How out-of-touch can you get?

First, I think the present national average price for "regular" is up around $2.10, so it would be prudent for you to fill up at $1.79. It likely won't stay there very long.

Second, no matter what kind of car you own, it is NOT a good idea to drive around very long with only 1/4 tank of gas.......especially not if that gas in approaching 6 months old.

I suggest that the right thing to do would be to fill it up.......NOW.
And in the future when it gets down to half.......or every 6 months, whichever comes first.
There is absolutely NO advantage in stubbornly running it down to 1/4 or less before filling.

 

I might agree with that if......someday you decided that it was time to run out most of the old gas and did that over a few days.
I don't agree that it is ANY advantage if it takes you more than 5 months to do it.

 

But this 7-8 gallons adds about 50 lbs.

 

You still have Sam's Club? All ours closed shop months ago.

Legacy gasser rules don't necessarily apply to all-electric cars, or those being used primarily as all-electric. Filling up just means he'll have a lot more gas to go stale and require otherwise unnecessary burnoffs.

The Prime knows that this could become an issue, and is pre-programmed to address it automatically without driver intervention. The Owner's Manual also provides guidance. I suggest that you have no reasonable basis for overriding those established measures.

 

Just because it CAN be done in EV mode does not mean that it MUST be done that way.

 

Are you sure you aren't thinking of Sears ??
I have not heard about any mass closing of any Wal Mart properties.

Then, a small amount of gas riding around in a container is WAY more likely to "go bad" than a large amount.
Volatile ingredients will evaporate into the large empty space faster.
That empty space also tends to collect more moisture from condensation.
Good design can minimize those affects but not eliminate them.

Do whatever you think is right and I will too.
Neither is totally wrong.

 

If he uses so little fuel he likely shouldn’t fill up completely, just keep it slightly above the low fuel warning and add the single gallon it takes to keep the light off once and a while.

The Volts manual recommends you keep a quarter tank of gas if you don’t use fuel ⛽️ often

 

They closed too. Local Sears announced as closing first in January last year, Sam's announcement about followed a week later. Sears hung around until April with clearance sales, while Sam's emptied out almost immediately.

You have now:

Walmart is closing 63 Sam's Club stores — here's the complete list - Business Insider
Walmart closing 269 stores, including Mass. Sam's Clubs
List of Walmart, Sams Club store closings

With some occasional gas use, a small amount is less likely to get old enough to go stale in the first place, and cheaper/easier/quicker to burn off as a preventative measure.

With a very well sealed tank in a common passenger car, that empty volume is not large enough to be a concern. The rate of leakage to and exchange with the outside atmosphere is the issue.

Moisture? This is well sealed, which not only keeps evaporative emissions contained inside, but moisture kept outside. And most fuel available to consumers today is heavily loaded with ethanol, which quickly captures that moisture and flushes it out through the engine. Sort of (though not exactly) like have 10% HEET fuel deicer in your tank all the time, vastly more than a normal retail bottle.

 

It can't be completely sealed.
There must be some path to allow air in to replace the gas removed.

 

If you think that's out of touch, I wanted to find some new 8-track tapes at Marshall's today...

 

Generally speaking?
You can get pretty out of touch.
I won't admit it anywhere, but my instincts when faced with looking for a specific item or information about an item is still to look for a "phone book" then I realize it's 2019, and we have smart phones and the internet and I don't even have a phone book.

And I miss being able to stroll through Blockbuster video looking at the many choices of video taped movies. Asking desperately at the check out desk if the latest release was available.

Those days kind of sucked...but I miss them.

 

The system is pressurized by some sort of air pump. If well sealed, the moisture pumped in with that intentional air is minuscule, very easily handled by the ethanol in the fuel.

The moisture won't be a problem until there is some sort of natural air exchange or flow through noticeable leaks, well beyond the minimal air needed to pressurize a sealed tank . And the 'pure gas' E0 consumers should be finding any such problems long before the E10 consumers.

 

1/10th of a penny more and it would be gouging.

 

I'm surprised that we haven't had a post yet saying that gas will last forever without ethanol......and that it is the water mixed with the ethanol that causes most of the trouble.
Both wrong, incidentally.

 

Gas is moving back up here (Midwest).