Snow & Getting Fuel

[retirednak]

Yesterday I'm in Anchorage and decide to top off my tank before I head home. I pull into a busy Chevron station and another Cummins beats me to the only diesel pump. I pull forward and get ready to stick the nozzle in my tank when something catches my eye. The nozzle is packed full of snow! (we've had record snow fall the last couple days) I'm down to a quarter tank,just added the two stroke oil and a touch of Power Service and think no way am I going to pump snow into my tank. I go inside and explain what going on and all I get is I don't give a puck attitude,clean the nozzle and it will be OK. I explain to him I'm driving a diesel not a Honda and it won't be alright. More BS and I decide to leave before I get upset and get ready to drive off and remember I have a near empty tank and all the 2 stroke oil I've added. So I insert my card and pay for fuel and proceed to pump about a dollar worth of fuel into the garbage can and made sure the nozzle was clear and fill my tank up. The useless employee comes out and wants to know why I pumped fuel into the garbage can,causing him extra work. I told him all I did was clean out the nozzle like I was told to do. I took pictures of the nozzle holder where the tip goes into the pump,it was packed full of snow and every person getting fuel will get a nozzle full of snow. So the truck before me got snow pumped into his tank, along with how many others? I called the 800 Chevron number and explained what had happened and was assured they would look into it.

So, anybody that deals with snow,check the nozzle for snow. This was the first time in 30 yrs in AK that I ever noticed snow packed in a fuel nozzle.

 

[bheiting]

Sometimes a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do.

 

[NavyDood]

That minimal amount of snow wouldn't even have made the stock filter/water seperator blink an eye.

 

[mwilson]

Happens here all of time, light weight snow and a good breeze will fill the pump hanger and nozzle everytime. That is not much water and should not be an issue. Just thump it sideways against the rear tire a few times to knock out what you can before pumping fuel.

 

[retirednak]

I tried banging on the pump to break it free and it wouldn't fall out. When I say packed full,it was packed full. When I stuck my pen in the nozzle,it wasn't fluff snow. If I can figure out where my adapter is for my phone,I'll upload the photos. There may not be enough snow in a nozzle to trip the light or bother the system, why take a chance? This is why I hate getting fuel in a station I'm unsure of. Plus it makes me wonder over the years how much snow I've pumped into my gas/fuel tanks over the 30+ yrs here.