Is it possible that this is part biodiesel? Without knowing if you had run any bio thru it before, you could be seeing the cleaning effect of bio.

I know I went through a few filters before Greenie settled back down, now I am back to normal.

 

I don't believe Fred Meyers is selling any form of Bio fuels.

 

I don't know about Idaho but here in Oregon all diesel has 5% bio state regulated.

 

Idaho does not do that, thou I wouldn't mind B2 or B5 at all the pumps.

 

At the refinery that I work at, diesel is diesel. The only difference is red dye. In Texas the 5% bio, regulation states that some biodiesel has to be there, meaning there could be .5%. There can be no more than a total of 5%

Gasoline is gasoline, its the additive that gets added to each truck that makes the difference. Our lab uses techron to clean their test motors and say that the rebuilds intervals on their motors are almost twice.

 

Been a while since I worked at a refinery, but did retire in '05 (after 31+ years) from a big one in the Los Angeles Calif port area. This is what I found out.

There are certain things that are standard for all shipments from refineries nationwide.
If the delivery is what they (the refineries) consider reasonable, it will leave the refinery terminal or a terminal associated with the refinery.
In my area, we have one with-in and because of past contract strikes, with one outside the facility, so they can keep shipping in a contract strike situation.

As for fuels like gasoline.
The base stock (known in the industry as alkylate) is the standard blend product.
It's all the additives that are added in the BLENDING 'prior' to shipment.
(I will say there were storage tanks that had the specific blends ready for shipment and not the base stock because of the massive volume shipped locally. (But a lot of base stock tanks also.) Each of our tanks were 180,000 barrels 'max' rated, or 7,560,000 gallons totally full)

There is a different amounts of each additive that will increase the octane which gives you regular, mid-grade and premium blends. (Basically makes it ignites faster and burns hotter)
In the summer, there is the summer blend that has a lower pressure (psig) rating because of the EPA standards.
And per EPA, in the winter they increase the amount of IC4 which increases the vapor pressure (helps ignites the fuel in colder climate conditions) and helps them get rid of the product.
Then you need to consider the past additives of lead, MTBE, oxygenation and now ethanol which is to help composition and the air quality. (or was that to help the farmers ?)
All this can change because of the area the product is to be sold, and the state and EPA regulations, and their constant changes, and the fact there are 50 base standards set nationwide by the EPA.

If the facility is running maximum throughput rates, (either gasoline or diesel) there will be an excess that is pumped into the commonly known, 'Spot Market'. If you took the dirt off the United States, you'd see a pipeline setup like the highway systems that run to storage facilities. Then when needed, they pull from these tanks, blend per the orders given them and ship out to the stations to be sold to the consumers. If there is a Shell, Chevron, bp, ect… station concerned, they are given the standards set by the company or the state /feds, and it's blended and trucked. But the base stock could be anyones from who knows where.

In my area, there are no refineries within reasonable distance and they pull from the 'Spot Market'. All stations have trucks that are not of the specific refineries and do not have the logos on the vehicles. So there is not problem with them driving into ANY station for delivery.

When I inquired several years ago with the product engineers of the differences of companies products being sold, they told me there was a basic standard set by the Federal and State Governments as to what is required, and the companies can change a minimum of one additive amount, then it is 'there' specific product. And this amount can be very slight. But if you take a sample of each companies product and do a mass spec analysis, there basically the same. This was of gasoline and diesel. Prices are set by the company and limits are set for what the station could legally charge per gallon. As for the additives, there was 6 to 8 companies (at that time) making the additive products since the refineries did not make it, and they, if the company said they wanted a specific blend, they do it and deliver the additive. If not, there was a standard blend. There could be way more companies now since there has been some years since I retired.

The part I like to think of is diesel was considered a waste cut for decades and until there was a high demand for Jet, Heating and ship fuel, they had a problem figuring out what to do with it. That's why the prices were cheap years ago. Since then, the cuts for gasoline are better and the demand for diesel and jet are higher than ever from overseas, they are rolling in higher profit, with our prices and high demands driving the prices at home.

For years I have bought the cheapest in price per gallon of gasoline without problems or loss of mpg.
And as for diesel, I look for high volume. I make sure I find a station that sells a lot so I have no problems with water, and never have a problem.

You need to decide if you want cheaper per gallon or to say you have a certain brand fuel only.
The choice is yours.

 

The base stock for any blend of gasoline, is gasoline. Alkylate come from a HF Acid unit. Alkylate has a high octane and vapor pressure and is used for blending. More is added for your premium blends.
The government gives u numbers that have to be met, octane, vapor pressure, sulfur content, and your two motor numbers, which I can't think of for the life of me, just to name a few. There are different names and numbers for each product of course.
There are a number of different products that can go into a gallon of gas. Each refinery will use different ones and different amounts to meet numbers and maximize economics on the gasoline and the leftover blend products, for their region.
Additives are generally added to gasoline as it goes into the fuel trucks.
The truck driver selects the additive, depending on where it is going.

 

Try the Phillips station on Fairview and Cloverdale (KJ's Fairview 66) where diesel prices are about 10 to 20 cents cheaper per gallon, and so far I've run a couple hundred gallons of it without a problem (that 52 gallon Titan tank I have does that).





-Kris