Wrongly calibrated petrol pumps

charlesanto

I put 25 litres of petrol into a 50 litre petrol tank last night...
The tank was slightly over 1/3 full after adding the petrol (empty before)

Does anyone know if it possible/probable that a petrol station would or can tamper with the pumps???

Who should i report this to???

Yakuza

Might "empty" on your car indicate you are in your reserve tank? So your car was almost bone dry before you put your 25L, and the first few litres went to the reserve (and your car would still show up as empty?)

I'd imagine that petrol pumps are fairly tightly controlled by some form of department of weights and measures, and that car petrol indicators are too reliable.

zenith

The Legal Metrology Service is responsible for making sure pumps are callibrated: did the pump have a sticker from them?

http://www.nsai.ie/index.cfm/area/page/information/legalmetrologyservice

Oryx

If your very concerned go and fill a 5ltr petrol can at the suspect pump. If its not full when the gauge says 5ltr then the pump is wrongly calibrated.

catch--22

KatieK wrote:

If your very concerned go and fill a 5ltr petrol can at the suspect pump. If its not full when the gauge says 5ltr then the pump is wrongly calibrated.

Good idea!


I always wondered myself how easy/hard it would be for the stations to be ripping us off! Even by saving a 1/4 ltr on each visit would bank them a lot of money!

BendiBus

charlesanto wrote:

I put 25 litres of petrol into a 50 litre petrol tank last night...
The tank was slightly over 1/3 full after adding the petrol (empty before)

Does anyone know if it possible/probable that a petrol station would or can tamper with the pumps???

Who should i report this to???

How did you ascertain the tank was only 1/3 full? The dashboard indicator? That's more likely to be in error than the fuel pump I'd imagine.

But I'd go with the 5L can recommendation just to check. That's a nice idea!

jor el

Was this 50L tank and actual tank in a trailer or back of a truck, or are you measuring against the indicator on the car's dashboard? If it's the former, then you've proven that the pump is wrong and you should have asked for the manager/owner immediately. If it's the latter then, as said, it's hardly an accurate measurement scale. The 5L can test would be a good one to run.

Pumps can be tampered with but it carries a heavy fine if the owner is caught. Could also be that the pump was faulty with no malice intended.

DublinWriter

Yakuza wrote:

Might "empty" on your car indicate you are in your reserve tank?

Reserve tank?!? He's driving a car, not a light aircraft.

dudara

The 5 litre can is a good idea. The problem with using your dash indicator is that it just isn't that accurate.

The Metrology service are responsible for ensuring accurate calibration of petrol pumps.

Spyral

did you do it huh huh ? *is excited*

Make sure to reply as to tell us how it went !

TheDriver

ALl pumps I use, I notice they have a little sticker on the glass with usually Jan 2007 written as when the law came to check callibration.

charlesanto

I was filling my car, which i have been doing fairly regularly for the last three years, so i am fairly confident that the amount of petrol dispensed didn't match what the pump implied.

Obviously this is wishy washy and I cann’t really make an issue based on the info I have.
If I was a civic minded individual I would go around with a 5 liter container per suggestions and check, but that sounds too much like hard work.
I might still do this, or might just make a point of not using that petrol station.

I guess when I started this thread, I was hoping (expecting) replies like ….
“ah yeah, that’s common practice in some garages, you should phone these people who regulate the pumps and they’ll swing by and test the pumps”

I'll let you know if/when i do the 5ltr test!!!

Thanks for all the replies!!

antoinolachtnai

You can ring the legal metrology section at NSAI. They will tell the local inspector and he may indeed, as you say, swing by and test the pumps if they think something might be awry.

http://www.nsai.ie/index.cfm/area/page/information/ContactsLMS

oleras

I think this happened to me last year, i removed the pump from its holder , but instead of inserting it straight into the tank i kept it out while i spoke to someone, 30 seconds later the pump had clocked up over a euro of petrol, must have been fumes..... , complained and needless to say dont use that garage anymore. Vote with your feet people !!

BendiBus

BendiBus wrote:

How did you ascertain the tank was only 1/3 full? The dashboard indicator? That's more likely to be in error than the fuel pump I'd imagine.

If it's anything like the fuel gauge on my car it'll sit hard on "full" for the first 50km then fall steadily over the next 350km to near "empty" (warning light on), I fill up at this point put in about 10-15 litres less the capacity of the tank. The gauge is only an indicator as to how much fuel is in the tank. not at all accurate at either end of the scale.