Are fuel stations required to sell winterized fuel?

Are stations in colder climates required by any kind of law to have properly winterized fuel?

My fuel gelled up last Friday, and the source of fuel was Giant Eagle / GetGo in Northwestern PA. Admittedly this is not a large volume station but I bought the fuel in the dead of winter, and it gelled up my filter looked like a huge wax candle when I opened it up.

I spoke with their claims department today who said they have no control on the additives, nor are they required by law to put any additives in. I find that very hard to believe. They suggested that I fill up the tank with 50% Diesel and 50% Kerosene from their station. I suggested after reading information on this forum that the refineries just didn't have the right additive forumla finished, and they said that might be the case, but they can't source fuel with any additive "per the EPA who says we can't add anything that would put it more than 15ppm sulfur".

She said all kinds of media reports in the Pittsburgh area show that Gelling is happening regardless of the source of fuel. Like how 80 of their 130 school busses gelled up. I told her that's the school district's fault for not ordering the right mix, because just like the station they could have picked the right additives and mix of kerosene to D2 when ordering a shipment from the refinery.

I also said the problem WAS in their control or at least the refinieries control, and not out of their hands, because there are already tried and true products on the market that work and cost ~5 cents per gallon at retail, much much less I'm sure in large qtys/wholesale. (Powerservice).

We weren't getting anywhere on the phone, so we ended the call without her accepting my claim for towing,additives,filter, etc. She did offer to send a small gift card as a courtesy for taking the time to call in.

Dunno what the laws and regs say. However, "common sense" would seem to dictate that you would adjust your fuel for the local climate, right? Otherwise, you're not going to be able to sell it

How do you know your fuel filter wasn't loaded with water going into the winter season? When was it last changed?

Hey, at least you were smart enough to have a spare filter and tools with you!!
That tank of fuel was likely just the last straw for your filter... or else there should have been a line of vehicles gelled up just down the road from that station..
School bus companies buy fuel on contract and in bulk.. if the lowest temp the last five years was 20F and this year it gets to 10F the fuel might not be winterized enough. They have likely been sitting on that lot of fuel for a month or even much longer.
If you drive a diesel long enough you will plug a filter.. just the law of averages.
My first filter made it to 18,000 on a recommended 20,000 schedule.

Cheers!

Bill

I don't know either, but I do know that Portland does not get winterized fuel.
Perhaps that's why I always get good mileage from the local stations .

The stations dont 'order' winterized fuel. The distributors provide it. Not the refineries. And the distributors just use local averages. So this spate of colder than normal weather makes it incumbent on the owners to be perpared.

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As weedeater stated, the local distributors are to blend the fuel to the climate. The official guidelines are contained in the ASTM pour point tables.

http://tdiclub.com/TDIFAQ/TDiFAQ-10.html

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I just Googled the snot out of Wisconsin, diesel, winterized, regulations, statutes, and came up w/bumpkis, but .... I distinctly remember asking a station manager at Fleet Farm that sells Koch Arctic Gold. He told me that they are required to sell winterized fuel. If I remember correctly They start getting winterized fuel in towards the end of October and continue to get it thru March.

FWIW I have never had a gelling problem. But I am very careful when buying fuel out-of-state, or from unfamiliar stations. I always dose it w/ PS, always carry a spare filter and tools to change it, and keep a bottle of PS 9-1-1 in the trunk. Just-in-case.

I am not sure about the "law", but I used to drive a fuel truck in WA State. We added fuel conditioner to the station tanks when delivering diesel. It was not added prior to delivery.

If my memory serves me correctly, some stations did not use condiitoner, but the truck stops all did. Might be the smart place to buy fuel in cold weather as they have a huge demand and the chance of getting unconditioned fuel during a weather change is much less.

As a sidelight, I used to drive for a race car team. When I bought fuel in Florida, it was not conditioned and I could drive a long ways north into the cold weather before needing fuel. I always tried to buy fuel as soon as possible after getting into the cold weather.

Hutch

Why not just use powerservice winterized anti-gel every tankful in the winter? I use 3 oz each of Amsoil Cetan boost, diesel fuel concentrate & 10 oz of Power Service winterized fuel additive. I recycle my Amsoil bottles as they are 16 oz. Every fill up of 10 gal or more gets a whole bottle.

