UofU filling station (master thread)

[mecklen]

I filled my '07 civic at the University of Utah filling station for the first time this Sunday (6/29). I got a great 3300 psi fill! I'm so happy. I noticed some curious features, which I'll follow up on momentarily. One thing that stumped me for a moment was that the pump number normally displayed on the face of the pump housing was worn away on both CNG pumps on both sides! I was unable to figure out what the proper pump number was until my wife noticed the pump number way up high on the boom supporting the retractable hose support cable.

Pump 7 seemed to be out of commission (a plastic bag over the handle), but pump 6 worked great.

WooHoo! A filling station 2.6 miles from my house with 3300 psi! I'm in heaven.

[mecklen]

UofU station reader and pump weirdness

I filled at the UofU station for the first time Sunday 6/29 and noticed some strangeness. Here is the letter I sent to Ms Anderson. Perhaps some people on this forum have thoughts as well. BTW, I'll post her reply when I get it.

Ms Anderson,

First, thank you for you work in making the University of Utah CNG
filling station publicly available.

I filled my civic there for the first time Sunday afternoon and
noticed several items that I found confusing. I'm hoping you can
answer some questions or direct me to someone who can.

When I ran my new gascard through the card reader I was prompted for
"mileage:", which the other stations I've used do not do. I typed "0
enter" and a moment later the reader prompted for "mileage: " again.
The second time I typed "100 enter" (100 was just a randomly selected
number). Then then reader responded with:

use pump 6
5 gallons

Pump 6 was the pump I selected so that was obvious, but the 5 gallons
is curious. So, my first two questions are:

Does the mileage number I enter have any bearing on my cng
purchase? (Or what number should I type for mileage?)

When the pump responds with "5 gallons" does that mean it will not
pump more than 5 gallons for this transaction?

After the reader approved the transaction, I filled my tank normally.
(I did not need a full 5 gallons.) But as the pumping proceeded I
noticed the price per gge was displayed as $1.00. I understand that
on July first there will be a rate increase, but this transaction
occurred on June 29th and I expected a price of 63.8 cents per gge.
So my third question is:

What is the price per gge being charged at this station?

Let me say again how happy I am to be able to use this station.

Thanks again for your time and effort,

[freedml]

Re: UofU filling station has great pressure

A filling station with 3300 would be considered only so-so here.

[mecklen]

Re: UofU filling station has great pressure

The questar stations need to service both 3000 psi and 3600psi capable vehicles. As a compromise questar sets the pressure to 3300, which suffices to service everyone. However, due to the high demand for natural gas at 0.638 prices many public stations are having trouble maintaining 3300 psi. Finding one at that pressure is pretty great.

I'm sure that I would be happier with 3600psi pumps, but considering the prices here, I'm quite content.

[John Mitton]

Answers on the other thread

Robert,

Jeff and Margaret got back to me with some answers, please check out the FAQ here:

http://cngchat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=10745#post10745

[lshuster]

Re: UofU filling station (master thread)

Hi,

I stopped by the U of U station and the State GC cards are now authorized (as of this morming: 1 July 2008).

Got 3250 PSI and the compressor came on toward the end of my 5 gge fill.

Happy Camper,

LSHUSTER

[mecklen]

Re: UofU filling station (master thread)

Today Ms. Anderson responded to my mail with:

Mileage - would be your vehicle mileage, does not have a bearing on how much fuel you get. I am not sure why the pump is saying "5" gallons. You should be able to fuel to the limit you requested on your forms.

The price you paid for the first fill was .944
As of July 1st the price is .850

[John Mitton]

Down 7/9/08

I understand the U station is down today. Pump #5 (of 5 & 6) was shutoff and bagged for several months, and it seems #6 is off now too. Hope they can get it up and running again soon.

[mecklen]

Re: Down 7/9/08

I understand the U station is down today. Pump #5 (of 5 & 6) was shutoff and bagged for several months, and it seems #6 is off now too. Hope they can get it up and running again soon.

Minor correction: The three times I've fill up there, 7 was bagged and 6 was the working pump.

[lshuster]

Re: UofU filling station (master thread)

As of 1:20 PM - 09 JUL 2008 - Pump at U of U is working with great pressure.

lshuster