Supermarket fuel

#failed - never can just keep me gob shut!   

Write your comments here...well thank you for the info i will pass on your advice to the AA man im sure he will bin all his tools and advice it does make me wonder why i bothered in the first place posting this

Just to clarify, that post was wholly referring to myself #failing!!

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If I remember correctly from previous postings,  Chemical Jasper is a qualified chemical engineer who works in a refinery. 

An AA patrolman needs a NVQ level 3 in Vehicle maintainence and repair.   I will leave the reader to decide who has the most credibility on the subject of petroleum product quality.

Write your comments here...the AA man is a friend of mine he trained as a motor mechanic did his apretaship at a main ford dealer worked for ford for aroubd 10yrs untill moving to the AA .his hobby is rally cars he owns and restors old rally cars . the info he gave me came from the AA tecnical team they did a survey on breakdownd in winter

And I look after the tanks that fill the road tankers that fill the forecourts! 

You tell me where your Shell fuel is coming from!

Just because something is more expensive doesn't necessarily mean that it is of better quality, or better in any other way and this almost certainly applies to fuel as well. Another analogy to help prove the point, a few days ago I saw a book in our local supermarket that I knew my wife would like for Christmas but I couldn't buy it then as she was with me. The price was £9.99 and was not a specific promotion price for the book which is not on a 'best selling' list. Yesterday I was out shopping and called in to a well known national bookshop chain. They had exactly the same book - priced at £20.00! I would not be surprised if they had an equal if not better buying power for books than the supermarket has. It is just down to the amount of profit the organisation wants to make.

No JohnM20....I have this mate down the pub, he worked at the library for 20 years and has read 1000's of books, he has a diploma in book reading and everything. He showed me a link to a bookreaders website that shows those supermarket book are rubbish!

Sometimes the pages just start missing and you can get word blockages. Those book are just so cheap and the paper can sometimes just set on fire and the ink just crumbles off the page. I always get my books from a a proper book store! 

When we had the Bunsfield fuel depot explosion some years ago (rattled our roof tiles 7mls away)there was for a couple of days, a fuel shortage on all forecourts in our area,until supplies were sorced from another depot 

Just because something is more expensive doesn't necessarily mean that it is of better quality, or better in any other way and this almost certainly applies to fuel as well. Another analogy to help prove the point, a few days ago I saw a book in our local supermarket that I knew my wife would like for Christmas but I couldn't buy it then as she was with me. The price was £9.99 and was not a specific promotion price for the book which is not on a 'best selling' list. Yesterday I was out shopping and called in to a well known national bookshop chain. They had exactly the same book - priced at £20.00! I would not be surprised if they had an equal if not better buying power for books than the supermarket has. It is just down to the amount of profit the organisation wants to make.

No JohnM20....I have this mate down the pub, he worked at the library for 20 years and has read 1000's of books, he has a diploma in book reading and everything. He showed me a link to a bookreaders website that shows those supermarket book are rubbish!

Sometimes the pages just start missing and you can get word blockages. Those book are just so cheap and the paper can sometimes just set on fire and the ink just crumbles off the page. I always get my books from a a proper book store! 

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There is a difference between supermarkets and branded fuel.

That's a fact. But the difference is ONLY in the additive pack, the base fuel is exactly the same.

Assuming the branded fuel is superior to supermarkets fuels, which themselves use different additive packs, then its claimed to be of benefit to the engine only over a high mileage.

Which is why i only usually use supermarket fuels, my favorite is Morrisons, but usually we use Tesco because it the nearest and cheaper than Shell locally. Least favorite is Asda, i'm sure their additive pack isnt as good.

Good point xtrailman. When we had that very cold winter a few years ago, I found the city diesel from Sainsbury a lot better at starting at minus 8 or below than Tesco. Presumably because of the additive pack.

There is a difference between supermarkets and branded fuel.

That's a fact. But the difference is ONLY in the additive pack, the base fuel is exactly the same.

Assuming the branded fuel is superior to supermarkets fuels, which themselves use different additive packs, then its claimed to be of benefit to the engine only over a high mileage.

Which is why i only usually use supermarket fuels, my favorite is Morrisons, but usually we use Tesco because it the nearest and cheaper than Shell locally. Least favorite is Asda, i'm sure their additive pack isnt as good.

Basic BS EN 590 only has the same additives for lubricity etc, so for the base fuel they are all the same*. We have small additive tanks for the premium versions of the branded versions, as other have said, these are metered into the road tanker during loading - all other additives are added at the blenders before coming to the main RTW loading tanks. 

If you buy the Turbo-Nitro-Carlos-van-Dango version, then yes you are getting a brand specific additive to the standard fuel. Typically at the ppm level, which equates to around a spoonful in a full tanks fill, for which you will pay perhaps £5?

If you have a performance petrol car, I would agree these are perhaps worth the extra (if you feel you need the extra), but diesel vehicles are quite indifferent to additives and operate on a much broader calorific range - as I have said before, my old 90 runs fine on old veg oil, the only difference is that it smells like I'm cooking chips.

If you buy bog standard, then its just bog standard!

*When I say same, see my comments previously - its slightly different week to week based on what goes into the blend and its different summer to winter (if you have a jerry can, fill it in winter, winter spec fuel has less water in it) and also will vary refinery to refinery subject to what distillates they make and also what 'bio' components they blend Ethanol or Methanol or both, to enable them to get the best 'government incentives' 

Happy to use branded, we run a fleet of vans, we ran them on supermarket for awhile and then on branded, we get 3mpg better on branded, our emissions are lower at MOT time, the run better and our servicing costs are less.

Happy to use branded, we run a fleet of vans, we ran them on supermarket for awhile and then on branded, we get 3mpg better on branded, our emissions are lower at MOT time, the run better and our servicing costs are less.

You may well do that and have found that, but it has nothing to do with where you bought your fuel!

The only thing you have is anecdotal evidence and have made a correlation where there is no causation.

Unless you have run randomised double blind trials and have statistical data to back it up, all you have is a feeling.

By the way, it will not be long before this will be even more of an academic issue. There are currently a number of mega-refineries under construction in the middle east, with single units larger than most UK refineries.

In the not too distant future, most of the UK refineries will be closed and instead of selling crude oil to the UK, they will sell just the value added fuel....it will all just come off the same supertanker then!

(though I'm sure some people will still get some 'better stuff' if they buy it from A rather than B)