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I like to have plenty of gas in my car, as well. When I get down to half a tank, I fill up. I never want to be stranded somewhere, and with my little car, half a tank can get me a long way.
That's what my mother always did......and I do too.
The last thing I want to worry about if there is some kind of emergency {maybe in the middle of the night} is finding a gas station.
Not sure how much this affects automobiles but airplanes should be topped off after each flight to prevent water condensation forming in the fuel tanks. I suppose if you left your car 1/4 full for week after a humid few days followed by very cold weather, you might get a little water in there.
That's what my mother always did......and I do too.
The last thing I want to worry about if there is some kind of emergency {maybe in the middle of the night} is finding a gas station.
I always try to keep enough in tank for emergencies. I go way back to the times when stations did not have pumps turned on for credit card use 24 hrs a day. Get stuck once needing to go to the ER and no gas stations open makes a lasting impression.
Its a challenge for me to see how far I can go on a tank of gas. I know when that low gas light comes on much farther I can go and I I try to even push that sometimes. I try to only fill up about once a week...I drive about 80 miles a day and to try and keep my tank full would be more of a hassle for me.
So true.
I drive a gas guzzler.
Have owned 3 gas guzzlers in last 7 years. All with 6+ L Motors, and all with 400 plus hp and all with abt 13 mpg city.
Once the light comes on, I keep driving, since I have an idea as to how much fuel is left and I have gas stations every 2 miles along the most common routes I travel.
I have been known to stretch the time and distance before I fill up. Freaks out my wife though.
I avoid doing the above if I am foreseeing any traffic situation or travelling with my son.
I tend to start thinking about filling the car back up when it hits half a tank. I drive between 300 and 400 miles per week. In the winter months, if you get stuck somewhere and have to wait for help, you don't want to worry about not having enough gas to keep that heater running.
Not sure how much this affects automobiles but airplanes should be topped off after each flight to prevent water condensation forming in the fuel tanks. I suppose if you left your car 1/4 full for week after a humid few days followed by very cold weather, you might get a little water in there.
I have been a jet engine mechanic for 14 years and our aircrafts dont have fuel tanks, they have bladders. The amount of fuel is added to the aircraft is dependant on their destination because an excess of fuel reduces the efficiency of the aircraft and not enough fuel will not get them to where they need to go. In fact, if an aircrafts lands with too much fuel we defuel them if need be for the requirements of the next flight or if they dont have any flights planned. As far as being "topped off"..this only means they have calculated the amount of fuel needed for the next trip and not necessarilly topped off. Topping off an aircraft causes these bladders to leak and because of this they are never full to their capacity.
I grew up in an area where you have to drive 10 miles to the next gas station and they were closed on Sundays or after 8 pm (countryside in Germany). And the next one that was open 24/7 was 30 mls away.
So that scared me so deeply, I always fill up when my tank is half empty, even though I live very close to a 24/7 gas station.
Have owned 3 gas guzzlers in last 7 years. All with 6+ L Motors, and all with 400 plus hp and all with abt 13 mpg city.
Once the light comes on, I keep driving, since I have an idea as to how much fuel is left and I have gas stations every 2 miles along the most common routes I travel.
I have been known to stretch the time and distance before I fill up. Freaks out my wife though.
I avoid doing the above if I am foreseeing any traffic situation or travelling with my son.
Haha, it freaks out my wife too. I always see her trying to sneek a peek at the guage when I am driving..especially when it starts getting low because she is one who needs to fill the tank when it gets to about 1/4.
Ahhh.....just do what your mother did. So much objectivity in that.
If you had an emergency, how far would you need to go? 50 miles? 2-3 gallons?
I am quite capable of objectively deciding if my mother was right about something......and this is something she was right about. {She was right about a LOT of things.}
A few years ago one of my pets became very ill......two trips to the emergency clinic 18 miles from home in the middle of the night {72 miles}.....another trip to my regular vet 8 miles away the next morning the minute they opened at 8:00am {home and back 16 miles}......all in less than 10 hours.
The last thing I needed was to waste precious time hunting down a gas station open late at night.....or having to waste precious time stopping at a gas station in the morning with a very sick, stressed out cat in the car. And let's not forget the danger of a woman alone stopping at a gas station at 2 or 3 in the morning.
Believe me.....I was very, very glad I didn't have to worry about something like getting gas on top of everything else that night.
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