How low do you let your tank get before stopping?

[LanceRKeys]

I just got back from my longest trip with my travel trailer yet. I get nervous when the tank drops below half, which makes us stop every two hours or so. This was mainly on the interstate, so no lack of fuel stations. Stopping this often made the trip take much longer than it should have. So when going on a long drive, how low do you let your tank get before you stop?

I plan to add a small (36 gallon) auxiliary tank to help with this situation, but until that time, I need to work on my fear of running out and stretch my stops out a little more.

[sgfrye]

usually around 1/4 tank left.

towing our TT we get approx 8mpg. which equals using 1/4 tank per hour of driving. after 3 hours of driving im ready for a break anyway. then my wife drives her 3 hours.

[RobWNY]

I have a 31 gallon tank and get on average 8.5 mpg so I stop at about 200 miles. I like to do my homework (mapping out my trip, looking at the satellite view of the gas station to make sure I can get in and out ok etc.) If I still can't be sure the gas station is RV friendly from the map, I'll bring 5 gallons with me just in case I have an issue.

[dodge_guy]

Out west I start looking when it gets down to a 1/3. Not much choice in stations, If you miss one you could be screwed as the next one could be 40 miles away. In the Midwest or east coast Ill let it get to a 1/4 before I start looking. enough choices for stations, so as not to worry about running out of gas.

[Tvov]

At 1/2 tank I start thinking about / looking for gas stations. At 1/4 tank I fill up. About the same as everyone else.

My truck uses about 1/4 tank per hour when towing the TT. On long trips I like to stop every hour to 1 1/2 hours to stretch. So I fill up roughly every 3 hours.

Varies with trip length, traffic, speed of towing.

[troubledwaters]

I look at my gauges which tell me how miles until empty then I look at the road signs which tell me how far to the next town; and base my decision on that.

[Sunnysidebeach]

I always stop when it's just below a half tank.. Average about 10 mph, 25 gallon tank. Which means we stop about every two hours, which is just about right for my wife and me and the dog to take a walk, and R/R break.

[Halmfamily]

Crabbypatty wrote:
In my old Suburban the gas pump is in the gas tank. The fuel keeps the pump cool. By running out of fuel you over heat the pump and shorten its life. Did that and to replace the pump, you have to remove the tank. Expensive. Now I always plan for no less than 1/4 tank and start thinking about at 1/2tank as where to pull over.

Been there, done that and $800 lighter in the wallet We never go below a quarter tank of fuel even on diesel. Our mechanic said you also risk sucking up **** on the bottom of your tank if your fuel gets low enough.

[Crabbypatty]

In my old Suburban the gas pump is in the gas tank. The fuel keeps the pump cool. By running out of fuel you over heat the pump and shorten its life. Did that and to replace the pump, you have to remove the tank. Expensive. Now I always plan for no less than 1/4 tank and start thinking about at 1/2tank as where to pull over.

[samsontdog]

I go about 300 miles between fill ups but I have a 38 gallon tank. I agree filling up half tank is a waste of time

[Trackrig]

I'll start thinking about it around a quarter tank. Stopping when down to a half tank is a waste of time unless you need a walk or to go to the bathroom.

Bill

[mat60]

Never a problem because I need to pee way before I run out of gas. LOL

[MitchF150]

I usually need to stop every couple of hours just to stretch the legs and other things and the wife needs to get out and stretch too..

As long as it's not always stopping for gas, that's a good thing.. 🙂

Mitch

[Jim2007]

Hi.. We work out our trip so that we make one fuel stop during the day usually at lunch time... We start look for fuel stop when the tank is at or slightly below half a tank. Jim2007

[1320Fastback]

Start thinking about it at 1/4 tank and start seriously looking at 1/8th tank. I do carry 5gal of Diesel with me for emergencies but have not had to use it as of yet so just dump it in the tank when I get back home to keep it fresh.

At 36 gallons and 13ish mpg I am ready for a stretch by the time I need to fill up.

The toy hauler does have a 15 gallon fuel tank with pump but its never seen any type of liquid yet. We ride 2 stroke dirt bikes and there is just two of us so I just use two 5 gallon dump cans on our trips and fill those when necessary. I had considered using the fuel tank for diesel and may still but so far just stopping at truck stops or regular stations is fine. I usually go out in the evening after unhooking and fill up the truck before the next days drive and thats fine.

[parker_rowe]

I stop around a quarter, but I have a 42gal tank so that gives me a bit of time to decide were I want to stop as it gets close to that quarter mark. We are often ready to stop by that point anyway.

We usually do long trips with the in-laws (they like to camp the same places we do). They have a much smaller tank in their Tahoe, so we just stop when they do and I never have to worry about how much gas I have!