As if gas prices haven’t left people baffled enough, a gas station in Ohio is enforcing a “minimum fueling volume” rule that has some scratching their heads. In a photo on r/mildlyinfuriating shared by Reddit user Advanced-Raccoon-348, a pump can be seen at a gas station with a sticker telling people to dispense at least four gallons. Without reason or explanation, the sticker says not doing so “may violate federal law.”
It was allegedly the first time Advanced Raccoon had ever seen a sticker like this at a gas station, leaving her quite bewildered. “I’m not sure if it’s mildly interesting or mildly infuriating,” she remarked in a comment. “Given the price of gas and everything else, I feel like some people might not be able to put at least four gallons of gas in their vehicle at one time,” she wrote.
A good number of commenters in her post weren’t too happy about such a rule. “So how do I get gas for my lawnmower, or weedwacker, or boat?” one user questioned. Another called out the gas station’s requirement. “My motorcycle holds only 4.5 gallons and the low fuel light comes on when there is about .8 gallons left. Most motorcycles hold LESS than 4 gallons,” they pointed out.
Some people believed it was nothing more than a means to get customers to buy more gas. “Anytime something says, “’May violate…’ It’s literally just a scare tactic. The law does not do ‘maybe’,” said a Redditor. However, the more upvoted comments in the post seemed to explain the actual mystery behind this 4-gallon rule.
Redditors Reveal True Reason Behind the Ohio Gas Station’s Confusing 4-Gallon Requirement
“It’s because of the E15 fuel,” a commenter wrote bluntly. Another Reddit user went even further, pasting long paragraphs about how the 4-gallon minimum rule is required for stations that use the same hose to dispense different types of gasoline. The point is to prevent misfueling in vehicles not designed for E15 and ensure the hose is “sufficiently diluted by the larger purchase volume of E10.”
It’s allegedly not a common thing among stations, which is why Advanced Raccoon never saw the sticker before visiting that particular gas station in Ohio. As to the legality of it all for the customer, one user lays it out clearly: “It’s not illegal for you, the customer. It’s illegal for them, the station, because the gas may not meet the purity standards if you pump less than that.”
All that being said, it might be debatable whether the Ohio gas station could have done a better job communicating this important information to its customers instead of a “federal law violation jumpscare.”
