Gas pump safety

I gassed up at a Holiday this morning, and I checked 2 things. There is a safety shut-off switch on the outside of the building, with a red sign by it. And I was able to pinch off the hose and stop the flow!

yep, did they give u heck for doing that? but if they don't know where the shutoff is then they have no idea why you were pinching the hose. lol.

Hum, Couldn't find anything better to pinch?

That's something I always look for. I don't remember ever gassing at a place where the emergency shut-off was not prominently labeled.

When I was in high school, we had an electrical malfunction at the full service station where I worked. I was the only one on duty - the owner was out of town - and my first awareness that there was a problem was when I noticed a spark between the gas nozzle and a customer's filler neck. It was a '68 Ford pickup, and the driver saw the spark too and drove away in a panic as I barely got the nozzle out of the neck. I had no idea how to shut off the electrical power to the pumps, but I knew an old retired electrician in our little town, and I sent word for him to come and help me. He found a short to the conduit that led from the fuse panel to the pump island, and he got new wire and pulled it in for me. We were back in service in an hour or so. I was a kid, and didn't know if I had done the right thing in the absence of the owner, but when the owner returned he was pleased with the outcome - especially no fire - and promptly paid the retired electrician for his kind assistance. I don't know how we escaped a fire with a spark at the filler neck of that pickup. The old saying - the Lord looks out for children and fools - apparently I fell into one category or the other.

I fueled up this morning at QT.

I looked for the emergency shut off, didn't find one on the pump island.

I assume there is one up by the building, and there would certainly be one inside.

But it's a long way from the far pump island (where I was) to the main building!

A lot of gas could be on the ground before I could make it to the building and find the switch!

I would think there should be one at every island, but this station is only about 5 years old...

Dumb question:
Gas pumps (in many states) have a break-away connection on gas pump hoses that allows the hose to be pulled out of the pump if a driver accidentally drives off with a fuel nozzel still in the a vehicles filler pipe. Does that break-away connection also shut off the flow of fuel after the hose is pulled out of the pump?

(quoted from post at 23:27:55 04/24/19) Dumb question:
Gas pumps (in many states) have a break-away connection on gas pump hoses that allows the hose to be pulled out of the pump if a driver accidentally drives off with a fuel nozzel still in the a vehicles filler pipe. Does that break-away connection also shut off the flow of fuel after the hose is pulled out of the pump?

Click to expand...

hy would you think anything otherwise?????????????? :roll:

When I was gassing up at a Caseys in my local town a car came in too fast on the ice and hit the pump I was using. The pump was knocked slightly crooked but the collision caused the pump to shut off. There must have been some kind of a safety device in the pump that cut the power. I had to back up to the next pump to finish filling my car. This happened 30 years ago and i can still see the look on the driver s face. His mouth was moving and he pounded the steering wheel with his fist. European gas pumps must not have the break away hose coupler. I was watching gas station mishaps on you tube, most of them were in Europe. When someone drove away with the hose in the vehicle it pulled the pump over and sometimes started a fire. It s good entertainment.

ss55, yes, it does shut off the flow.

They have several safety features, another is a check ball below the dispenser. It is set to allow a given rate of flow. If something happens, like the hose gets cut, or it gets knocked over, it senses a faster flow than would normally go through the dispensing nozzle, and stops the flow.

I call it a dispenser, because that is actually what it is. The "pump" is under ground. It runs any time there is a dispenser in use, and serves several dispensers.

(quoted from post at 20:01:58 04/24/19) I fueled up this morning at QT.

I looked for the emergency shut off, didn't find one on the pump island.

I assume there is one up by the building, and there would certainly be one inside.

But it's a long way from the far pump island (where I was) to the main building!

A lot of gas could be on the ground before I could make it to the building and find the switch!

I would think there should be one at every island, but this station is only about 5 years old...

Click to expand...

Steve, they are away from the pumps because most people would run away from the spilling fuels opposed to towards it.

JMOR - There was a discussion a few days ago about someone who couldn't stop the flow of fuel at a self service pump. Russ' comment might be related to that previous discussion.

Pinching off the hose would be no different that stopping the flow with the nozzle.