Supermarket fuel

 

If you believe branded Nurofen is better than just  the same but unbranded Ibuprofen - and people do - then it will cure your headache faster.

That is so true and a very good point!

....I saw a program a little while back about the placebo effect,  very interesting! It said that time and again, the tests can be duplicated and show the same results, a tablet has a certain percentage effect and 2 tablets twice the effect and an injection twice that of two tablets.Amazing how the brain / body works...truly fascinating!   (Sorry gone off topic....but I have had a rather friendly Bailey's.... other cream liquors available)

Well, it all sounds like this 'difference' in the base fuel is just another urban myth. But who gains by it, or is it just done for devilment/fun? 

I can't believe it, you're just buttering us up, CY!

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.

Well, it all sounds like this 'difference' in the base fuel is just another urban myth. But who gains by it, or is it just done for devilment/fun? 

I think it is almost certainly done from a position of belief, but uninformed belief, same as 95% of the rubbish that is touted as fact on the internet, from Homeopathy to anti-Vaxers.

Its the differenace between correlation and causation - once you have confused the two and decided what you believe to be correct, it is alway very difficult to change your point of view. At least 2 plane crashes have been attributed to pilots doing this,
fixating on a single piece of information that is incorrect, even when there is a plethora of other information available - its human nature - it comes back to the fundamentals of religion vs science - having a fixed view or understanding that you dont know
and always looking for information to better fit the observed results.  

#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!!

Write your comments here...

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!

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 

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.

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.

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.

The only thing that has improved with deisel fuel that I have noticed over the years is in a real winter freeze  not having to hold a lit rag under the fuel line to make the fuel liquid,, antiwaxing additive

There is definatley a difference. My Audi will not run on ordinary pump fuel anymore. It's 12 years old and the quality of fuel has dropped below what the computer can cope with. It has to have Nitro+ or the yellow light comes on. And the turbo cuts out. 
It may just be the addatives but they make a hell of a difference. Only other option is a full remap. Think I will stick with the Nitro. It works. Why do so many cars have trouble with injectors & fuel pumps? It's the fuel people put in them. You get what
you pay for. Bioethanol is too dry & it kills the seals. The addatives contain lubricants to combat that. So believe your AA man. He knows what hes talking about because he sees the results every day. On the hard shoulder.

I can remember my father putting a couple of squirts of Redex in the tank when he filled up. Subsequently I believe that it has been proved that it did no good whatsoever.

The petrol situation is the same as supermarket food own brands that are actually from the same factory as the branded goods and identical in every way e.g. Cornflakes. People still convince themselves that the branded goods are better.

 ..... People still convince themselves that the branded goods are better.

but I KNOW that Heinz Beanz are best  .... I (help) make them 

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.

Yep, it's a feeling alright, when I look at the emissions read out, the mpg read outs and the bill for the servicing, strange the feelings you get with your eyes.

Feeling with your eyes....really!

Sorry, but a feeling is all that is, you have not undertaken a proper trial and are therefore drawing incorrect conclusions which is costing your business money. 

I know you won't be persuaded, that is the nature of 'faith in ones belief'. 

I wish you all the best - merry Xmas!