State lacks staff to inspect gasoline pumps every year

STAR-ADVERTISER / AUG. 2014

Chloe Chang of Hilo, fills up her truck with gas.

Question: I wonder, are we getting the actual amount of gasoline that we are paying for at service stations? I know that gasoline pumps can easily get out of calibration and deliver less (or more) than the gauge reads. I have been told that the state charges a fee and inspects these pumps yearly. However, the state inspection stickers on the pumps at the 7-Eleven at Kalakaua Avenue and Young Street read "September 2009." At the 76 Station at Beretania and Keeaumoku streets, the state inspection stickers on 16 pumps on four islands all read "January 2009." Is the state six years behind on its inspections? Are the calibrations ever checked on these pumps by the owners? Is there any public record?

Answer: The inspection stickers are misleading because they have no expiration dates and there is no legal requirement that they be posted.

Furthermore, there is no state or federal requirement as to how often pumps should be inspected, said Jeri Kahana, administrator of the state Department of Agriculture's Quality Assurance Division.

With only two inspectors, the department's Measurement Standards Branch no longer can do regular inspections of gas pumps. Instead, it relies on public complaints and gas station owners to do their own checks.

So, it's not true that gas pumps are inspected yearly. It also is not true that the state charges a fee to inspect the pumps.

However, there is an annual registration fee for each device, Kahana said: $6 for each pump (hose and nozzle); $29 per system for remote indication or control; and $29 per system for currency/credit card reader.

If it's any consolation about the lack of regular inspections, whenever a pump is inspected, the general finding is that it is "within tolerance," Kahana said.

"Inspectors report that if a gas pump is pumping gas out of tolerance, it is more likely to be in the customer's favor -- pumping more gas than indicated," she said.

Inspections tend to reveal other issues with pumps that might require repair, such as with the automatic cutoff valve, leaking nozzles, etc., she said.

Regarding the 7-Eleven gas pumps, an inspector found they were "all within tolerance levels."

An inspector also was to be sent to check the 76 station.

In response to a complaint filed with the Measurement Standards Branch, Kahana said, "We will send staff to check it out. Gas stations usually call a registered service agency to check the gas pumps or to do repairs. Most will have an agent check the pumps on an annual basis."

She explained that it is to a station's benefit to have its pumps checked annually.

"Gas pumps can function accurately without being inspected/serviced, and conversely, pumps also can become out of tolerance right after being inspected," she said.

Too Few Inspectors

Budget cuts have reduced the number of Measurement Standards inspectors. The two are responsible for inspecting and responding to complaints involving a range of commercial measuring devices: gas pumps, scales, taxi meters and odometers, as well as responding to packaging and labeling complaints.

Currently, Kahana said, the inspectors are focusing on taxi meter inspections.

But the department hopes to hire a manager for the branch, as well as five more inspectors, "hopefully within the next year or two," she said.

Mahalo

To the one moped rider who rode up Kamehameha Highway near Kualoa Ranch with a quiet muffler on a recent Sunday. Other moped groups came by in droves with noise that was almost intolerable. The motorcycle clubs have been doing their Sunday rides for years, but suddenly these noisy bees on wheels are coming and are so much more annoying than the big bikes.-- Jenner

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Credit: June Watanabe