So yesterday I finally tried a trick that a roommate of mine told me about years ago. Every now and then the gas pump will just crawl. I’m talking when it takes about two minutes for each gallon to come out of the hose. I had that happen to me last night and I was expected at a friend’s house soon after, so I contemplated whether I should just put in $10, or even $5 for the night so I wouldn’t have to wait for an hour to finish pumping. Then I remembered something I’d heard from my old roommate Brian.
Stop the pump, lay the handle down on the ground for a bit, then pump again. Not really faithful in the new method, I didn’t keep it down too long, probably five seconds, then started pumping again. Bam! That sucker started pumping nice and fast. I filled right up and took off. Pretty awesome little trick. If I remember right, it has something to do with some type of bubble getting stuck in the hose somewhere. Lining it up like that gets rid of it I guess.
So next time you get that slow pump, try it out, it’s swell.
That’s a good trick. Or you could just get a car that doesn’t need to be filled up every week and doesn’t have a 55,000 gallon drum for a tank! hahahah. Sorry, I just wanted to say that for some reason.
I smell some smug.
Just tried this at a Petro Canada in Calgary, Alberta. Doesn’t work on modern pumps. Nice try.
I am running a gas station and I have noticed everytime temp have dropped below 50 degree, pump would start running slow if they have not been occupied for a long time. I don’t know what causes pump to run slow in cold weather but one way to speed up the slow up is, stop pumping for 5 seconds then restart pumping. That usually fixes the problem.
If there a pump expert out there, please post a real solution to fix this problem.
I work at a truck stop, an it is a very common problem especially with the diesel islands. What your roomate told you was correct. There is a pocket of air that gets trapped inside the hose and if you lay it on the ground for a few seconds it will start right back up.