Pumping gasoline into a diesel tank
I was getting ready to fill the tank with diesel last week, and accidentally picked up the gasoline nozzle briefly, then realized my mistake and traded it for the diesel nozzle about 2 feet away at th...
Forum Discussion
There is no consistent color coding for the plastic covers on nozzles. I've seen red, black, green, yellow and blue on gas. I've seen black, green and yellow on diesel. I've seen yellow, green and blue on E-85. I look for E-85 because if it is at least 10% cheaper it saves me money on a partial fill.
BP gas nozzles will usually be green. That's a trademark color. Some other brands put green on the diesel nozzles and black on gas, but if they are using red on gas, diesel might be black or yellow.
You have to pay attention. But most of the time, what helps to protect you is that the diesel pump has its own selector button or start button, and that section of a mixed pump is usually well marked. So if you push the button for diesel and put in one of the gas nozzles, you get nothing.
Wrong nozzle mistakes are most often a self-service problem. Most fueling mistakes by attendants are "intentional" in the sense that the attendant knows what he is putting in but is putting in the wrong thing because he hasn't been informed about what is wanted/needed.
I lost a friend and his whole family this way when a refueling attendant put Jet A into a large piston-engine business twin that looked like a turboprop. They got to about 1500 feet altitude before the jet fuel reached the engines and they both shut down, about 10 seconds apart.
BP gas nozzles will usually be green. That's a trademark color. Some other brands put green on the diesel nozzles and black on gas, but if they are using red on gas, diesel might be black or yellow.
You have to pay attention. But most of the time, what helps to protect you is that the diesel pump has its own selector button or start button, and that section of a mixed pump is usually well marked. So if you push the button for diesel and put in one of the gas nozzles, you get nothing.
Wrong nozzle mistakes are most often a self-service problem. Most fueling mistakes by attendants are "intentional" in the sense that the attendant knows what he is putting in but is putting in the wrong thing because he hasn't been informed about what is wanted/needed.
I lost a friend and his whole family this way when a refueling attendant put Jet A into a large piston-engine business twin that looked like a turboprop. They got to about 1500 feet altitude before the jet fuel reached the engines and they both shut down, about 10 seconds apart.
