Should you travel with a full tank of Gas?

Nick-B wrote:
Hi Lenny,

If your gas tank is full or not when you travel is not going to affect your MPG. I checked your Profile and see you have a 38' gasser so you are probably well over 20,000 pounds of weight. A few hundred pounds of gas one way or the other is not going to make a difference. Besides, if you start your trip full, how long does it take to get to 1/2 tank. Not long - right? Fill 'er up and enjoy the ride!

Yep that pretty much sums up my findings. Plus a full tank just gives you a better feeling. :)

It wont be full for long so don't worry about it ;)

Eric

Lenny, good question! I fill my tank as much as possible. I try not to let it get below 1/4 of a tank. Fuel milage with a full tank of gas is not a concern to me.

randallb wrote:
If you have no fuel in the tank the MPG is at its absolute best.
Randy

Only if you're coasting downhill. Otherwise no fuel means 0 mpg. :)

AprilWhine wrote:
Depends on how close I am to the last cheap diesel. ;) I tend to plan fill ups along the route by the price of diesel.

Yup. Just looked on http://gasbuddy.com/ at the route we are taking this summer. Over $.50/gal difference in price of diesel depending on where you stop-- even within a short distance from each other. Fuel price wars are my friend.

THAT makes the decisions a lot easier.

Depends on how close I am to the last cheap diesel. ;) I tend to plan fill ups along the route by the price of diesel.

If you have no fuel in the tank the MPG is at its absolute best.
Randy

It costs a lot more to stop and start, than to cruise. Your MPG will go down dramatically with each stop.

We don't consider fuel weight. Instead we buy fuel now or 200 miles down the road if it's less, that's where we save $.

For Disaster Preparedness, they say always drive on the top half of your tank. That way in a disaster situation you will not find yourself short of fuel. And they are talking about your car or other regular commuter vehicle. Since our motorhome is our large Disaster Kit it is always left with fuel and water tanks full and waste tanks empty.

To us that doesn't mean never get below half a tank in the motorhome; it we are driving a long way in a day we we'll let it get down, but always fill up before stopping for the night. Keep in mind though that rigs the draw generator fuel from the main tank, the generator fuel pickup is usually 1/4 way up from the bottom of the tank so if you get down or below a quarter tank your generator won't run.