Everyday technology increasingly influences our lives. For instance, in many metropolitan regions there are completely automated and unattended credit card gas stations. The user merely inserts a credit card, types in a personal identification number and then pumps gas. When the transaction is completed, the buyer’s account is charged for the dollar amount of the purchase.
The same technology is currently in use at Vail in Colorado and Jack Frost in Pennsylvania. Both areas installed the GasBoy 1000 automated fuel dispensing system for fleet fueling.
Why install a computerized fueling system? Tim Welsong, vehicle maintenance director for Vail, says there are two advantages. First, it provides more accurate records of fuel use and storage, which is required by the new Environmental Protection Agency regulations for underground tanks (see SAM 9/89 page 34 and SAM 11/90 page 25). Second, he says it aids in controlling the dispensing of hundreds of thousands of gallons each year. Misplaced logs and/or missing entries on logs can and have contributed to many inaccuracies or wild guesses in fuel inventory reports. Also, ski areas are not immune to inappropriate or fraudulent use of these expensive fuels (i.e., theft).
The GasBoy 1000 system for Vail includes six pumps at the shop, two remote base area pumps and one fueling station at the top of the mountain with six pumps and three tanks. Card readers are used at each pump station to record transactions by employees and to energize the pumps. Cards are issued to each employee who has an employee number to validate transactions. Using this system, managers can pre-set the gallons allowed per use and an automatic shut-down occurs when the maximum setting is reached. For security, the automatic shut-down also engages when an incorrect ID number is entered three times.
Transaction data is sent for storage via cable or modem to a centralized controller from which reports can be generated. Other configurations allow for onsite disk storage device, either floppy or hard drive, to store transaction data at the site. This data can be periodically downloaded to a host IBM-style pc computer at the vehicle maintenance manager’s office.
The GasBoy allows managers to get reports on total fuel used by product, department, class of machinery, individual machines and cost. Fuel efficiency can also be measured for each vehicle.
The cost for a GasBoy system is approximately $5,000 for two pumps with four hoses, $9,200 for the card reader and $2,500 for wiring and installation. The cost of tanks and an office computer are additional.
