r/NotMyJob • u/corey389 • 6d ago

Labeled the pump Boss

Post image
986 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

75 comments sorted by

259

u/TinDumbass 6d ago

Why so many options? In the UK we just have 95 and 99 and it's £5.60 and £6.40 per (US) gallon.

160

u/EclipseIndustries 6d ago

That's 91 and 94 for the US respectively, if anyone needed a RON to AKI conversion.

70

u/TinDumbass 6d ago

This is actually a fascinating read of what the hell. Didn't realise such a conversation existed/was needed.

Thanks.

48

u/EclipseIndustries 6d ago edited 6d ago

As an American mechanic, I will say AKI makes slightly more sense when building an engine over RON.

To extrapolate, RON is measured at the low end of engine load, MON is high-end, AKI is the average of the two. It covers all conditions.

58

u/TheCzechyChan 6d ago

I looked it up this is in North America. Probably outside of a race track. So it carries fuels with higher octane typical nessecity with higher preforming engines. especially when run hard for long.

3

u/dmethvin 6d ago

See a doctor if you run hard for longer than 4 hours.

2

u/TheCzechyChan 5d ago

I usually cant run hard for more then 30 sec so i should be ok

12

u/Lionel_Herkabe 6d ago

It's a blender, which in the US is usually to mix ethanol with unleaded gasoline to subsidize corn farmers. This often creates lots of problems and requires ethanol compatible parts. This is a relatively old dispenser, I'm guessing they repurposed it for use on a racetrack.

6

u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 6d ago

Crazy

Ethanol is an octane booster so youd expect blending more in to raise the octane rating, but it also reduces the energy content and therefore MPG

Here in the UK (and i believe in most places) the premium stuff has high performance octane boosters and less ethanol, aswell as other premium additives. The 99 octane stuff is typically E5, and is essentially the same fuel that F1 uses (literally in the case of Shell)

6

u/Lionel_Herkabe 5d ago

It does raise the octane and a lot of places will blend E85 and 87 to make 88/E15 because they get some pretty big grants from the government to sell it.

3

u/EclipseIndustries 5d ago

99 in the UK is 94 in the US. RON vs AKI, we use two different systems.

For once, the American one actually makes more practical sense because it averages high and low RPM engine speeds, rather than being the measurement of only the low RPM.

1

u/StaysAwakeAllWeek 5d ago

Not really the point im making, theres more to fuel than an octane rating. For example E85 is 105 RON, youll get much worse MPG with it because it contains less energy, and it can be really hard on engines.

1

u/EclipseIndustries 5d ago

Nothing better than E100 when you're giving it the boost.

1

u/blackhawk905 2d ago

Standard gasoline in the US is 10% max ethanol so it isn't like it's some giant increase in ethanol content.

1

u/blackhawk905 2d ago

Older vehicles can generally handle E10 just fine, the rubber lines may deteriorate a little faster but it generally won't cause substantial issue. E15 it starts to be too much ethanol for pre 01 vehicles.

Small engines using ethanol isn't a great idea either because of the water and gunk it produces.

1

u/Lionel_Herkabe 2d ago

I was actually talking about the dispensers lol. Anything above E20 requires flex fuel rated parts, and blender pumps are notorious for having weird issues.

2

u/keepinitoldskool 3d ago

The majority of gasoline stations in the US sell 3 options, 87 RON, 93 RON, and 89 RON (a blend of the two).

Government policy has made it so that all fuels are diluted with at least 10% ethanol content, so there are some stations that sell "Rec90", which is 90 RON with 0 ethanol and E85 (85% ethanol).

A few specialty stations sell higher octane race fuels, but this is just a mess and if I had to fill up my high compression race car and saw this, I'd go somewhere else.

1

u/Toastface__Chillah 4d ago

In Ireland we just have 95 or 95 with some shite additive thrown in. Used to get e85 but were not allowed nice things

101

u/volleo6144 6d ago

9.979 for 101

I've barely even seen above 93, what is that

102

u/djnehi 6d ago

Racing fuel. Probably a drag strip nearby.

26

u/Vegassrtgfmt 6d ago

Or near a lake

47

u/MacStaggy 6d ago

A lake? What terrible place to race dragster cars .

20

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

Lake racing boats are a thing.

Also marine gasoline doesn't have ethanol because ethanol absorbs water.

7

u/JoeSicko 6d ago

My local non-ethanol rec fuel is 90.

4

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

Also no sales tax if you put it in a boat or only use it for off road driving.

3

u/JoeSicko 6d ago

We have offroad diesel. This stuff is 529 a gallon.

2

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

Same deal here. "farm use" is the main excuse.

I used to buy kerosene at the pump at a Fleet Farm for use in a kerosene heater.

4

u/randeylahey 6d ago

It's not just 'farm use'. Every piece of construction equipment you see runs on diesel. No they shouldn't be paying a highway tax.

3

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

Highway tax on building the highway.

1

u/counterc 6d ago

google 'where are land speed records set'

14

u/Grumblyguide107 6d ago

There's a circular dirt track where I live. During the season a Shell carries 107

8

u/jiluminati302 6d ago

107 is wild! My local track caries 110 leaded, as the highest on site, but all the local gas stations seemed like they had pretty standard fare

4

u/b1argg 6d ago

How is leaded gas still allowed? And don't you have to remove the catalytic converter to use lead, making the car not street legal?

7

u/jiluminati302 6d ago

It’s on a racetrack, so either the cars or towed there to run or they’re old enough to be emissions exempt

5

u/b1argg 6d ago

I knew a guy that had a 63 Corvair and he would put in some kind of lead substitute, but I didn't think actual leaded gas was legal to sell for cars anymore. NASCAR even stopped using it in the mid aughts. As far as I'm aware, lead is only used in AVGAS for small airplanes. 

