Should you travel with a full tank of Gas?

[LennyH]

Let me know what you think about traveling with a full tank of gas. Does it course you Miles per gal. to go down or is the unit designed and the MPG that is listed for that unit allow for a full tank of gas.

What do you think?


LennyH

[Mr_Mark1]

One of my least favorite things to do is fuel up. I don't care if fuel is cheaper 200 miles down the road, I'm filling up to the brim if I'm stopping for fuel. I like to get it done and not worry about it for the next 600-700-800 miles. I guess we could go 1,200 miles if I ran it to empty but we start looking for a fuel stop at half a tank and try to fill up by 1/4 tank if we can.

But, I always fill to the brim as I said, that's my least favorite thing to do. I will even tilt the coach to the passenger side to add more fuel. I can drive 100 miles before the needle even starts to move.

MM.

[Ron8877]

I just wished that it stayed full as I traveled. The gas just keeps going away.
Ron

[sowego]

When we stop to refuel we will only do a partial fill if we know the price is less a few hours on down the road. A full tank should not affect your overall fuel milage enough to keep yourself on the "short" side therefore in need of scheduling more frequent stops.

[msmith1199]

I don't know of this got covered in the thread or not, but when I first bought my deisel pusher and test drove it, although they didn't have a lot of fuel in it, the water tank was full and the black and the gray tanks were both full with clean water. They did this because the DP's ride so much better with the weight. With all the tanks empty and the motorhome empty you get a real bumping ride and they did not want that for people taking test drives. When I had my gas Class A I could tell by the handling and power if my water and holding tanks were full. It really made a difference. With the DP the only difference is the heavier I am the smoother the ride, but any difference in MPG or power is undetectable.

[olfarmer]

Fill it up, it won't stay full very long! I always fill up unless it is really high priced where I am, then I may put enough in to get where it may be cheaper. I look at gas buddy.com and get an idea of prices for different areas.

[Snomas]

Fill er up and go. You don't want to run short of fuel and have to push her in!!!!

[dcbrewer]

Always pump all it will hold, it don't last that long!!!

[wallynm]

Yes and No as it depends on price and I use

Price Finder

to aid in selection.

LennyH wrote:
Let me know what you think about traveling with a full tank of gas. Does it course you Miles per gal. to go down or is the unit designed and the MPG that is listed for that unit allow for a full tank of gas.

What do you think?


LennyH

[edm3rd]

TravelingLight2 wrote:
Yes,

Some intank fuel pumps depend on the gasoline in the tank to cool the pump. If you travel with tank below half full the pump runs too hot and will eventually fail.

Again, only SOME pumps. Many intank pumps are cooled only by the fuel going through the pump - not by the pump itself being immersed in fuel, and are not affected by how much fuel is in the tank. These pumps usually are at the top of the tank not the bottom.

[SolidAxleDurang]

Peralko wrote:
Gas motorhomes have an 80-gallon fuel tank. Since you would be a fool to have less than 1/4 tank, that means the difference between a full tank and a low tank is 60 gallons. If I remember right, gas is about 6 pounds per gallon, so we are talking about 360 pounds. If you have a 20,000 pound motorhome,a full tank would be about 1.5% of total weight. So you could get 1.5% better mileage, right? Oh wait, like Wolfe10 correctly said, mileage difference due to weight is really only a factor when you go uphill, so you would have to multiply that 1.5% by the percentage you go uphill. If worst case you go uphill 50% of the time (doubtful), you would have a 0.75% difference in mileage--which of course would decrease as you use the gas in the tank. I think your time would be better spent making sure your tire inflation is correct, and going easy on the throttle!

I wish some of the morons in the "do you fill your water tanks?" threads could borrow some of your logic. Yet the naysayers come out of the woodwork to talk down to everyone over 400 pounds. LOL

[Peralko]

Gas motorhomes have an 80-gallon fuel tank. Since you would be a fool to have less than 1/4 tank, that means the difference between a full tank and a low tank is 60 gallons. If I remember right, gas is about 6 pounds per gallon, so we are talking about 360 pounds. If you have a 20,000 pound motorhome,a full tank would be about 1.5% of total weight. So you could get 1.5% better mileage, right? Oh wait, like Wolfe10 correctly said, mileage difference due to weight is really only a factor when you go uphill, so you would have to multiply that 1.5% by the percentage you go uphill. If worst case you go uphill 50% of the time (doubtful), you would have a 0.75% difference in mileage--which of course would decrease as you use the gas in the tank. I think your time would be better spent making sure your tire inflation is correct, and going easy on the throttle!

[traveylin]

I really dislike motoring in and out of gas stations towing my toad. By using the 3/8 to full range I can cut in half the number of times I need to pull in to gas up, as opposed to 3/8 to 5/8 range

[Steve_Martin]

Ever sat in those 5 hr traffic jams on I95 coming out of Ga into SC?? LOL..I always keep mine 1/2 full! 🙂 And the best part is, I don't get the sticker shock of an empty fill-up! 🙂

[Bob___Ann]

While traveling we top it off every day as we pull into the campground