I also changed my filter in Oct when it started getting cold.

Even my Wife will add a bottle because it is all pre-measured.

I just can't afford to not be able to start the car. It has started at -22 deg F perfectly for me & not gelled up so far. Even when filling up in a southern state & coming back north to VT.

~ryan

My suggestion is that you purchase your diesel from one of the Kwik Fill in Erie, that way you are purchasing from a station owned by the refinery. That refinery is not all that far from Erie. All their stations which sell diesel, sell their premium diesel at regular diesel prices. They call it Enhanced Diesel. At their truckstops, it costs at least 20 cents more. This is what I run and I have never had a problem. Note that I still do use a anti-gel/lubericity product. I hauled their product for many years, so I am very familiar with their quality of their products. It is properly blended at the loading rack. The blending percentabe is determined by the area temperature forecast.

Your next best choice would be the Pilot Travel Center at I-90 and Rt 97. Think that is Perry Hwy. Their fuel is blended and purchased usually from the same refinery mentioned above.

thanks for the replies and great info. I'll be adding power service more religously now, instead of 'whenever I remember after getting home from a fill up". the filter was 3 months old, and had about 5k miles on it.

Yet another reason to strike up a conversation with a local fuel supplier. I've spoken with my preferred supplier (Al Warren Oil Co. in Chicago) numerous times and they gladly let me know that they winterize their fuel at a minimum from November thru March and moreso as weather demands.

I keep a half-full mason jar of untreated-by-me ULSD-B11 in the garage so I can see what it looks like. Even at -10F (-24C) it was still bright with only a hint of cloudiness.

Because I trust my fuel supplier, I normally do not put in any additives at all. With the recent ultra cold weather, I add the heavy winter dose of Howes Diesel Treat as insurance.

IMHO in this caliber of cold weather, it's better to have an additive that emulsifies the water instead of separates it as free water could ice up your fuel filter. Then again, I drained my fuel filter when replacing it at 20k miles and it was completely devoid of any water whatsoever.

scurvy

Add "religiously" the PowerService DFS and you'll be fine. Double the dose if you're filling up from a suspect station.

Giant Eagle/Get-Go stations were formerly the CrossXRoads stations, whose diesel was sourced from Guttman Oil somewhere in Central PA. A few years ago I researched the cetane and quality specs of diesel available in western PA (by emailing all sorts of people and shopping around), and I couldn't dig out anything about Guttman. Our car smoked with a little bit of their diesel in the tank, and I remember their diesel really smelled bad. So, unless I read something new about Giant Eagle Get Go's source of diesel, my feeling is that it's not a good source in this area.

Why must there be a law for everything?

I gelled up twice this winter. Good thing I quit using that station for my fuel.
A guy down the street from me that sells a lot of Diesel told me that most of the stations in this area don't get the Winterised fuel and to stay away from them. I listened after the second time. Not a problem since. I am using Power service every tank full and will continue all winter. Oh and that guy that sells Diesel, sells to all the Oil companies on the western slope of Colorado and they don't have any problems with his Diesel. I was told it was -35 up in the Craig area and still no problems with those guys. Any local station can sell diesel but is it Winterised? Might ask them next fill up and if they say yes, ask them if they back that up. Then maybe they will change your fuel filter for free. Oil companies=Drilling companies. There are a ton of them in the Rifle Meeker and Craig areas.

Gothmolly said:

Why must there be a law for everything?

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I agree in spirit gothmolly...but in a case when a fuel station's negligence can cause significant monetary and/or physical damage, there has to be some means of redress <--- the word of the day .

My personal thought is that they should post something saying that their fuel is not winterized! If not posted there should be some means of redress.

My personal thought is that they should post something saying that their fuel is not winterized! If not posted there should be some means of redress.

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CAVEAT EMPTOR!! .......... Buyer BEWARE!!

In the upper Mid-West most of the pumps are marked (winterized). But, as I said in another post, if you don't see it labeled as winterized, ASK!! Or dose the snot out of it w/ PS etc. and hope for the best.