"Mid-grade" Gasoline Actively Blended to 89 Octane as You Pump It?

[earlyre]

Originally Posted by Linctex
What's with the price difference???

I might have to swipe the card twice, but I can blend my own 89 a bit cheaper than pushing the 89 button.


not much but technically yes..

I'll use the 2:1 ratio from above, and today's Actual Gas prices from the station at which I work.(and Yes, we only get regular and premium, the Mid is blended by the dispenser)
We (and most stations in our area) have a 30¢ Spread between grades, and it's all E10.
as of 2pm today,
Reg:$2.959
Mid:$3.259
Prem:$3.559
(don't forget gas prices always end with 9/10ths of a cent)

so on a 15gal tank(makes the math a bit easier), you'd need 5 gal of Premium (93), and 10 gal Regular (87)
5*3.559=17.795
10*2.959=29.590
29.590+17.795=47.385

vs

15*3.259=48.885

48.885-47.385=1.50
1.50/15=.10
so in that scenario, you'd save $1.50 overall, or 10¢/Gal.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by earlyre
We (and most stations in our area) have a 30¢ Spread between grades, and it's all E10.
as of 2pm today,
Reg:$2.959
Mid:$3.259
Prem:$3.559
(don't forget gas prices always end with 9/10ths of a cent)
Geesh ! Blame Speedway.... Gas was around $2.59 earlier today but I see it's all jumped up to $2.95 around here (SW Ohio) at the moment. Looks like I'll be going to Murphy's, which is still $2.57 according to GasBuddy, and there will be a line of cars.

 

[earlyre]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by earlyre
We (and most stations in our area) have a 30¢ Spread between grades, and it's all E10.
as of 2pm today,
Reg:$2.959
Mid:$3.259
Prem:$3.559
(don't forget gas prices always end with 9/10ths of a cent)
Geesh ! Blame Speedway.... Gas was around $2.59 earlier today but I see it's all jumped up to $2.95 around here (SW Ohio) at the moment. Looks like I'll be going to Murphy's, which is still $2.57 according to GasBuddy, and there will be a line of cars.


we were $2.59 until the Ohio Gas tax went up(+10.5¢ Gasoline,+19¢Diesel) yesterday,at which point they jumped us to $2.70, then around 2this afternoon they pushed us up to $2.95.
and yes, that's matching Speedway.

 

[4WD]

Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by PimTac
I would think that calibration checks would fall under the State Weights and Measures dept.


The state only measures the dispenser that it puts out am exact gallon of gas. They are not measuring octane.


Yes, that is the states role here - some of the majors have QAQC guys that have test kits. Our stations take delivery of two fuels and blend. That's one of the reasons we use mid grade in our lone turbo - figure at least half the fuel is fresh since the cheapest sells the most

 

[Hall]

The stations will blame it on the gas tax but it's also a day or two before a holiday.... Murphy's raised their price quickly today too. They often hold out for a day or longer and frequently, Speedway drops theirs back down (some).

 

[ls973800]

I haven't been to a Sunoco gas station for decades! Do they still have the dial on the side of the pump which you use to select the octane rating you want? I think there were about 6 different grades you could select from?

 

[Triple_Se7en]

After reading this thread, I will never buy mid-grade 89 octane again. I cannot trust a station owner to play the game fair. Most of the gas station owners around here are former party store owners that I've dealt with for the past 35 years as a beer driver/salesman....... mostly all petty crooks. I will blend my own from here-on in.

I know how many gallons I need usually. So simple math for a 1/3rd blend will be easy-as-pie. I will do both purchases at the same time, when fueling up.

Thanks for the heads-up Lone Ranger. U Da' Man!

 

[GumbyJarvis]

89 is normally blended from the 87 and 93 tanks, this is how it was when I worked at a c-store a few years back.

At the same time I've seen the 89 tank filled with ethanol that blends when the pump sends the message to the tanks when someone is pumping regular or premium, making the E5/E10/E15 mixture.

Sometimes you'll find a station where mid grade is ethanol free, that is because instead of sending the ethanol-regular or ethanol-premium mixture, it's just sending a regular-premium mixture, and nothing out of the ethanol tank.

