Wet Hose Fueling Software in 2026: A Mobile Fueling Buyer's Guide

Wet hose fueling software has to turn one night in a fleet yard into a line for every unit and an invoice the fleet manager trusts. Which product fits depends on the back office behind the truck. FleetPanda sells on-site fueling as a business line and hands each shift to the accounting system you keep. ADD Systems Raven adds Raven Fleet Fueler for wet hosing and pairs with ADD's own back office. PDI, iRely, AIMS and Red River's RR Fuel run delivery inside larger back offices, and their pages describe route and bulk delivery without naming wet hosing. FastDragon keeps each unit's line, the invoice and the ledger in one system. FastDragon is ours, so weigh our entry with the same eye as the rest.

How this guide was put together

Vendor facts come from each vendor's own pages, read on October 24, 2026. Code and tax facts come from the code, handbook, publication and statute texts listed under Sources. The fleet yard night is a worked example with made-up units, readings and prices. I have spent most of my career on the back office side of fuel, where a wet hose night arrives as one stop with 40 ticket lines.

What wet hosing is

Wet hose fuel delivery, usually called wet hosing, is fueling vehicles and equipment straight from a delivery truck's hose, one unit at a time, where they park. Usually it happens overnight in the customer's yard, so the fleet rolls out full; the rest happens on job sites by day. Fleets buy it as a fleet fueling service, and the trade also calls it mobile fueling or on-site fueling. The buyers have many units in one place: truck fleets, school bus barns, city and county fleets, construction equipment, standby generators, and refrigerated trailers, whose reefer unit (the small diesel engine that runs the cooling) has its own tank.

A bulk delivery fills one storage tank per stop. A wet hose stop fills dozens of small tanks, and each fill is its own sale with its own unit, product and tax treatment. For the trucks, see transport vs bobtail and tank truck compartments.

One night in one fleet yard

Here is one night, built as a worked example. A food distributor parks 38 units in one yard under three departments: Linehaul, 24 road tractors on clear (taxed) diesel; Reefer, 10 reefer units on dyed (untaxed) diesel; and Yard, 3 unregistered yard tractors that move trailers inside the fence plus the warehouse's standby generator, also on dyed.

The tank wagon, a straight truck with compartments, carries 1,800 gallons of clear diesel and 600 of dyed in two compartments, and 150 gallons of DEF (diesel exhaust fluid) in a deck tank, each product on its own meter and hose. The driver works from 12:05 to 4:20 a.m. with nobody from the customer on site, reading the meter start and stop at each unit and recording its odometer or hour meter. Two tractors also take DEF. Here are eight of the night's 40 lines.

Worked example. The units, readings and prices on this page are made up.

R-118 is a reefer unit with a 50-gallon tank, and its line shows 71.386 gallons, so the line is flagged. The night by department:

MPG divides each tractor's miles since its last fill by tonight's gallons. R-118 stays out of the reefer rate until its flag is settled. The invoice:

Fuel prices include taxes where they apply. The office settles R-118's flag before the invoice goes out.

What the fleet manager wants back

The person paying for wet hosing fuel delivery is a fleet manager with a budget by department. Each month that person wants:

• Gallons by unit, department and product.
• MPG from the odometer for road units, and gallons per hour from the hour meter for reefers, yard tractors and generators.
• Proof of each fill with nobody there to sign: a photo, the time and the truck's position at 2 a.m.
• An invoice that matches the report line for line.

Those records catch fuel going into the wrong tank. A fill bigger than the unit's tank, like R-118's, means the hose went into a second tank on one line, the unit record holds the wrong capacity, or a reading was keyed wrong. The photo, the time and the truck's position narrow it down. If the second tank belonged to the tractor hitched to R-118's trailer, dyed diesel went into a road vehicle, with the tax exposure set out below. Our article on fleet fuel theft covers the other patterns.

The rules that touch a wet hose business

Fire code: two sections and two permits

Many states and cities build their fire codes on the International Fire Code (IFC) and amend it. In the 2024 IFC, section 5706.5.4.5 allows dispensing motor vehicle fuel from tank vehicles into vehicles at commercial, industrial, governmental or manufacturing establishments, where approved. Among its 25 conditions:

• a permit for each site, with a spill response plan and a site plan;
• fueling in areas closed to the public or when the public is away;
• no fueling within 15 feet of buildings, property lines, combustible storage or storm drains;
• a fuel limit switch capping a single fueling at 500 gallons, unless the operator carries a remote emergency shutoff;
• equipment constantly attended by trained staff, engines of the vehicles being fueled shut off, night fueling only in adequately lighted areas, and no topping off.

On an unattended night the customer's staff have gone home, and the driver still attends the hose. Section 5707 covers on-demand mobile fueling, with trucks up to 1,600 gallons, a fuel limit switch set at 30 gallons or less, a safety and emergency response plan, and training records. Section 105.5.18 lists an operational permit for either kind of dispensing and another to use a site.

