DIYbanter - View Single Post - What happened to the gas station air suppplies that a I liked.

=?iso-8859-15?Q?Tekkie=AE?=

posted for all of us...

On Tue, 19 Feb 2019 19:08:54 -0500, micky
wrote:

Whatever happened to the gas station air outlets where there was a red
box on a thick post with a crank on the side that let you set the air
pressure in big numbers, and it rang as the air went in and stopped
ringing when the tire was at the indicated pressure?

Do they still have these. I couldnt' find one.

One or two of my tires needed air. Paid 1.50 last week at a fancy one
that took credit cards and beeped when the pressure one chooses is
reached. Nothing came out. Convenience store gave me back my 1.50. 3
days later, device has "Out of Order" sign on it. Today no sign but a
guy just starting to vacuum his car. Went to another station, no
controls on the device, just a slot for 4 quarters and one of those
nozzles that tell the pressure on a brass rod that pops out of the valve
when you stop squeezing the lever. Cloudy day, won't be able to see
what it says, don't like having to stop over and over to see what the
pressure is, go to next station. Same device. 3 more stations, all
have the same device.

Back to the first station, no one ahead of me Put in 1.50, set the dial
to 40. Do a little bit and the dial keeps going back to 32, the
default (doesn't beep when it does that). Set it to 40, still don't
hear air going into the tire, don't see tire firming up.

Finally go home and do it with a Black & Decker pump, that I got used.
Took 10 or 15 minutes but at least it worked.

You could never trust those things anyway. The only thing they had was
they were free, along with maps, the windshield cleaning, oil check
and a glass if you bought a fill up.

The place I worked at had a filling station. They were not that accurate but
after being hit and run over and abused at every turn I would not be either.
The owner eventually replaced the station with an air line and Milton chuck
with gauge. That would survive more abuse but have to be replaced
periodically. A good quality air line with chuck was not cheap. He finally
gave up and just put a normal chuck on. Then the ingrates would ask to
borrow my gauge. After having three of them stolen by cheapskates I hid it
in my toolbox. If someone would ask to borrow it I would say it was broken
by the last guy that used it. If someone who drove in would ask to have
their pressures checked; no problem, free. That was before the days of
having door labels to tell you. If they did not know the pressure we either
looked in the owners manual (usually long gone) or we had a reference for
the oil change people we would look in. Also we would check the spare.

There was a redheaded girl who was the daughter of one of our loyal
customers. She had an outgoing personality and fun. She came in one day and
said she needed the tires checked. I said that was a good idea because she
needed the winter air replaced with summer air. She asked how much it would
cost. I stated nothing and I can do it now. She was delighted (and so was
I). I let her in on the joke before she left. The next time I saw the father
he asked if I had any summer air left and laughed.

The owner used to say "Some people only stop in for WPA" which meant water
**** and air.

--
Tekkie