Home > Auto > Governor not ready to talk gun control

Turn off the engine while refuelling

We have had lots of rain this year. In early August I had a chance to drive up north to Doi Mae Salong in Chiang Rai and Doi Angkhang in Chiang Mai, and a large number of landslides covered the highway. Even the bridge to Doi Angkhang was washed away by the water.

Published on August 8, 2007

However, the roads and bridges are being repaired as I write, so they should be in operation very soon.

After driving through the mountains for three whole days, I came back to open my computer and found an interesting question from somebody with the name of "smartangel" about refuelling, as follows:

I heard you once said to turn off the engine while refuelling, so I want to know what is the difference between shutting it off and keeping the engine running while refuelling?

According to the safety regulations that are posted in every fuel station in the world, there are several things you must do when refuelling. First is switch off the engine, second is do not smoke or create any sparks, three avoid using the mobile telephone and four do not get out of the car. Every station in Thailand has these warnings, but Thai people just fail to follow them. So once something bad happens, we just blame luck as always.

I will talk only about the first warning, which is to switch off the engine.

Thai people don't switch off the engine because the air-conditioner will also be switched off and it gets hot inside the car. This seems to be the only excuse.

But turning off the engine has many benefits.

While refuelling, the fuel at the bottom of the tank is stirred up by the new fuel, and the residue is all over the tank. So if the engine is running, the fuel pump sucks this residue into the fuel filter, which causes it to clog easily. But if the engine is not running, by the time the attendant has finished refuelling and you have paid the bill and waited for the receipt, the residue will have settled down already, and very little will be sucked in by the fuel pump. Among other benefits, this means longer life for your fuel filter.

When a large amount of fuel is being pumped into the tank, if the vehicle suddenly moves (perhaps by someone in the car accidentally stroking the shift lever) the fuel nozzle will keep spraying fuel to the rear of the vehicle, where the exhaust pipe is. The pipe is hot, so flames could result.

Today there are many types of fuel sold at stations, not like before when there was just petrol or diesel. The most you'd have to decide back then was just regular or super. And back then the attendants would easily know which type of fuel your vehicle would need.

But today there is petrol with octane 95 and 91, gasohol 95 and 91, diesel, biodiesel and premium diesel.

Many expensive passenger cars today run on diesel. For some, if you use the wrong octane there can be problems with the engine.

Most fuel-station attendants are low-paid and little-educated, and they often choose the wrong fuel for customers' vehicles. So if your vehicle is filled with the wrong type of fuel, such as gasohol instead of premium diesel (many premium passenger cars have common-rail diesel engines) and the engine is running, the gasohol will be sucked into the engine and the fuel system will be damaged. This is an expensive system to repair or replace.

But if you switch off the engine and see that the attendant has put in the wrong fuel, there is still a chance for you to have the tank emptied and then fill up with the right fuel.

There are many more benefits of switching off the engine while refuelling, mostly for your own safety as well as that of others. I have been encouraging this for no less than five years while fuel stations, despite having the warning signs at the pumps, do not train the attendants to warn customers about the dangers of keeping the engine running. So we very often see attendants refuelling vehicles with the engine running.

Worse is that large vehicles like buses, with so many passengers on board, are seen refuelling with the engine running. Agencies in charge of safety as well as fuel retailers may not think of the terrible things that could possibly take place one day. Or maybe they just think that it is a matter of luck.

By Pattanadesh Asasappakij

E-mail your motoring questions to Pattanadesh@nationgroup.com.