Editions and states differ. Ohio builds on the 2021 IFC and leaves operational permits to the local fire code official. In its version of 5706.5.4.5 the site permit becomes a notice to that official, who may inspect, and an engine may keep running during fueling when that is needed to protect the cargo. NFPA 30A covers on-demand mobile fueling in its Chapter 14. Ask the local fire code official which code applies before quoting a yard.

Meters: Handbook 44 and the state inspector

NIST Handbook 44, section 3.31, sets the rules for vehicle-tank meters, and state weights and measures programs enforce them. In the 2026 edition, a petroleum meter marked for more than 30 gallons a minute has a maintenance tolerance of 0.3 percent (0.15 percent on acceptance), and a motor-fuel meter marked for 1 to 30 gallons a minute has 0.5 percent (0.3 on acceptance). On a pumped unit the hose is the wet-hose type, one "intended to be full of product at all times" (Appendix D), with a shutoff valve at the outlet end. Every sale through the meter is recorded, and the customer gets a ticket copy at delivery or as the customer specifies, so a 2 a.m. ticket can go by email.

In Wisconsin, each vehicle tank meter needs its own annual license and an accuracy test at least once a year by a state-licensed tester, with results reported within 30 days (Wis. Stat. 98.224). See weights and measures inspections.

Dyed diesel: reefers, yard equipment and the notice

Dyed diesel is sold free of federal excise tax, apart from the $0.001-a-gallon leaking underground storage tank (LUST) tax, for nontaxable uses. IRS Publication 510 (December 2025) defines off-highway business use as business use other than in a highway vehicle registered, or required to be registered, for highway use. It names generators and earthmovers, and it includes fuel for a separate motor that runs special equipment, such as a refrigeration unit. On that text, the worked night's reefer units, unregistered yard tractors and generator take dyed, and its road tractors take clear.

The same publication requires a seller to post DYED DIESEL FUEL, NONTAXABLE USE ONLY, PENALTY FOR TAXABLE USE on any retail pump or other delivery facility where it sells dyed diesel. Dyed fuel delivered into a diesel highway vehicle's tank for a taxable use carries a back-up tax, generally $0.244 a gallon, owed by the operator and jointly by a seller who knows or has reason to know. The penalty is the greater of $1,000 or $10 a gallon, on top of the tax. Texas exempts from its diesel tax the dyed diesel a license holder delivers into refrigeration units or other stationary equipment powered by a separate motor from a separate fuel tank (Tax Code 162.204). See dyed diesel explained.

Government fleets and fuel tax

Publication 510 also lists exclusive use by a state or local government, and use in a school bus, as nontaxable uses of diesel. On clear diesel sold to a state or local government for its exclusive use, the federal tax credit or refund may be allowed to the registered ultimate vendor only, when the government does not pay with a credit card issued to it (see Form 637 registration). State tax is each state's call. Texas exempts diesel sold to the United States, a Texas public school district or a Texas county for its exclusive use, and cities are not on that list (Tax Code 162.204). See fuel tax exemptions.

The kinds of mobile fueling software

Mobile fuel delivery software comes in four kinds, whatever the vendor calls it: wet hosing software, mobile fueling software or fleet fueling service software. What sorts them is where the night's 40 lines become an invoice.

Driver and dispatch layers that pair with a back office

FleetPanda lists on-site fueling as a business line, and its on-site fueling page describes a QR scan to pull up each asset before fueling, wireless connections to LCR.iQ, LCR II and LCR 600 meter registers, an offline mode, signatures as proof of delivery, and a shift record of assets fueled that is pushed to the accounting system. Its fuel delivery page calls wet hosing everyday work and says FleetPanda connects to the back office you already run. iRely and FleetPanda announced an integration in May 2024. See FleetPanda alternatives.

In-truck route systems

Raven is ADD Systems' in-truck system, on Windows tablets or Android tablets and phones. Raven Fleet Fueler, an Android device that works with the Raven tablet, is built for fleet fueling and wet hosing accounts: a QR scan checks each piece of equipment, gallons are captured per piece, the invoice lists every asset, and labels can be made in the field. ADD says Raven works with all major brands of registers and counts more than 8,000 deployed, and it pairs with ADD Energy E3 or E360 for the back office. PDI's in-truck apps cover bulk and metered deliveries to retail, commercial and residential sites, and its Mobile Short Truck app lists register integration and POS invoicing. PDI's pages do not name wet hosing.

Delivery inside the back office

AIMS Fuel Dispatch, with an optional driver app for pickup and delivery instructions, sends completed delivery data to AIMS Commander, which updates inventory and writes the invoice. iRely's mobile billing lets drivers bill from phones and tablets inside the iRely ERP. RR Fuel runs on Windows tablets and laptops that can be hard-wired to the meter head, feeding invoicing in RR Fuel. None of the three names wet hosing on its pages.

FastDragon

FastDragon is delivery inside the back office too, for the jobber or marketer who owns the trucks and sells the fuel. Each unit gets its own line, and the invoice is written at the drop.

