Sticker at an Ohio gas station appears to warn of a 4-gallon ‘minimum fueling volume’ rule, and violating it may have legal consequences

A sticker at a particular Ohio gas station that appears to enforce a fueling rule has left Reddit talking. As reported by The Nerd Stash, someone has shared an image of this sticker stating a minimum fueling volume of 4 gallons and warning that going below the allowed amount may violate federal law. Due to high gas prices, people seem concerned about this sticker, which appears to make it compulsory to buy at least 4 gallons of gas.

In the shared image, a black sticker with white font can be seen giving refuelers this message. It says, “MINIMUM FUELING VOLUME 4 GALLONS,” and after stating the volume, it appears to warn about the consequences of refueling with a lower amount: “DISPENSING LESS MAY VIOLATE FEDERAL LAW.” Apart from this, no other instructions are seen on the sticker regarding this rule.

In the description of the image, the Redditor who shared the image (u/Advanced-Raccoon-348) wrote his concern, “First time seeing this sticker. 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.”

This might be true, but not for all gas stations

The image gained significant traction on Reddit, garnering about 11,000 upvotes and over 1,000 comments. Several users shared their opinions on the gas concern. One stated, “My road legal motorcycle takes 3.6.” While another person who appears to be a motorcycle owner wrote, “So what do motorcycle riders do? Just dump the gas on the ground? Lol.” These concerns aside, one user did some digging and claimed that this rule doesn’t apply to all gas stations.

They cited the EPA and also claimed they found something related to this fueling concern on “the legaladvice subreddit,” which says this requirement applies to gas stations that use the same hose for refueling E15 and E10 (or E0) gasoline.

Their complete statement was, “The 4-gallon minimum rule on gas pumps is not a universal federal law, but a requirement for stations that use the same hose to dispense both E15 and E10 (or E0) gasoline. This is a mitigation strategy to prevent misfueling in vehicles not designed for E15, ensuring any residual E15 in the hose is sufficiently diluted by the larger purchase volume of E10. If a station uses separate hoses for different ethanol blends, this rule does not apply.” This statement aligns with the cited EPA FAQ page.

This suggests that the 4-gallon fueling rule might be true, but not for all gas stations.