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Gheid t1_jaom5yx wrote

If you’re on Facebook on the Brattleboro group, others have had issues too with this same gas station. The station denies it. VT Weights and Measures says they’ve inspected the tanks and there’s nothing wrong with them. Yet, just in one thread there’s about a dozen people with dead cars that got gas there.

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jaomuzx wrote

Exactly what I was told OTP by the Agency. That they had investigated other times but with no results. The owner also sorta laughed me off with the same excuse, said that it made no sense because then everyone would be on the side of the road. Idk how it works but there is no denying that it was 100% their fuel because my car was completely empty before I filled up and now is completely fine after getting the fuel out of it. It's frustrating and ridiculous that they can continue to screw people. The State Agency did say he would have someone out there tomorrow morning carrying out inspections but I won't hold my breath.

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Clamato-n-rye t1_jappmzv wrote

Time to escalate to

  1. mayor
  2. state rep
  3. governor's office. That's who's ultimately responsible.
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ArkeryStarkery t1_jareskk wrote

Bratt doesn't have a mayor, we have a Selectboard and it's pretty toothless. I'd go state level first.

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Particular_Look1965 t1_jarjbu5 wrote

Maybe federal level too. Remember how the train going through East Palestine wasn’t labeled properly with what it actually contained. Seems like that’s what’s going on here.

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Clamato-n-rye t1_jasnayx wrote

Good to know, thanks. Probably state level regulation anyway, now that I think about it.

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BreweryIn5Years t1_jaqzjh5 wrote

If there was water in the gas there would definitely be a line of a hundred dead cars at the parking lot. Most likely after the snowstorm people got water in their tanks from snow. Do you have an older car? Throw in a bottle of dry gas from time to time after a large snowstorm or rainstorm. Mechanics will say anything to make a buck…

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jarv5ei wrote

No, the mechanic showed me the fuel and I watched them take it out and saw that it was pretty much all contaminated. They were very trustworthy and charged me appropriately. My car is a 2013 that has never had an issue and it's under 100k miles. It's been perfect other than that. I am from Florida and have been through many rainstorms, hurricanes and then the snow storms from here many times. I was also one of many incidents that has occurred at this same station throughout some months. Edit: They also did use dry gas for the last step just to get the whatever bad fuel was left over since I filled my whole tank with it. I do appreciate the tip though but I have never had this problem with my car and it's seen a lot of water.

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Fromage_Damage t1_jasdd27 wrote

I've never had water in my gas, sounds fishy as hell, I've even used old gas that had water in it, and never had a problem. There must have been a ton of water, and the pump only sucks up part of it sometimes? It sounds totally possible. Fuck that owner, he is a fucker.

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ArkeryStarkery t1_jarf55y wrote

That's what's weird about this! What could cause more than two dozen, but not all, of the station's customers to have this exact set of problems, when no other station on the same street is getting these complaints? Multiple mechanics, too, and not always after a snowstorm.

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jarwla4 wrote

Exactly. I understand the whole thing of being blown off because obviously there isn't a line of cars but something is wrong with it because I have gotten gas 100s of times and been fine. I also have pics from the mechanic showing how much of it was water so Ik it was a real issue and my car was fine all day before that, literally as soon as I turned out the gas station it started to shut down. So it was the gas, and like you pointed out this is just one of many incidents. Something is going on and they should not just be okay with it since it isn't everyone, it's still causing everyday ppl hundreds or more dollars of repairs.

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TwoNewfies t1_jaorm96 wrote

Was just coming to say this!

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TwoNewfies t1_jaos6oy wrote

And am wondering, after so so many reports with the exact same story, what's up with the VT inspectors. Does Weights and Measures analyze the gasoline? Fill their own tanks?!

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jaoxcgu wrote

I am wondering the same. How exactly is it done and why aren't they finding anything if the inspection is done within 24 hrs of the report? I am not sure as this is not a subject I know much about. I think he said something about filling the one of the state trucks or something but I could be wrong because that just seems like a bad idea.

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TwoNewfies t1_jaosef9 wrote

Just take half a cup from the very top of the tank?

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pointedflowers t1_jaqs1dz wrote

If they’re anything like the Vt health inspectors, I wouldn’t hold my breath for them to fix anything.

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TwoNewfies t1_jattn1n wrote

Health inspectors anywhere. And I was naive enough to be shocked when I found that at least a few decades ago milk inspectors don't inspect milk!

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pointedflowers t1_jatuj4p wrote

Not health inspectors anywhere. Massachusetts, NY and Pennsylvania were all way more on top of it and way more strict. Also the codes themselves were much better. No one here seems to have heard of a haccp plan ever.

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TwoNewfies t1_jatuxvs wrote

You're right, and I hope things are better than when I worked at a Todd English restaurant in Boston!

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BreweryIn5Years t1_jaqzzlr wrote

Water is heavier than gas. So there is always water in a storage tank but it’s below the fill pipe. After each delivery usually the tanks get “stuck” to check for water levels. If the water gets close to the fill pipe the computer system should automatically shut the entire station down. There’s a reason you don’t have this happen a lot and you don’t hear about it constantly on the news. Their are multiple redundancies built into the system. Ha being someone come and check for water content therefore usually never results in concrete findings. I go on these calls regularly and never find anything.

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ArkeryStarkery t1_jarfcm3 wrote

Could there be a flaw in the shutdown mechanism?

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BreweryIn5Years t1_jassdek wrote

I mean possibly. Each station has a Veeder Root system that should stop any water from entering the fill pipe to begin with. Then the fuel goes through a filter in the gas pump itself which should stop even small amounts of water (I believe). When a pump is pumping super slow it’s usually the filters need replacing. That particular station has been reported before. An inspector can only check if the issue is still happening not what happened at the exact time of filling. Maybe they called immediately afterwards and had the storage tank pumped out and all the filters replaced, but that may be asking too much of that particular company/ station. All companies pay a lot of money to have both of these things checked and maintained regularly because being out of gas for a couple hours is literally thousands of dollar in profit for them. The only other thing I’ve heard that could possibly affect this is fuel was being delivered/dropped into the fuel tanks at the same time OP was pumping fuel. If there was water it could possibly be pushed around and make its way up to the fill spot at that time. Also sometimes if it’s just rained or snowed there could be a small amount of water making its way to the gas pump nozzle? But all these are very rare and wouldn’t cause 12 vehicles to go down for water. This time of year the simple answer is usually water/condensation getting into the tank from a rain or snowstorm and I’m literally basing this of if a few cars we had in the past that for whatever reason needed some dry gas from time to time, although all the other cars in the parking lot were fine.

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pointedflowers t1_jat8ktu wrote

I’d like to know more and see if it’s different in other states. Must be able to inspect the whole system somehow.

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SemperFuu t1_jaswh8o wrote

Sounds like litigation waiting to happen, gonna drop this to a few firms

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No-Establishment3083 OP t1_jat6iz5 wrote

Let me know if there is any way I can get involved) get help. I am not familiar with taking legal action at all but if they keep screwing people I am all in.

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SemperFuu t1_jatvp2m wrote

This is for the lawyers. They have to look into if it’s the companies fault, testing or state. Then if damages can be proven actions can be taken. Can’t sue to sue, but with so many cars broken, this imo sounds like a great case for a junior partner to get their associates to dove into. But now we stay silent 🤫 let them do their jobs

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