US and Imperial gallons, litres...

[Morrgan]

Until I came to this board, I only used metric units, like cm and litre (as you do in Finland). Here it seems most people use gallons and inches for measurement. I was told that 1 gallon is about 4 litres. Fine, that's what I've been using for conversions.

But now I've found out that there are two types of gallons, US and Imperial. An Imperial gallon is apparently 4.5 litres, so I assume the 4 litres I was told earlier is US? So which do you use? Which should I use? US or Imperial?

 

[Chunandler]

yeah i saw that on an old gas tank the other day ..everybody uses us gallons over imperial ..was wandering where imperial gallons origionated.. japan lol?

 

[Sondan]

All of us Yanks use just regular ol' gallons. In fact I have never heard if Imperial gallons.
Signed,
Sondan
P.S. Chun....WHOA know that is a testosterone dream of an avatar !!!!

 

[Alien Anna]

yeah i saw that on an old gas tank the other day ..everybody uses us gallons over imperial ..was wandering where imperial gallons origionated.. japan lol?

No, Imperial gallons are from the British Empire. We had one once, you know, but we gave it away

 

[Lateral Line]

Imperial Gallons were the standard unit of capacity in the British Empire, not Japan. They were used over half the world, (and still are in places), however, like almost everywhere else in the world, the UK now officially uses the metric system.

The US has it's own "gallon" which is smaller than an Imperial gallon.

A US Gallon = 3.78541 Litres
An Imperial = 4.54609 Litres.

An Inch is 2.54 cm.

 

[platypus]

Hi Morrgan,

Have you seen this link to good conversion calculators online? Hope it helps!

Welcome to the daily brain drain we brits have to face - yes we're 'supposed' to be using metric these days, but I reckon I'm not the only one who mentally converts metric to imperial all the time! I mean, who wants to drink 565 mls of beer - it's a pint for goodness' sake!

 

[Lateral Line]

Something that makes me laugh is that in England, (and here to a certain extent), things are sold by metric weight, i.e. in Grams, but the pack sizes are stupid. We buy 454g of biscuits, or 227g of butter. Why, because 454g is 1lb, and many people still think of it as such.

 

[Eelzor]

I actually use the british gallons, but the US gallons makes my tank bigger.

 

[Alien Anna]

I actually use the british gallons, but the US gallons makes my tank bigger.

I grew up with litres (in Germany) so I have to subconsciously convert gallons to litres in my head anyway!

 

[Eelzor]

yes, since many people are from all across the globe here, I have to learn all the metrics, inl. inches, cm, m, L, gallon etc.

 

[Lateral Line]

I prefer the metric system because it makes the maths so much easier.

 

[Eelzor]

I prefer the metric system because it makes the maths so much easier.

Math being easy...mmmmmmmm.....Its everyones dream.

 

[Lateral Line]

1000cc's of water = 1000g of water = 1000ml's of water.

1 cu ft of water = 62.3lbs of water = 7.47 US gallons of water.

I know which I find easier.

 

[aernympha]

i thought i should surport imperial gallons lol!!!!

 

[Fly258]

I tend to agree with Lateral Line. If the members on this forum were to use metric it would make life easier in the long run but incredibly difficult for most in the short term. I suppose once you get it into your head that a foot is 30cm, a litre is 2 pints and a kilo is 2 lbs give or take a gnats fart on a windy day, then you have it sussed
Jim