I never understand people who jump all over the whole "watering down gas" thing. Gas and water have two different weights. Water is heavier and goes STRAIGHT to the bottom. Its not like oil and water that can mix and suspend for a while..
If a company tried to "water down" their entire UST (underground storage tank) they would have to LITERALLY add enough water to raise the water level in the tank at LEAST 8 inches (several 100's of gallons worth) to touch the bottom of the STP (Submersible turbine pump) Doing so would cause there to be NOTHING but water being pumped through the entire station on that grade of fuel.
You can't "mix" water and gas together and "dilute" it. Not to mention that in MOST metropolitan areas that are in what is considered a stage II recovery area (vapor recovery is mandated, etc) you are required and inspected at random (and QUITE often) for your UST fuel monitoring system which keeps track of fuel levels, seepage, water levels (using a water sensor at differing heights throughout the tank) fuel drops (from tankers, etc), fuel turbine pressures, tank pressures, sudden loss alarms, etc.
You don't just "defeat" that machine. You can't hide from the reports without disabling the machine completely and then you can't be audited and pass. Quite simply: You can't "dilute" gas with water.
Now, can you get water in your tank? SURE.. but not as an aside or hidden in a sale.. You can have a high water level and get water in your tank but it isn't something that they are going to be able to do and sell repetitively.. its a catastrophic problem and will cause the results to be known within that day, if not that minute (if they are using[or are forced to use] a fuel monitor system).
When people say they "got bad gas" at a station, it is very SELDOMLY water and instead lack of maintenance on the fuel filters within each cabinet causing particulates to accumulate and then be deposited in high quantities to a single sale. This can happen quite easily and as such you should always choose your station to fill up at in the following manner:
Look for the station with the most traffic.
Higher traffic equals higher turnover, which means more drops per day. Truck stops, Freeway "easy-ons", and the like are good candidates.
Look at the bottoms of each cabinet for dust or cobwebs, etc. If the door (which is locked on to the cabinet at the bottom) is dirty, rusted, or neglected, or just looks like it isn't removed often, it probably isn't. If it isn't removed, then the filters aren't being changed. This is where your particulates build up causing "bad gas" symptoms to users. It also builds up particles of dirt, mud, etc and slows the flow of gas through the filter causing those stations where you are just in amazement at how slow it pumps. Dirty filters... avoid them.
Go somewhere that has more than one "unleaded tank".
Having more than one tank indicates more traffic and a need to avoid more drops per day.. again.. its fresh and routinely used.. cleaner gas.
Look for a dedicated drop tank
Look on the parking lot or pavement in the area for the colored lids indicating the location of the drop spot for each grade of fuel.. White, red and blue are the standard colors for grades... yellow/green being for a diesel tank.
If you see one of each color (white, blue, red) then they have a dedicated tank for premium, mid, regular; meaning that the octane you get is whatever is in the tank.
If you see red and white that means they have a tank for super and a tank for regular and "mid grade" is blended (which is a percentage determined by the state, but can be changed at that station!!! You may be getting 40% regular instead of a state set value etc...
Edit: I know this post was more towards moisture in your fuel tank in the AIR and in the empty lines, etc... I wasn't arguing THAT couldn't happen.. its a proven and common thing in weather like you guys are having.
Just like rawburt did recently. . .
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:laugh:
