is less crude oil consumption in the US than in winter time, so we might even see lower prices.

i suppose though, you never know what could happen… People were saying $250 per barrel for oil last year and now we’re at $45.

link? I dont believe this for a second.

and seriously, how big of a container are we talking? 55 gallons? you are going about this in a retarded way.

:picard: Don’t do this.

Not that I bet you’ve even crunched the numbers, but I’d be willing to bet that all the stabil you’d have to add to keep it from varnishing would offset any savings. Not to mention that whole time value of money thing.

Do yourself a favor: Take the money that you would have spent filling your big tank and put it in a 6 month CD, then use that money to buy gas this summer.

i don’t know if your disputing my estimate on the price of gas or that oil consumption is higher in the winter, or both. By the way…i meant to say oil usage is greater in the winter, not fuel/gas as in my prev post.

A chart of crude oil will show that the price has been trending upwards for many years. Gas prices will rise when the economy starts to recover, and this economy will not recover in one year, which means nice cheap gas prices for a while.

i agree. Def not the thing to do. Essentially you’re trying to beat the oil market by stockpiling gasoline. if you think you can predict when oil will climb, you’re better off putting your money into an oil fund, or some oil company, rather than betting that your gallons and gallons of gasoline will stay fresh for an extended period of time.

I’m in disbelief that oil usage is higher in the winter.

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/FTPROOT/presentations/naseo_outlook_conference/tsld008.htm

"The difference between heating oil and crude oil spot prices tends to vary seasonally; that is, it’s generally higher in the winter, when demand for distillate fuels is higher due to heating requirements, and lower in the summer. (Gasoline, as we’ll see later, generally does the opposite.) However, other factors affecting supply and demand, including the relative severity of winter weather, can greatly distort these “typical” seasonal trends. "

Its not just oil for cars, and gasoline. Home heating oil is used in the winter.

That, and cars use more fuel in the winter. My economy has gone down about 5mpg, now think of every car on the road.

I can see more oil being used in the winter for sure.

As for the guy stockpiling gas, I can see an explosion in your future. Like the guy who put a bunch of gas cans in his basement, and wondered why his house blew up. You can’t store gas in a safe way in your home, or on your property in general unless you have an underground tank.

So lets say you’re going to buy enough to really matter, say 500 gallons.

@ $2 a gallon it’s $1000

@ $4 a gallon it’s $2000

So a potential savings of $1000.

But you need a tank, and 500 gallon tanks rated to safely hold gasoline aren’t cheap. I doubt most zoning laws even allow you store 500 gallons in a residentially zoned area. Do you have a plan for dealing with a spill of that magnitude if something were to happen? If not, you’re talking about major fines from the EPA, especially when they realize it wasn’t legal for you to be storing that much fuel in the first place. Add in the cost of the stabilizer you’d need to keep the gas fresh and this is looking like a worse and worse idea all the time.

I stand corrected. I was thinking of all the summer vehicles / toys / tools that use oil.

We should all pitch in and buy an old broken down gas station, the nyspeed gas depot. Their tanks hold about 10k gallons, don’t they???..

Still wouldn’t be worth it…

http://www.latinoreview.com/images/user/picard-facepalm.jpg

what? we go threw less gas in the summer than winter? how so? summer you have all the tuned cars, boats, muscle cars, more people driving to go places when the weather is nicer. how is there more gas consumed in the winter?

if this is case please explain

i corrected myself in another post after that. i meant oil, not fuel/gas.