Do you trust the gas pump?

[StoBro2]

Suspicious behavior at the gas station today.

 

I filled up at a Shell station that I've used before, although it's not my usual station. I filled up, keeping my hand on the pump handle trigger instead of setting the locking pawl thingy. I always keep my hand on the trigger since my early days of riding motorcycles. Anyway, the pump shuts off so I release the trigger and then slowly squeeze in a little bit more until it shuts off again. I routinely do this to try to make my fill ups more consistent in case the first shut off was due to an overly sensitive pump. So far, so good.

 

With the pump shut off and my hand off of the trigger, I glance at the numbers on the pump and I see the number of gallons and the dollar total continue to count up slowly. I figure something is caught in the handle so I double check the mechanism to make sure the trigger is fully released. The numbers continue to increase on the pump. I pull the nozzle out of the filler a little bit to see if there is in fact some gas leaking out of the nozzle. Nothing. I pull the nozzle completely out of the filler and stand there for a moment with the nozzle in my hand, watching the numbers continue to slowly increase on the pump. WTF?

 

I stuck the nozzle back into the receptacle on the pump and this action finally caused the pump to stop padding my bill and ruining my MPG calculation. My receipt spits out and I take it inside to complain about the pump. I have no idea what the gallons and dollars read when the pump actually stopped delivering fuel, so the cashier at the station said she could only make a note to give to the owner when he returns on Monday.

 

If I ever go back to that station, I'll be sure not to use pump #5.

[hybridbear]

Your local department of weights & measures should have a phone number you can call to report this issue. They usually need the gas station information and the specific pump. That way they can go test it and make sure the station owner fixes it.

 

If you know that your receipt gallons is inflated because of this issue then you could adjust your gallons on Fuelly to be more accurate based on what you know actually went into the car before this pump issue.

[StoBro2]

I was filling up before heading out of town for a quick weekend trip, so I didn't really have time to follow up. I know the pump had state inspection stickers on it. I'll have to drive by that station tomorrow to see if they bagged the pump. In the grand scheme of things, it's not a catastrophe but it certainly will make me pay closer attention every time I get gas from now on.