Is Dirty Fuel Hurting Your Gas Station Business?

Is Dirty Fuel Hurting Your Gas Station Business?

As a gas station owner or operator, you probably already know how many maintenance tasks are required to keep pumping gas for your customers. You may already work with a petroleum service company like Pumptex to repair and maintain your equipment. However, one problem that often goes unseen could have a massive impact on your business. We are talking about dirty or contaminated gas! An old saying is “out of sight, out of mind.” This definitely holds true when it comes to the fuel stored in your underground storage tanks.

How Does Fuel Get Contaminated?

You may wonder how your fuel can get contaminated when safely stored in your underground storage tanks. However, there are several ways that contaminants can enter your fuel supply. One of the most common culprits is the venting process. Venting is necessary for filling and dispensing fuel, but this does also allow oxygen, water, dirt, and other contaminants to get into the fuel system. This is especially common with diesel fuel since it is more prone to contamination thanks to the higher viscosity of this type of fuel.

Why is Dirty Fuel Hurting Your Business?

When fuel is contaminated, it does not perform to optimal levels. That means it harms engine performance when your customers fill up their vehicle’s gas tank. Dirty fuel can reduce fuel efficiency and even damage engine parts. Over time, this can result in higher maintenance costs for the vehicle owner. If these customers know that the dirty fuel is from your gas station, it will likely turn them off from returning to your location. Nobody wants to carry out unnecessary and costly repairs! However, as a gas station owner, investing in the appropriate maintenance to help keep your fuel clean is necessary. Working with a petroleum service company like PumpTex can help address this issue.

How Can You Maintain Fuel Quality?

One of the best places to start is to ensure that your underground storage tanks are properly maintained. Storage tanks are incredibly important as they are crucial in storing fuel safely to protect your customers, your staff, and the environment. A variety of compliance regulations must be adhered to when it comes to your underground storage tanks, so it is wise to ensure that these are appropriately addressed. You can find out a little more about these UST guidelines in our blog post on this topic. Contact your petroleum services company to discuss what you need to do to maintain your USTs properly.

It is also a good idea to sample and test your fuel regularly. This will help you determine if you need to arrange fuel and tank cleaning. It is best to create a benchmark for your location by sampling and testing the fuel when the clean tank is filled, as this will give you a point of reference for future samples. Suppose the test shows the fuel is contaminated enough to warrant tank cleaning. In that case, removing any accumulated debris collection at the bottom of the tank will be necessary. Once this has been removed, the next step is filtering the fuel using a purification system. Finally, once the tank and fuel are clean, you may want to consider adding fuel additives to help keep it clean and boost performance.

It is good practice to continue with an ongoing program of sampling, testing, and recording the results of your fuel. This will help you chart contamination patterns that may help prevent or minimize them. Talk to your petroleum service company to determine the best schedule for this testing. As a general rule of thumb, you will probably want to test samples once every 6 to 12 months.

Preventative Maintenance Matters

Dirty gas due to improperly maintained underground storage tanks is just one of the problems that might arise at your gas station. There are many others, and each one of them has the potential to impact your profits negatively. It is vital that you work with a petroleum service company like PumpTex to schedule regular routine maintenance on all of your forecourt equipment. Preventative maintenance will help you discover any potential issues lurking unseen before the equipment breaks down! This is going to help you to minimize downtime and maximize profits. Minor faults are often much more straightforward and far less expensive to fix, and preventative maintenance ensures that problems are pinpointed before they become major issues! Talk you your petroleum service company today and start planning how to maintain your gas station better.

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PumpTex, Inc. was founded in 1997 in the back of a garage with the dream of bringing a new level of customer service to the retail petroleum service industry. Over the years, we have grown to become a valuable resource to our customers. Many consider us to be the first responders of the retail petroleum service industry!

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