Are gas station pumps getting slower...
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From: necromancer on 1 Apr 2010 21:01 On Mon, 29 Mar 2010 20:58:33 -0400, Nate Nagel <njnagel(a)roosters.net> wrote: >...or am I just becoming more impatient as I contemplate the fleeting >passage of time and my eventual mortality? > >Seriously, I had to fill two vehicles up today, and I did so at two >different stations, and it seemed as if it took more than a minute to >pump a single gallon (and when you're driving the big stakebed, that >means it takes a LONG time to fill up!) I stopped to fill up this evening and thought of your comments and yes, it did seem that the pump was extremely slow. Seemed like it took 10 mins or so to pump about 7 gallons. The fact that I was being nearly eaten alive by sand gnats didn't help matters... -- "Its Zidane's head into the chest of Materazzi. That's what it is..." --BBC Broadcast
From: Nate Nagel on 2 Apr 2010 20:33 On 04/01/2010 06:22 PM, Nate Nagel wrote: > On 04/01/2010 12:43 PM, Ad absurdum per aspera wrote: >> >>> and yes, I have noticed it on my own vehicles as well as several >>> company vehicles... (the latter particularly frustrating, esp. the big >>> truck, because it seems like pretty much every time I use it I need to >>> fill it up, as it's a thirsty beast) >> >> If the last guy didn't leave you with an empty tank and half a bag of >> stale French fries on the floorboards, count yourself lucky, for motor- >> pool definitions of "luck." > > Well, yeah, there's that. If I take a vehicle home that isn't my usual > one, I often will spiff for a car wash (including a vacuum, dash > wipedown, and cleaning the interior of the windows) before returning the > vehicle to the pool, just to stay on everyone's good side in case I need > to borrow a truck on short notice for an emergency. However, that's not > an option for the big truck; it wouldn't even fit in my driveway, so it > gets used and returned the same day. > >> >>> I haven't noticed the pump kicking off prematurely, just an >>> exceptionally slow flow rate. >> >> Might want to google its make, model, and year to see if there's a >> Technical Service Bulletin out, or at least some user experience that >> might prove helpful. Some Ford chassis in particular seem to have >> had this problem, but it isn't restricted to them. > > Nah, it's definitely the pumps - have noticed it on my personal vehicles > as well, and I've had the Porsche since at least 6 or 7 years ago. > > nate > > Follow up: stopped at the Sunoco station near my house tonight and with this thread in mind, actually paid attention to how long it took to fill my tank. This time it filled up in under two minutes, for a flow rate of something like 7.x GPM. I know where I'm filling up next time, if I'm anywhere near there! That station was on my "preferred" list anyway as there's a short list of stations in my area that have actual, functional air hoses. The one around the corner from my house has had an "out of service" sign on their air compressor for years, so I haven't patronized it in years, either. I would even go so far to say as that if there was a station still offering free air and water that I would go out of my way to buy my gas there, but I'm not aware of any. nate -- replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel
From: Ad absurdum per aspera on 4 Apr 2010 11:21 Data point from much too far away to do you any good: Approximately 5-6 gpm (instrumentation and methodology notes: "One-Mississippi...) from a several-years-old Costco into a several-years-old Subaru Forester, on a busy day with a car at every pump, no tanker present. > station was on my "preferred" list anyway as there's a short list of > stations in my area that have actual, functional air hoses. Much as it peeves me to pay to air up, I have some sympathy for the stations. Some of the air hoses have fallen victim to cost cutting, others to plain old cutting -- I suspect that a lot of operators give up after Beavis and Butt Head cut the air chuck off the end of the hose one too many times. I now have one of those portable jump starters with an air compressor in the trunk. Those are also great for people who (he says, sitting on his butt in front of the computer on a beautiful Sunday morning) don't use their bicycle often enough and have to air up their tires before they can go for a ride. --Joe
From: Nate Nagel on 4 Apr 2010 11:48 On 04/04/2010 11:21 AM, Ad absurdum per aspera wrote: > Data point from much too far away to do you any good: Approximately > 5-6 gpm (instrumentation and methodology notes: "One-Mississippi...) > from a several-years-old Costco into a several-years-old Subaru > Forester, on a busy day with a car at every pump, no tanker present. > >> station was on my "preferred" list anyway as there's a short list of >> stations in my area that have actual, functional air hoses. > > Much as it peeves me to pay to air up, I have some sympathy for the > stations. Some of the air hoses have fallen victim to cost cutting, > others to plain old cutting -- I suspect that a lot of operators give > up after Beavis and Butt Head cut the air chuck off the end of the > hose one too many times. > > I now have one of those portable jump starters with an air compressor > in the trunk. Those are also great for people who (he says, sitting > on his butt in front of the computer on a beautiful Sunday morning) > don't use their bicycle often enough and have to air up their tires > before they can go for a ride. > > --Joe I just use a plain old tire pump for the bicycle; even with 32mm tires it only takes a couple strokes to bring them up to pressure after sitting as much as a week. I'm WAY too lazy to use a hand pump on car tires, however. The bad thing is, there's no gas station within a mile of my house with a working air hose, so even if I go there first thing in the morning, the tires will have crept up in pressure a little before I get there. So my current tire pressure maintenance regimen is to fill them on my way home in the evening, using a "best guess" (e.g. 41 PSIG when I'm shooting for 35) and then fine tune in the morning after the car has sat overnight. I really need to get an air compressor... But my main peeve is with stations that have coin-op compressors that clearly haven't worked in years... if you can't be arsed to maintain your equipment, I can't be arsed to buy gas there. The odd thing is that the station closest to me, the one with the perpetually broken compressor, is an actual, honest-to-Glub service station, with three bays, mechanics, etc. I've used them for inspections before, but even that is a crapshoot, last one I needed I ended up taking my truck elsewhere because "the inspector didn't show up today." (for some reason, in VA, inspections aren't by appointment, you just show up at the "inspection station" and wait.) nate -- replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply. http://members.cox.net/njnagel
From: Brent on 4 Apr 2010 14:58
On 2010-04-04, Nate Nagel <njnagel(a)roosters.net> wrote: > I just use a plain old tire pump for the bicycle; even with 32mm tires > it only takes a couple strokes to bring them up to pressure after > sitting as much as a week. > I'm WAY too lazy to use a hand pump on car tires, however. A good bicycle pump isn't too bad in bringing a car tire up a few psi. > The bad thing is, there's no gas station within a mile of my house with > a working air hose, so even if I go there first thing in the morning, > the tires will have crept up in pressure a little before I get there. > So my current tire pressure maintenance regimen is to fill them on my > way home in the evening, using a "best guess" (e.g. 41 PSIG when I'm > shooting for 35) and then fine tune in the morning after the car has sat > overnight. > > I really need to get an air compressor... Or just a CLA powered tire filler kind... but they are slow. I end up using the bicycle pump now because it tends to be faster. > But my main peeve is with stations that have coin-op compressors that > clearly haven't worked in years... if you can't be arsed to maintain > your equipment, I can't be arsed to buy gas there. The real problem is the slobs that abuse/vandalize the equipment. The progression I've seen has been from free air where the hose and inflator gets broken time and time again and then it's replaced with vending machine air. Eventually these too are abused and then there is no air at all. |