The vendors at a glance

Source: each vendor's own pages, read October 24, 2026. None of the six outside vendors publish a price. Links are under Sources below.

Six tests to bring to every demo

• A unit with no QR label. A trailer arrived today. Watch its fill land on the right unit, and watch it get a label.
• A fill over capacity. Put 71 gallons on a 50-gallon reefer line. Who sees the flag before the invoice goes out?
• A dead zone in the yard. Airplane mode for six fills, then off. Each line should arrive once.
• Dyed and clear in one stop. A reefer on dyed and a tractor on clear on one ticket, each priced and taxed on its own, with the IRS notice on the dyed paperwork.
• A monthly report by department. Gallons by unit and department, with MPG and gallons per hour, as the fleet manager receives it.
• A night with no signature. Ask what proves each fill and how the customer gets the ticket.

For the wider field, see the fuel delivery software buyer's guide. For DEF on the same truck, see what DEF delivery software has to track.

Where FastDragon fits

In FastDragon, a wet hose night runs on Hauling, with truck stock and cost from the Tank Wagon module. Here is the same night in it.

The office loads the 38 units from the distributor's spreadsheet (unit number, product, tank capacity, department) and prints their QR labels in one batch. The yard is set as an unattended site, and the run repeats every weeknight as a standing route. Each compartment's product, gallons and capacity sit at the top of the run.

At each unit the driver scans the label on an ordinary phone. The ticket gets that unit's line with its product, the meter start and stop to three decimals, and the odometer or hour meter the driver types. Clear and dyed lines from two compartments stay on one ticket. R-118's line is flagged on the ticket and on the run, because 71.386 gallons is more than its 50-gallon tank. The stop asks for no signature; the ticket keeps the photo, the time and the truck's position at the drop. In a dead corner of the yard, the phone keeps working and sends each entry once when the signal returns.

The invoice is written at the drop, with the customer's delivery charges per drop, per unit, per mile, after hours and weekends. A tax exempt site, such as a county yard, is invoiced without the tax, with the basis kept on the site. Dyed diesel paperwork prints the IRS notice. Stock leaves the compartment at the pour and cost of goods posts with the invoice, at moving weighted average cost by default or FIFO (oldest cost first) if chosen from January 1.

At 4:20 the driver enters what is left. Clear diesel shows 1,800 gallons loaded, 1,642.517 delivered, 156 left and a gap of 1.483 gallons, under the 1 percent that alerts the office. In the morning the office approves the run, ticket by ticket or all at once, and only then do the tickets and the invoice go to the customer.

The fleet manager gets gallons by unit, department and product, with MPG or gallons per hour, in the customer portal, as Excel or CSV, and by email each month. On a daytime job site the customer gets an on-the-way email with the arrival time, and the office sees the truck on the board map. FastDragon connects to QuickBooks Online and exports in QuickBooks format.

Picking one

• A driver and dispatch layer in front of a back office you keep: FleetPanda.
• Propane or heating oil routes on ADD's back office, plus wet hose accounts: ADD Systems Raven with Raven Fleet Fueler.
• A large multi-line distributor on one ERP: PDI or iRely, once each runs a fleet yard night in the demo.
• Books on AIMS Commander or RR Fuel: have that vendor run the six tests first.
• You sell the fuel, own the trucks, and want each unit's line, the invoice and the ledger in one record: FastDragon.

New to the work? Start with how to start a mobile fueling business. For the truck's own rules, see hazmat placards for fuel trucks and the cargo tank test schedule.

Searches that look like this one and are something else

• "Gas delivery app" and "mobile fueling app" mostly return consumer services that fill a parked car on request, the on-demand case in IFC section 5707.
• "Fleet fueling software" often means fuel cards and pump controls for a fleet that buys its own fuel. See best fleet fueling software and fleet fuel cards explained.
• "Fuel management system" can mean a fleet's own tank, pump controller and tank gauge. See best fuel management solutions and automatic tank gauging.

Questions people ask

Bring one of your fleet yards and we will run a night live

Sources

Read October 24, 2026. Codes and law: International Code Council, 2024 International Fire Code, Chapter 57 (sections 5706.5.4.5 and 5707) and Chapter 1 (section 105.5.18); 2021 International Fire Code, Chapter 57; Ohio Fire Code, rules 1301:7-7-01 and 1301:7-7-57; NFPA 30A second revision report (Chapter 14); NIST Handbook 44, 2026, section 3.31, Vehicle-Tank Meters and Appendix D, Definitions; Wisconsin Statutes 98.224; IRS Publication 510 (12/2025); Texas Tax Code 162.204. Vendors, on each company's own site: FleetPanda on-site fueling, fuel delivery software, home and pricing; ADD Systems Raven; PDI logistics and in-truck apps; iRely mobile billing; AIMS Fuel Dispatch; Red River RR Fuel. Trade press: Bulk Transporter on FleetPanda and iRely, May 2, 2024. The night in the fleet yard is a worked example.