Air Pressure - Petrol Station VS Cycle Pump

[Waldo]

Oooh, some interesting insights, thanks all.

 

I'd say the tyres were cool; I pumped them up at home with my upright pump, then drove to the petrol station (less than a mile away) to double check them.

[aa2900]

Petrol station is my guess. If you have any doubts, then check the pressure at more than one petrol station.

 

Those upright pumps are good. A few months ago I used one on my spare wheel and discovered it was over inflated, when I checked the pressure at my local petrol station.

 

It is a sad fact of life that a couple of decades ago all tyre pressure gauges were required to be "E" marked to comply with European calibration requirement. This took over from British Standards. So if you went out and bought a footpump or any other gauge it would conform to a standard. In fact Sheffield was a world leader in the manufacture of tyre inflation equipment of all kinds.

Now you can nip down to the pound shop and buy a pump made in China where the gauge in no way complies with required standards and no one seems bothered enough to do anything about it. Many will be 5 psi or more out when new and have a scale on the gauge so small that you cannot judge the pressure to within 5 psi anyhow.

Now gauges on garage forecourts are somewhat different. They are providing a service and are required to do what they claim. So if you blow up your tyres to an indicated 28 psi they should be within the standards error allowance (about +/- 1psi) If not and you were to be involved in an accident the compensation claim would be huge.

As a consequence virtually all forecourt gauges are calibration checked once a month and are as a rule pretty good.

Edited November 28, 2016 by aa2900

[ANGELFIRE1]

Nip to your local car spares, spend a few quid on a decent tyre gauge, which will last you a lifetime, and use this to check every time you blow your tyres up. I've had one over 30 years and it's still going strong.

 

Angel1.

[aa2900]

Nip to your local car spares, spend a few quid on a decent tyre gauge, which will last you a lifetime, and use this to check every time you blow your tyres up. I've had one over 30 years and it's still going strong.

 

Angel1.

 

See my post above.

If you've had a gauge for 30 years the chances are that it was made in Sheffield to British Standards. Sadly if you go to your car spares these days you are likely to get one from China that wasn't.

[ANGELFIRE1]

See my post above.

If you've had a gauge for 30 years the chances are that it was made in Sheffield to British Standards. Sadly if you go to your car spares these days you are likely to get one from China that wasn't.

 

 

Aye, thinking about it you are probably right.

 

Angel1.

[cuttingedge]

I got one from my farther in law I have had it for thirty years,I keep it in a cigar tube always in the car.

[Alcoblog]

I got one from my farther in law I have had it for thirty years,I keep it in a cigar tube always in the car.

 

So, pretty much useless so far as checking the tyre pressure is concerned eh?

[RiffRaff]

It is a sad fact of life that a couple of decades ago all tyre pressure gauges were required to be "E" marked to comply with European calibration requirement. This took over from British Standards. So if you went out and bought a footpump or any other gauge it would conform to a standard. In fact Sheffield was a world leader in the manufacture of tyre inflation equipment of all kinds.

 

I remember the boss of a Sheffield company - PCL? - telling me years ago that their biggest market was South America.

Their sales of tyre pressure gauges - the little cylinder/piston jobs with an offset valve at the base - equated to two units for every man, woman and child in SA.

Have to admit that I've bought three or four over the years, and I can never find one either...

[aa2900]

I remember the boss of a Sheffield company - PCL? - telling me years ago that their biggest market was South America.

Their sales of tyre pressure gauges - the little cylinder/piston jobs with an offset valve at the base - equated to two units for every man, woman and child in SA.

Have to admit that I've bought three or four over the years, and I can never find one either...

 

That would be Ron Platts. PCL manufactured 50,000 of those little stick gauges every week. Even if you have a different brand the chances are that it was made by PCL.

Ironically in those days the biggest competition was from Walters & Dobson (Aerite) in Chesterfield who manufactured around 10,000/wk of something almost identical.

 

I have one of the very rare gold plated PCL gauges which is still accurate 40 years after it was made.