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Save Money And Not Harm Your Car! Go Generic At The Gas Pump! |
By:
Scott Siegel |
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Save Money and Not Harm Your Car! Go Generic at the Gas Pump!
by Scott Siegel
As the price of fuel goes up and up more drivers are thinking about using generic gas from stations that are not affiliated with the big international gas companies like Exxon or Shell. The question is, can you get the same quality of gas from ABC gas station as you can get from the big guys? Will the XYZ gas run your car with out causing damage to your engine?
The answer simply is, there is not much of a significant difference between the generic gas and the more expensive gas except for some additives which each company has added to it's gas. To really understand how this is possible a short look at how the gas refining system treats gas makes the picture easy to see.
In general fuel produced at refineries is what is called a generic product. In specific regions of the country gas has to meet certain environmental specifications. Because all gas in those regions gas depots are produced to the same specifications, gas refiners often share and exchange gasoline and store it in common tanks.
The gasoline that is produced at one refinery is not really different than another refinery. They all produce what one would call generic gas. It is the chemicals that are added to the generic gas that makes one brand different from another. Each brand has it's own formula of additives.
This adding of the brand additives usually takes place when the gas is being put into the tanker truck for distribution. In essence all the companies are starting with the same generic gas as their main component. You can now see why generic gas is really the same as the branded gas.
Just to make sure, studies have been done to see if there is a difference between generic gas and branded gas. A cooperative study was done by ABC News and the Maryland State Comptroller's office.
Scientists at the Maryland Fuel Testing Laboratory engaged a battery of tests on generic and branded gas. The gas was scrutinized for many things including contaminants like excessive sediments or diesel mixed with the gas. The scientists put the gas through an elaborate engine to make sure that the gasoline was the same 87 octane level. The scientists at the lab even made sure that the gas was formulated properly as mandated for the current season.
The good news for the consumer is generic and branded gas had nothing but minor differences. They found that by and large the gas was one and the same. The primary difference between competing brands of gasoline is the amount of detergent or additives the distributors add to it. Even then the differences are small.
So basically gas is gas and all the gas sold in stations whether it is from a branded station or a generic station will work just fine in your car. The biggest difference it turns out is only price.
$100 to $200 per year is the estimate that is used in gauging how much you can save by using generic gas. Go to the generic station the next time you fill up and save yourself some cash.
Scott Siegel is the author of a 143 page manual of automotive industry insider information on saving gas and money at the gas pump. Visit us to learn how you can get better gas mileage. Find out how to increase gas mileage. Don't reprint this exact article. Instead, reprint a free unique content version of this same article.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article53936.html |
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