 

[Hall]

A separate ethanol tank ? I thought the whole point of this blending was to reduce the number of tanks ? Most stations seem to have ethanol in all of their grades (only Shell has no ethanol in their 91 octane, V-Power) so I'd think they get 87 with ethanol and 91 with ethanol already and avoids that add'l tank.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by Triple_Se7en
After reading this thread, I will never buy mid-grade 89 octane again. I cannot trust a station owner to play the game fair.
I suspect that they don't have easy access to this proportioning valve. Also, most states will check that what comes out of the pump matches what the customer pays for (correct volume, correct octane, "clean", etc) in addition to QA folks from the "brand" who audit their locations, including franchisees. Not worth the risk, is it ?

 

[Spartanfool]

In the old days, Sunoco used to have pumps with 5 choices. Sub-regular 86 octane up to 94 octane. There were 3 blends available between these two.

In addition, they apparently had some signs that indicated they might have as many as 8 blends per pump.

Cool Sign

It is from 1968 and shows recommendations for different cars as well.

 

[Revving2Redline]

So in a nut shell...89 isnt 89e10? If 91 is clear and 87 is e10 MAX, then is it like a lot of Canada where 89 is E5ish???

 

[Win]

On a suction pump, just remove the bottom pump cover, everything mechanical is right there. Control electronics are in the top.

I don't have any turbine systems, but I expect those dispensers have the same or similar mechanical blending components as a suction pump would have, but can't say for sure, as I don't own any.

I don't know what controls majors / franchisors have in place these days, I don't have or need any in bed with me. Used to be they had chemical markers in their additive pack and could tell if their product was or was not in the station tanks.

I wouldn't hold my breath on expecting a state to do much of anything related to the actual quality or quantity of motor fuel purchased by a consumer. Their priorities have changed. Now a days if they do anything, it will be sending a guy out to check environmental monitoring / compliance / permit paperwork, or groundwater wells for escaped product. Maybe once in a while pull a random fuel sample to be lab tested for octane.

 

[Slick17601]

I worked at a Mobil station in the early 90's and the only thing in the ground was regular and super. 89 was blended at the pump.

 

[tiger862]

I purchase nothing but 89 octane for this reason. I get the additives if super for a cheaper price. Cheaper than additives in a bottle.

 

[Hall]

Originally Posted by Marco620
So in a nut shell...89 isnt 89e10? If 91 is clear and 87 is e10 MAX, then is it like a lot of Canada where 89 is E5ish???
Kinda like that but like one person mentioned above, in Minnesota, ethanol-based fuel has a minimum content of ethanol required and that wouldn't fly in MN. In Ohio, the pumps say, if I'm not mistaken, something like "may contain up to 10% ethanol".

 

[y_p_w]

There's an independent gas station around here that's one of the few that sell 100 octane street legal racing gas. The pumps have a lot of options including 87/94/96/98/100. And a few times I was there and they covered up all the buttons at 94 or higher with a sign saying "Out of race fuel". Obviously they were using a pump that blended the 100 octane - probably with 91 even though it wasn't listed on the pump.

 

[LoneRanger]

That 100 is curiously about the same price as most 100LL piston aviation fuel, which is leaded of course (for now).

 

[bdcardinal]

Originally Posted by y_p_w
There's an independent gas station around here that's one of the few that sell 100 octane street legal racing gas. The pumps have a lot of options including 87/94/96/98/100. And a few times I was there and they covered up all the buttons at 94 or higher with a sign saying "Out of race fuel". Obviously they were using a pump that blended the 100 octane - probably with 91 even though it wasn't listed on the pump.

That really isn't that bad of a price for 100.

 

[MNgopher]

Originally Posted by Marco620
So in a nut shell...89 isnt 89e10? If 91 is clear and 87 is e10 MAX, then is it like a lot of Canada where 89 is E5ish???



Maybe, maybe not. Here it is all E10 (state law). Other places, who knows... One could go and count the tank fill points, and if there are only two, and three grades of gas available, you have your answer. Or if three and Diesel is sold too, again, you have your answer...