OT: Petrol pump and zeroising

Today the announcement over the forecourt of the petrol station was:

"Pump seven, insert the nozzle in your car"

Well, all my life since self-service petrol pumps have been around, and that must be quite a few decades now, I've waited for the pump to zeroise before so doing.

Seems as if I've been doing it wrong all these years as clearly I could squirt petrol all over the place, but how come this is the first time I've been pulled up on it?

Do petrol pumps still take time to zero the display? I'll have to check next time I fill up but I think by the time I have lifted the nozzle out of the pump and inserted it in the car, the display has zeroed.

My first check is that the price matches the fuel I want to buy - because at petrol stations which serve more than one type of diesel, I can never work out from the stupid adjectives (premium, ultra, etc) which is normal diesel and which the one with expensive additives which make no earthly difference to economy, acceleration or smoothness of running. At least with petrol there are numbers: E10 is normal with 10% ethanol and E5 is expensive with 5% in addition to the meaningless adjectives.

Haven't noticed it since they ditched mechanical dials.

Are there still multiple grades of diesel, B7, B10 etc?

On self-service forecourts where users have to go to the cash desk to pay, I have noticed that when there is a small queue the pump doesn't zeroise until the previous user has paid.

I've always assumed that the delay in zeroing is perhaps due to an in-process check that everything is working as it should before pumping starts, and the fuel having to reach the nozzle before any measuring can start in case any air/vapour locks have formed between the pump and the nozzle. The wiki doesn't explain the zeroing time:

I noticed the same thing a couple of years ago with a Sainsbury's forecourt and later complained to their customer services. To my surprise I got a reply saying that they deliberately did not zero the dials until the nozzle was in contact with the car. How it detects this I do no know. Nor can I think of a reasonable explanation for their choosing to do this.

Like you I have assumed that the dials should reset to zero as soon as you pick up the pump - so that you know that your total is not going to be added to that of the last customer. But it appears that Sainsbury's and some other retailers choose to make their user-interface counter-intuitive.

Generally, the pump does not work until the dials are zeroed, so they would be waiting for the nozzle to be inserted before pumping, with presumably only one switch for both actions.

Yes. Some brands (Shell, Jet) do normal and "gold-plated" versions of diesel - with about 15p/litre difference in price.

From watching the staff at some petrol stations, I'd thought that when you lift the nozzle out of the pump it just alerts in the kiosk, the operator has to look out and check and then press something to enable pumping to start.

Does any station let you pump without a human authorising it?

nib

Even the stations with nobody on-site have camera linking to humans in a call-centre somewhere (or maybe sat in their bedroooms in random countries?).

And if you want to run an engine for 150k miles without having to replace everything on the exhaust side, it may be worth using it. My diesel will 'pink' audibly at certain throttle/speed settings. I've got at least two, maybe three error codes being looked at right now, all in the turbocharger/EGR/catalyst sort of area.

I just had to totally go through the Aga after yet another batch of s*it fuel cause soot and flames to put it out.

I eventually determined that the fire trip had done its job and tripped.After I had checked everything else...Grrr,,

So yes, additives and expensive fuel can well be worth it.

Modern petrol with ethanol is utter s*it really

At many stations it would be impossible for a person in the kiosk to see if the hose was inserted across the whole forecourt. For a few pumps maybe but certainly not them all.

Tim

I don't think the ones that force you to put your card in before pumping need to do that, they have assurance that they'll be paid anyway. I don't know of any un-manned stations that let you pay afterwards.

nib

I expect they have cameras!

nib

It has always been my understanding that the on-site human has to confirm that the previous transaction for that pump has been completed, and then he zeroes and enables the pump. This is matched by the behaviour that I see when I fill up at any service station.

I assumed it was for safety, rather than to stop drive-offs, they seem to close after 11pm.

Not what I see! There're been enough times when I've been waiting with the nozzle in the car for the pump to be authorised because the attendant wasn't paying attention, or popped away from position for a moment. Haven't you seen those lights coming on on the pump control panel as customers take the nozzles out and the attendant reacting? I assume they make a cursory check of what's out there before letting fuel be drawn before paying.

Completing the transaction and bringing up the total on the till is another action.

Or maybe it's all different in this part of the world!

nib

I found this in a Google search for forecourt attendant training:

• Always check before authorising the pump
• Ensure you have good visibility of the pump and the person using it
• Check to see if the customer is on the phone, smoking, or underage
• If you are dealing with a major spillage or another emergency, you must switch off the pumps
• ....

nib

Nicked from a Reddit, from someone who had worked in petrol station:

Checks are:

Not on phone Engine off Nozzle in container or fuel tank Suitable fuel container being used ANPR camera hasn’t shown up a warning (e.g call police) Pre-payment not required (linked to ANPR- I.e has driven off in thepast) No fuel leaks Not smoking or any other naked flames Old enough to purchase/dispense fuel

nib