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KSL Newsradio's Marc Giauque reportingWhen you fill up that gas tank, and pay more than most other people around the country, how do you know you're getting what you paid for?
KSL Newsradio has obtained state inspection records from five Utah counties, and while some pumps fail, other information may surprise you.
One of Dale Kunze's jobs is to inspect and measure thousands of pumps at hundreds of stations in Northern Utah.
"You look around for any leaks, any safety problems there," he said.
And he uses a calibrated gas can, pumps five gallons, and makes sure the pump is giving you what it says.
"You're allowed plus or minus six cubic inches," said Kunze, as he inspects one pump. "So [this] one there is minus one-and-a-half cubic inches."
To you, six cubic inches is about 1/40th of a gallon. To someone who sells a lot of gas, it could add up. Data from the Utah Department of Agriculture and food shows volume failures at 17 stations in the Metro area last year, involving just more than 100 pumps.
"We've had an average failure rate of about four-point-two percent," said Division of Weights and Measures motor fuels specialist Greg Gittins. He says that doesn't necessarily favor the seller. "Fifty-fifty, you get some at both ends."
In other words, half of them are giving fuel away. Good for quantity, but what about quality? At a lab in the basement of the State Agricultural building, Gittins uses engines to test fuels. He says inspectors also use field units about once a month to test octane levels. But in his time here, Gittins says he's never encountered a blatant violation.
"Everybody wants to stay straight up," he said, "and if you have someone who wants to skew off into the wild-ands, then sort of like doctors, you get censured and then everybody knows about it."
"We're going to catch you eventually," said Kunze, "and the fines, it's $5000 per occurrence."
In recent years, the state has tried to inspect every pump annually, but growth is making that difficult.
"We've gone from about 12,000 pumps, up to about 35,000 pumps," said Gittins.
Now, even with gas prices where they are, the Department is considering backing off. Why? The state says it's a matter of priority. With so few violations found, inspectors are focusing on other areas of potential fraud. In addition to gas pumps, they also inspect packages for the right volumes, and scales that measure anything from the steak you grill to big trucks.
