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Petrol Station Air Compressors

B-roca

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Ok so today I thought I would have a little rant over Petrol Station Air Compressors. Well not really the compressors themselves, its the people using them that I want to have a rant about.

Ok so today I took the Toyota to the gas station because the fronts were looking a bit low. I had already decided that I was going to fill them up to 28psi, as the tyres stated on them that 31psi should be the maximum that you should inflate them too and I never put anything heavy in the car.

I got to the petrol station and there was already a guy using the compressor. His car was a Mitsubishi Diamante. I sat on my car while I was waiting for him to finish I saw that he had the compressor set to 32psi, which looked like a pretty good pressure for those particular tyres and car. But I then realized that the compressor was actually deflating all of his tyres from 37psi down to 32psi, so I sat there wondering if he had actually realized that he was deflating his tyres rather than inflating them.

The guy before me finished so I then set the compressor to 28 and inflated all my tyres and as I was finishing a lady pulled into the carpark next to me in a small Mazda. She then asked me what pressure I had it set too which I told her and she asked me politely if I could set it to 30psi which I did. I then got in my car and I was about to drive off when I realized that she hadn't connected the hose to the valve correctly and it was just slowly deflating her tyre rather than inflating it. So I then showed her how to do it and I left.

This makes my wonder about how many people actually know what they are doing when they get to these compressors.

On another occasion me and a friend were out Biking and our Mountain Bike tyres give us a range of about 40 - 60 psi so if we inflated our tyres to 50psi ( I know it says no bikes on those pumps but it is the most convenient way to inflate the tyres and better than guesstimating with a hand pump). A man and a beaten up builders Toyota Hiace then pulled up and inflated his tyres from 30 psi to the 50 psi we had the pump set too :hmmm:.
 
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Drawnnite

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make it compulsary to know the basics of maintaining a car before getting a licence... =P

but yeah some people seem to have no idea when it comes to these things, its crazy.
then again i cant speak, left the locknut tool at home. 4 hours away and had a tyre blow out. fun times =P

as for pumping up bike tyres. it isnt that bad. i've done it many times. and id rather pump it up, ride to the next station pump it up again when i had a slow leaking tyre, beat walking it =P
 

Spinb

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make it compulsary to know the basics of maintaining a car before getting a licence... =P

these have nothing to do with the car. Where I am you still have to look at a gauge to see what the pressure is.

Spin
 

B-roca

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make it compulsary to know the basics of maintaining a car before getting a licence... =P

but yeah some people seem to have no idea when it comes to these things, its crazy.
then again i cant speak, left the locknut tool at home. 4 hours away and had a tyre blow out. fun times =P

as for pumping up bike tyres. it isnt that bad. i've done it many times. and id rather pump it up, ride to the next station pump it up again when i had a slow leaking tyre, beat walking it =P

Haha thats not that bad. I bet alot of people don't even know what a lock nut is.

these have nothing to do with the car. Where I am you still have to look at a gauge to see what the pressure is.

Spin

I'm not sure what you are getting at by this comment...
 

satos

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when I use the servos compressor I always inflate each tyre 3 times because the first time it deflates it to below the 34 psi that I have set at the control panel.
The second time it inflates the tyre to 34 psi and the third time I check it again to make sure that it is correct.
 

DANNY8

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I work at a servo and get a few people complaining that our machine doesn't work. 99% of the time it's either coz they have a flat tyre and need to push the "FLAT TYRE" button on the machine (which they don't) or the air tap has been turned off.
 

Macca86

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I think 99% of the population dont know how to use the machines at servos that you now just set the pressure you want and connect and it does it all itself. Ill actually admit id never used one myself til a few months ago and to start with i had no idea what I was doing till I read the instructions. LOL (I have my own compressor at home, and i use the good old manual attachment that has a trigger to turn the air on and when you release it the guage on it shows your tyre pressue)
 

B-roca

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Yea I would have thought it be common sense whether you are a car enthusiast or not, you read the wall of the tyre, type in the corresponding psi into the machine and then attach the hose to the valve, not the hard really...
 

shadetreemechanic

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To add to this I prefer the old style manual compressors with the little pressure gauge built in. You have full control and you can check the pressure yourself. Plus they seem to be higher powered
 

Dayvo

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I never trust the gauge on the servos compressor. I take my own and there is a fair bit of difference when i check them against each other
 
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