By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
May 16, 2008 04:00 am Are gas pumps accurate? Generally, they are, even when they're charging nearly $4 a gallon, according to the directors of weights and measurements in Otsego, Chenango and Delaware counties. ``In 27 years on the job, the worst I've ever seen was one that was off by about one-tenth of a gallon,'' Barry Pemberton, Otsego's director, said Thursday. New York state requires that all gasoline pumps be checked annually. In Otsego County, Pemberton usually makes the rounds of the county's 400 to 500 pumps every six months, he said. And usually they're working fine, dispensing the amount of fuel the dial indicates. ``In a five-gallon test, a new pump has to be within three cubic inches. That's pretty close when you consider there are 231 cubic inches in a gallon,'' he said. A used pump is given twice as much leeway, but still must be within close tolerances or it is taken out of service. Theodore Guinn, Chenango County's director, said much the same thing. ``We get complaints from people, but in my 26 years on the job, I've had only a couple that proved to be true.'' Of Chenango County's 424 pumps, 323 have been tested recently and 99 percent passed the test, he said. Guinn said he tests every pump at least once a year and returns to heavily used pumps more often. The Associated Press reported recently that across the nation, some pumps are not working accurately because of spotty inspections and a problem with check valves. Federal regulators have noticed ``swings of as much as 30-to-40 cents per gallon. ``Don't blame the bad guys,'' the AP reported.``Even consumer advocates say retailers may be losing as often as consumers and no one appears able to rig the meters.'' Janet Key of Hobart said Thursday that she believes she was shortchanged by a pump at the Quickway in Hobart on May 1. ``The hose was shaking and when I looked at the nozzle, all that was coming out were bubbles,'' she said. Daniel Parsons of the Mirabito Fuel Group, which owns the Quickway, declined to comment on the incident. Daniel Schlafer, Delaware County's director of weights and measures, said the problem was caused by a plugged-up filter, which has since been fixed. ``I've seen more problems with filters since they added ethanol to the gasoline,'' he said. ``It loosens up things in the tank and that can lead to plugging up the filter.'' When Schlafer learned of the problem, he went to the Quickway and the filter had already been replaced. ``When I tested the pump, it was working fine,'' he said. As gas prices have skyrocketed, more people have called his office, Schlafer said. ``The biggest complaint I hear is when someone is able to put more than five gallons in a five-gallon container,'' he said. ``They think the pump is wrong, but those containers usually hold quite a bit more for expansion, so you can't go by that.'' Schlafer said Delaware County's pumps have met state standards 98 percent of the time in recent years, and the poorest performer was dispensing more, not less, gas than the dial indicated. If a pump is shortchanging customers, he said, he can shut it down, ``but I can't do anything if they want to give it away.''
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