So the general concensus is to not fill while the tanker is there. Is there a way to tell at a glance what is in the tanker? If it's full of gas, I'll fill up, but if its a diesel tanker, I'll move on.

 

Look at the UN numbers on the truck (the red diamond shaped signs with the numbers) 1202 is Diesel and 1203 is gas.

 

The DOT placard on the trailer will tell you what the truck is loaded with. IIRC 1203 is gasoline and 1993/1202 is diesel.

 

Funny you posted this. Just picked up my F350 today and first diesel and salesman said if you see a tanker filling the stations tanks move on. I never gave this one thought with my gas vehicles but he said it applies to gas and diesel.

 

Got it. Thx.

1203 I'm free
1202 move on thru

 

Took three tries to get fuel tonight. Regular station had tanker, secondary station out of order, tertiary station worked out.

 

Can someone school me on what the tanker's presence entails? I assume its something with stirring up water in the storage tanks or something?

 

Exactly...stirring up water, dirt, etc

 

The truck usually delivers all three at the same time if ordered. The store tells them how much of each is needed for delivery. Super, regular and diesel. If I see them dumping I skip that station for 24 hrs or go to a different station not to pick up any trash that it disturbed and yes I know it has filters or should on the pump.

 

Yep, there's crud that settles in the tanks, that gets stirred up at delivery, with both gas and diesel. I cringe when I see people filling their vehicles while a tanker is dropping a load. If a tanker has a mixed load (gas & diesel), and many of them do, they may just display gasoline placards (1203) as it is the more hazardous cargo.

 

When my kids learned to drive:

"See that gas tanker?--stay away from it on the highway and when dropping fuel. You will only ever be involved in ONE accident with one. "

"See that armored truck?--wait till it leaves to go into that store/bank/crossfire."

The dirt and water are the common concerns. But you can fix those issues.

 

Hmm.. this is interesting information to ponder on. No one has ever mentioned this to me, and I have never thought about it. From now on i will keep this in mind, Thanks!!!

I do like to see the printouts that the station does for their quality checks, but don't trust them. We had a 1,000 year flood in my small town in 2009. I was one of the contractors that got to repair all the flood damage, and while we were working at a fuel station, i monitored their gas checks daily. Went from something showing like 15% water mixed in to 0.001% within a few days, maybe a week. All without any new tankers dropping loads in. I was surprised to see this, so from there on I didn't trust these quality checks very much. They must test at the very bottom of the tank, or most prime section inside.

 

My usual station is Costco, hard to go in there when there isn't a tanker present, they go through so much fuel, I have seen 3 go through one in a day.

 

I think most fuel stations get fuel at least once every 24 to 36 hours. I work for a large school system an we lock our tanks for 1 hour after getting fuel delivered. According to our mechanics and fuel supplier that gives you adequate time for the debris and water to settle.

 

Hmm this is interesting. I have never heard this before but it does make sense. Just another way of prevent possible issues with your engine and fuel system.