Mind your Meters

Merridale offers a total capability in depot fuelling facilities covering all aspects from storage tanks, fuel pumps, fuel & tank management systems and software for the delivery of management reports.

The overall purpose is to help fleet operators drive down their costs by ensuring that all fuel purchased is accounted for and to provide statistical analysis of usage. Key elements are security, stock control, accurate data capture, communications and management reporting.

A common complaint from a number of fleet operators is that they sometimes have difficulty reconciling their stock figures

However, according to technical director John Russell, what so often gets overlooked is the accuracy of the fuel delivery.

“A common complaint from a number of fleet operators is that they sometimes have difficulty reconciling their stock figures,” he says.

“Often they state that their system seems to be missing fuel issued. But when we start looking at the problem, we realise they are not losing fuel it is that the pump meters are not measuring the fuel correctly. Generally we find that the user has total belief in the fuel pump readings, whilst having no knowledge, or evidence of when the meters were last calibrated.

“The operator may have invested in a sophisticated fuel management system expecting total accuracy; however from our experience we know that many of these complaints can be traced back to the accuracy of the fuel pump. Put simply - bad data in will lead to bad data out.

“If the fuel pump is not metering correctly, for example actually delivering 100 litres while the system is recording 95 litres - then the operator will appear to have lost fuel.

“Clearly then, the pumps must be calibrated regularly to achieve accurate fuel management. Merridale recommends that this should be carried out at least once a year as part of the annual service routine.

“More seriously of course are the situations where we are finding fuel pumps of inferior quality and simply incapable of accurate metering. Worse still, some meters can provide inconsistent or variable errors that cannot be tuned out electronically or mathematically. Put simply they are not fit for purpose. Without going into details, there are pumps on the market which utilise non positive displacement flow meters. These can often provide totally unreliable readings.

“For many existing Merridale customers, checks are already provided as part of the contracted routine servicing. Such visits can be undertaken either as a periodical provision or as an enhancement to the popular Merridale extended warranty scheme.

“If you are in doubt about the accuracy of your equipment, please contact Merridale to arrange for a service & calibration visit. We will be happy to inspect your installation, recommend any adjustments and provide a report on the overall performance.”