Fueling Up

For you experienced drivers .... what are your thoughts on:

A) running until empty before filling up B) running down to 1/4 tank before filling up C) running down to 1/2 tank before filling up

or some variation thereof. I imagine it might be time consuming trying to fill 100-150 gallons of fuel, so I thought I would ask. Also, can you leave the nozzle unattended, like on my car, so I can wash the windshield and mirrors? Does it kick itself off when full? Or, like a hazmat , do I need to stay with the nozzle ?

And as a follow up, with trucks using so much fuel, do you ever run into issues with truck stops running out of fuel? I wouldn't think it would happen often, but it is bound to happen at least occasionally.

Just curious

Thanks

I always ran until I got about a 1/4 of the way empty, I never had any problems. Just remember to keep a constant eye on you're fuel, I had a close call once when I first started, never did that again. Most companies will route you to an "approved" truck stop so you can get gas there, since they get discounts from the truck stop (Pilot, Love's, Flying J, etc) so just be careful not to go out of your routed fuel stops.

You can leave both nozzles unattended, no one will mess with them. Can't speak for hazmat , never filled up with a hazmat load. It normally takes about 10-15 minutes to fill up (add another 5 if you have a reefer) so that's why you always see truck drivers doing an inspection on their truck and trailer, or cleaning the windows, paperwork, what have you. Just don't be "that guy" who starts to fill up, then go inside and eat a meal at the restaurant for an hour...

Never heard of a truck stop running out of fuel, those tanks below are massive, so I wouldn't imagine it can happen. But I've been wrong before...

Your company is usually going to give you places to fuel on each route. Some companies are more strict about it than others but often times you won't have much of a choice on where and when to fuel.

But it certainly doesn't hurt to run it down to 1/4 tank. It's rare I ever pushed it past that.

And yes, you can clean your windows and inspect the truck while it's fueling. The nozzle will kick off when it's full but you don't want to get too far away. If for some reason that thing fell out and kept pumping you're going to have a huge mess in a hurry. The fuel comes out of those nozzles 10 times faster than gasoline at 4 wheeler pumps.

Mr. Magoo, I thought I'd just tell you how it works at my company, I think it's fairly typical of most trucking companies. We strictly use Pilot and Flying J truck stops because of a fuel discount program, occasionally we will fuel somewhere else, but only if there isn't a Pilot or Flying J available.

When you get dispatched a load on your Qualcomm it will also have a fuel stop indicated on that dispatch order. Our dispatching system is so integrated that if we try to stop at a different fuel stop than the one we are dispatched to our fuel card will not turn the pump on. My DM monitors my fuel consumption and I've never got in a situation where I was about to run out.

Another thing they monitor daily is the various fuel prices at all the different Pilot and Flying J Stops. This way they can get the best price each day for your fuel. So one day they may have you run almost down to a quarter of a tank just so they can get you to a location that has a good price, and then on another day they may have you filling up when you still have 5/8 of a tank. This is just one of the areas that trucking companies can make money by being careful about what they spend. When you've got a couple thousand trucks out there moving all day every day, a few cents saved on a gallon of fuel can really add up to a ton of money. Also if they just can't get me to a stop where the price is right they will dispatch me to a stop and instruct me to only get 35 gallons or whatever amount that will be enough to get me to stop where they get a better price.

I don't know how all the other companies handle this stuff, but that is how we do it.

Also, like others have said, yeah go ahead and wash those bugs off that windshield, and walk around and do a visual inspection of things. That fuel does pump really fast though, so don't take your time, you'll be quite surprised how fast you can get a couple hundred gallons of fuel.

Hey, Thanks all for the info. What what I've read, I pretty much just have to aim it and steer it....

Hey, Thanks all for the info. What what I've read, I pretty much just have to aim it and steer it....

At my company you have to pick your route and your own fuel stops from approved vendors. They only tell ya where to liad and where to unload and how many miles they are paying. I usually let it get to half and fuel. 2 reasons. 1. I LOVE SHOWERS:) 2. Im just so anal about having enough fuel ALWAYS. Sometimes fuel stops are few and far between gotta get it while you can. My truck has small tanks. Can only do about 800 miles to a tank.