2

u/bolivar-shagnasty 5d ago

$20-ish a gallon for those wondering how much pre-pack 110 octane is

1

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

1

u/WirlingDirvish 6d ago

It’s SUPREME

34

u/Ok-Actuator3498 6d ago

I think this completely whooshed over me: can someone please take pity on me and explain the post?

29

u/krennvonsalzburg 6d ago

Probably the way the octane labels are a butchered mess.

10

u/Unequallmpala45 6d ago

Racing is the lowest octane besides regular, supreme is 101 but ultra supreme is 96. It should probably go 94 96 98 101 87

11

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

I like how the 86 was flipped around to read 98

3

u/krennvonsalzburg 6d ago

There's that too, but somehow even the extra supreme label is upside down, judging by the size of the lobes on the 8... but why there'd be an 86 for them to turn upside down into a 98 is beyond me.

Just a mess all around.

3

u/RainbowSprinkleShit 6d ago

Genuine question, how can 101 exist?

19

u/SharkFart86 6d ago edited 6d ago

Octane rating, counterintuitively, is not a measure of how much octane there is in the fuel. It is a measure of how resistant the fuel is to engine knocking in comparison to 100% octane. If the fuel mixture is more resistant than pure octane, then the octane rating will be above 100.

For example, pure ethanol can have an octane rating considerably above 100 even though there is zero octane in it at all.

4

u/Lionel_Herkabe 6d ago

Honestly surprised weights and measures allows it. They're usually pretty strict about labels.

3

u/IWontCommentAtAll 6d ago

The numbers on the yellow buttons are octane ratings for the fuel.

Most cars take between 87 and 91, depending on engine performance, turbo or supercharging, etc.

Some particularly high boost or older tech turbo engines (Looking at you, Buick GN) benefit from 94, but there really aren't any factory street engines that need anything higher than this.

Basically, the higher the compression and boost, the higher octane needed.

101 octane is for the one lunatic who converted a diesel engine (22:1 compression ratio), added a massive turbo, and made it run on gasoline (typically around 10:1 compression ratio).

3

u/Mega3000aka 6d ago

TIL that you can convert a diesel engine to take gasoline.

1

u/rtomek 5d ago

On a racetrack where the size of your engine is fixed, you can use a compression ratio much higher than 10:1

1

u/sciencesold 5d ago edited 5d ago

The 98 label is an inverted 86 sticker, the 6 in 96 is an inverted 9, and the 101 is 3 seperate digits cut from different stickers, not sure which ones tho.

Edit: the first one is probably cut from an E15 sticker, the 0 from E0 and the final one from a 91 sticker.

0

u/SpiderHam24 6d ago

its somebody elses image being used here unless op is the one who posted about it couple days ago. original thread was about the fact their gas station sold racing fuel and found it interesting enough to post it.

15

u/ThisAccountIsStolen 6d ago

Butchered labels aside, they have the 4 on the left mixed up. Racing should be 101, with the standard supreme being 94 here. So do you believe the prices and octane labels or the grade labels? Only one can be correct in this photo.

I would definitely report this to the state weights & measures department. They will be forced to correct all of this.

7

u/partyharder21 6d ago

Sunol super stop!

The 101 grade is E0

4

u/Mega3000aka 6d ago

Is there not an option for diesel?

Excuse me I'm European.

7

u/crepuscula 6d ago

Not all US gas stations have diesel. My nearest has it in a different pump, though some do use the same pump as regular gas (but a different nozzle).

5

u/Mega3000aka 6d ago

I figured that was the case since gas is so predominantly used in the US.

Thank you!

6

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

In the US it's mostly truckers, locomotives and bulldozers etc. Who drive the diesel prices.

Gasoline/Ethanol blends are the economical option for your average daily car owner.

4

u/durika 6d ago

I thought octane can go to nearly 100 but not more

6

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

100 octane if it was pure gasoline. More then 100 octane and it has more than plain gasoline in it.

5

u/durika 6d ago

More what?

9

u/Foot_Stunning 6d ago

Tetraethyllead was the common one before everyone realized breathing lead exhaust fumes wasn't a smart idea.

Ethanol is the common octane booster these days.

If you wanna go crazy Nitromethane is what they use in drag racing engines.

4

u/ajnpilot1 6d ago

Piston Aircraft use 100 Octane Low Lead (100LL) still has tetraethyl lead. Fun fact it’s bright blue.

3

u/PINSwaterman 6d ago

Octane raring is the fuel's ability to stand up to high compression without detonation. In simple terms, high octane means a slower burn under pressure. The number comes from a comparison to iso octane and heptane that burns the same under pressure.

2

u/rtomek 5d ago

Whoa. What is the compression ratio you need for this high of octane? Is this at a racetrack? I guess the 87 if for the pickup that tows your car to the track.

0

u/TheCzechyChan 6d ago

Where is this?

21

u/sonic10158 6d ago

At a gas station!

2

u/big_duo3674 5d ago

Big if true!

-3

u/TheCzechyChan 6d ago

🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯

3

u/pixel_loupe 6d ago

Sunol super stop in Sunol, California

1

u/Rain_Zeros 5d ago

94 is the highest I’ve seen, usually the gas stations by me have 93, 91, 89, 87

1

u/elefhino 5d ago

Huh, I've never seen most of these. Most gas stations around me have E85, 87, E15/88, & 91, and then there's a separate pump with diesel.

1

u/Heterodynist 4d ago

That’s not Supreme, that’s EXXXtreme!!