# Guides for petrol pumps

> Plain guides on Table 53B, density, dip charts, tankers, stock variation and the daily checks.

Canonical: https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/
Last updated: 2026-11-02

- [The 5 litre measure test](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/5-litre-measure-test/): How to do the 5 litre measure test on a petrol pump nozzle, the ±25 ml permissible error, the ±10 ml line in the MDG, and what to do when a nozzle delivers short.
- [BPCL tank dip chart](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/bpcl-tank-dip-chart/): BPCL underground tank dip charts for 10+ models from 8.4 KL to 70 KL: inside diameter, length, full litres, and litres every 10 cm of dip.
- [The daily density check at a petrol pump](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/density-check-at-petrol-pump/): The three density checks MDG 2024 asks of every dealer: morning density by 10 AM, each tanker compartment, and the tank after decanting, with the density register format.
- [How much density variation is allowed?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/density-variation-limit/): The density of each tanker compartment at 15 °C must be within ±3.0 kg/m³ of the invoice density. What the MDG says, how to check it, and what to do if it fails.
- [How to read a dip rod: cm, mm and bars](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/dip-rod-cm-mm-and-bars/): How to read a fuel tank dip rod marked in centimetres and millimetres, or in centimetres with four 2 mm bars, and the costly mistake of writing bars as a decimal.
- [The dip to litres formula](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/dip-to-litres-formula/): The formula behind every dip chart: litres in a horizontal cylindrical tank from its diameter, length and dip, worked step by step for a BPCL 20 KL tank.
- [Ethanol-blended petrol: what changes at the pump](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/ethanol-blended-petrol-e20/): E10 and E20 are petrol with 10% and 20% ethanol. What changes for a petrol pump: the same density range, the right water-finding paste, and the risk of water in the tank.
- [How much evaporation loss is allowed?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/evaporation-loss-allowance/): MDG 2024 allows petrol 0.75% evaporation and handling loss up to 600 KL a year and 0.60% beyond, and diesel 0.25% and 0.20%. What it covers and how to work it out.
- [The filter paper test for petrol](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/filter-paper-test-for-petrol/): The filter paper test is a quick check for adulterated petrol. Every Indian petrol pump must keep Whatman 2 filter paper and give it to customers who ask. How to do it and what it shows.
- [How to calculate density at 15 °C](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/how-to-calculate-density-at-15-degree/): Step by step: take a sample, read the hydrometer and thermometer, and find density at 15 °C from ASTM Table 53B, with two worked examples for petrol and diesel.
- [How to check petrol quality and quantity at a pump](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/how-to-check-petrol-quality-at-petrol-pump/): Five checks any customer can ask for at an Indian petrol pump: the zero on the meter, the filter paper test, the density on display, the 5 litre measure, and the complaint book.
- [How to take a dip reading](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/how-to-take-a-dip-reading/): Step by step: how to dip a petrol pump's underground tank, read the rod, check for water with paste, and turn the dip into litres, with the mistakes to avoid.
- [HPCL tank dip chart](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/hpcl-tank-dip-chart/): HPCL underground tank dip charts for 9, 16, 22 and 35 KL: inside diameter, length, full litres and litres every 10 cm of dip.
- [How to use a hydrometer: the jar test](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/hydrometer-jar-test/): How to do the hydrometer jar test at a petrol pump: the jar, the sample, reading the scale at the right line, the thermometer, and the mistakes that give a wrong density.
- [IOCL tank dip chart](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/iocl-tank-dip-chart/): IndianOil underground tank dip charts for 15 KL and 20 KL: inside diameter, length, deadwood, full litres and litres every 10 cm of dip.
- [What is the density of petrol and diesel in India?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/petrol-diesel-density-range/): BS-VI petrol must be 720 to 775 kg/m³ at 15 °C and BS-VI diesel 810 to 845 kg/m³. The limits, where they come from, and what a reading outside means.
- [What every petrol pump must give you](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/petrol-pump-customer-rights/): What every petrol pump in India must give customers under the oil companies' MDG 2024: free air with a calibrated gauge, a clean toilet, telephone, first aid, prices, complaint book and contacts.
- [The petrol pump daily checklist](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/petrol-pump-daily-checklist/): The checks a petrol pump dealer makes every day under MDG 2024: morning dips and water dips, density by 10 AM, 5 litre test on every nozzle, seals, and the registers to keep.
- [How big are petrol pump underground tanks?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/petrol-pump-tank-capacity/): Common underground tank sizes at Indian petrol pumps, from 8.4 KL to 70 KL, with their inside diameters and lengths for BPCL, IOCL and HPCL, and why the size alone does not give the chart.
- [Stock variation: the 4% rule](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/stock-variation-4-percent-rule/): How petrol pump stock is verified: opening dip plus receipts less sales gives book stock, compared with the closing dip within ±4%. The MDG 2024 method with a worked example.
- [Table 53B and Table 54B: what is the difference?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/table-53b-vs-54b/): Table 53B converts a hydrometer reading to density at 15 °C; Table 54B gives the volume correction factor to litres at 15 °C. How the two work together, with an example.
- [How to receive and decant a tanker](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/tanker-decantation-procedure/): Every step of receiving a tanker at a petrol pump as MDG 2024 sets it out: invoice checks, seals, compartment dips, water paste, density within ±3 kg/m³, samples and the 50 litre composite check.
- [Tanker shortage: how to find it and what to do](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/tanker-shortage/): How to catch a tanker shortage before and after decanting, the difference between a real shortage and temperature, and the MDG steps for making up and recording it.
- [The three-tier sampling procedure](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/three-tier-sampling-procedure/): How petrol and diesel samples are drawn at depots and petrol pumps under the three-tier procedure: tank lorry retention samples, who signs, how long to keep them, and oil company sampling.
- [Totalizer readings: how sales are counted](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/totalizer-meter-reading/): A dispenser's totalizer is a lifetime counter of litres. Sales are closing reading less opening reading on the same nozzle. How to read it, test fuel, and why the seals matter.
- [Water in the tank: the water dip](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/water-in-underground-tank/): How to check for water in a petrol or diesel tank with water-finding paste, why it matters for ethanol-blended petrol, and what the MDG asks a dealer to do.
- [What are MS and HSD?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/what-is-ms-and-hsd/): MS is Motor Spirit, the trade name for petrol; HSD is High Speed Diesel. What the terms mean on invoices and registers, their standards, densities and colours.
- [What is ASTM Table 53B?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/what-is-table-53b/): ASTM Table 53B turns a hydrometer reading at any temperature into density at 15 °C for petrol, diesel and kerosene. What it is, how to read it, and why pumps use it.
- [Why is density corrected to 15 °C?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/why-density-is-corrected-to-15-degree/): Fuel expands as it warms, so its density and its litres change with temperature. Why the industry uses 15 °C, and how much a warm day changes the figures.
- [Why do two tanks of the same size have different dip charts?](https://dipdensity.watsinfo.com/guides/why-same-size-tanks-have-different-dip-charts/): A tank's dip chart depends on its inside diameter and length, not its size in KL. Why two 20 KL tanks give different litres at the same dip, and how to find your model.