p.1 

OAR Box 1147 

Prepped by Ollie Stewart 

Document Number: 

214) IV-E-88 

Docket Number: 

A-87-11 

Printed 4/22/2008 2:42:58 PM Sheet 214 of 242 
P.2 

rf*0 ST*»r. 

£% \ UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

i5SS 

FEB I 5 1989 

MEMORANDUM 

ANN ARBOR. MICHIGAN 48105 

•s^° c*?SF •A: P^0 

,c** 

SUBJECT: 

FROM: 

TO: 

.-*.\\'\V a W . ^ ^ OFFICE OF 

AIR AND RADIATION 

fmCy'- '",,-••; •':'• 

Observation of Stage 'Ti Refueling Events at Shell 

Service Station, Bel Air, California 

John W. Mueller, Mechanical Engineer 

Standards Development and Support Brane 

Docket A-87-11 

On March 8 and 9, 1988, Carolyn David and I visited the 

Bel Air Shell service station at the corner of Sepulveda 

Boulevard and Moraga Road in Bel Air, California to observe the 

in-use operation of fuel dispensing systems equipped with Stage 

II refueling control hardware. Mr. Carrol Hansen, station 

owner, was present to show us the facilities and equipment and 

answer any questions we had. During our visit we observed many 

refueling events in an effort to understand any correlation 

between customer usage of Stage II equipment and the efficiency 

of the equipment at controlling refueling-related emissions. 

This Shell station is located at a moderately busy 

intersection northwest of downtown Los Angeles where, according 

to Mr. Hansen, most of the clientele are repeat customers. The 

station is open daily from 7AM to 10PM and has a monthly 

throughput of 130,000 gallons. There are two grades of 

unleaded gasoline (regular - 87 octane, super - 92 octane) and 

one grade of leaded gasoline (88 octane) offered at each of two 

full-serve and two self-serve multi-product dispensers (MPD). 

The three underground storage tanks each have their own vent 

pipe with no vent caps in place. 

Stage II equipment was installed at this station when 

first required by the California Air Resource Board and had 

thus been in place for approximately ten years at the time of 

this survey. Each MPD has 6 EMCO-Wheaton 3000 series nozzles 

for a total of 24 nozzles. Although the 3000 series nozzle is 
P.3 

-2-

not EMCO-Wheaton's most recent design it is nonetheless 

currently manufactured and in widespread use in California and 

Washington, D.C. . All of the nozzles have a sheath of tear 

resistant material affixed to the bellows/nozzle body interface 

which covers roughly half of the nozzle bellows (photo 1). Mr. 

Hansen explained that this is to protect the bellows from being 

torn or punctured by the license plate sheet metal mounting 

screws on rear-fill vehicles, a problem he said was very 

frequent before taking this precaution. All nozzles are 

connected to the MPDs through a coaxial hose/high-hang hose 

retractor configuration (photo 2). Both the older, heavier 

coaxial hose and the newer lightweight corrugated coaxial hose 

were being used at the time of this survey. 

Each MPD has both standard operating instructions (photo 

3) and operating instructions for the Stage II equipment 

clearly displayed (photo 4). The Stage II instructions include 

the statement "do not top off" as well as instructions to wait 

three seconds before removing the nozzle from the filler neck. 

Additionally, each nozzle has a warning printed on the rubber 

scuff-guard (photo 5). This included a warning against topping 

off, a statement to wait "several" seconds before removing the 

nozzle, and a warning to make sure that the vapor return line 

is not blocked in any way. This warning was beginning to rub 

off on some of the older nozzles. 

On the first day of our visit (March 8, 1988) we observed 

self-serve p"amps 6 and 8 with special attention to the 

interaction between the customers and the Stage II equipment. 

We recorded the time of each refueling event as well as the sex 

of the customer, type and amount of fuel dispensed, the number 

of topoffs, dripping or spillage, and any other comments. On 

the second day we observed all four self-serve pumps and 

gathered the same information as the first day. In addition, 

after each refueling event we drained any fuel from the nozzle 

spout and bellows into a graduated cylinder in an effort to 

learn more about the effect of the Stage II equipment on 

spillage. The data recorded for all refueling events observed 

is included as Attachment II. 

During the observations we tried to remain as 

inconspicuous as possible in order to keep from influencing the 

behavior of the customers. This sometimes made it difficult to 

observe every event due to the variety of vehicles fueled and 

the customers' positions relative to the nozzle. For this 

reason the data on some refueling events is incomplete. In 

addition, at times the station became very busy and as a result 

more refuelings took place than we were able to record. Thus, 

our record of refueling events is not a complete record of the 

events taking place during our period of observation, although 

the number of events not recorded is small. It should be 

noted, though, that on the second day when we were measuring 

the volume of fuel from the nozzle spout and bellows, the spout 
-3-

and bellows were drained even following events we didn't 

record. The purpose of this was to assure that the spout and 

bellows were empty at the start of each refueling event. Thus, 

all of the volumes of fuel recorded are solely attributable to 

the refueling event, with which they are listed. 

Over the two days of observation we recorded 109 refueling 

events of which 76 were by men, 31 were by women, and one was 

unrecorded. We were able to record the volume of fuel 

dispensed for 105 of those events. The average volume 

dispensed was 10.3 gallons. 

Of the 93 events for which topoff information was recorded 

51 customers (55 percent) topped off at least once. The 

average number of topoffs among those who did topoff was five. 

There is some uncertainty, however, in the topoff data for two 

reasons. First, there were a small number of events in which 

the shutoff appeared to be premature (based on a large amount 

of fuel being delivered following the first shutoff). Second, 

it is not known how many customers topped off (i.e. resumed 

flow) in order to obtain an even dollar amount on a 

less-than-full tank versus the number who did so to put more 

fuel in an already full tank. 

We were able to see 84 events clearly enough to discern 

pre- and postfill dripping and spillage. Of those events some 

dripping or spillage occurred during 32 events (38 percent). 

Almost all of that was postfill dripping (averaging about five 

drops per dripping event), although five events had actual 

spills or splashes (4-8 inches in diameter). The amount of 

postfill dripping was much more closely related to how careful 

the customer was with the nozzle than to topping off. Actions 

such as shaking the nozzle in the fillpipe before removal and 

holding the nozzle upright when moving it to the dispenser 

greatly reduced the likelihood of postfill drip. 

During the second day we recorded 50 events in which we 

drained and measured any fuel in the nozzle bellows and spout. 

Of those 50 events, 41 had some volume of fuel retained in the 

nozzle. However, only during eight of those 41 events was the 

fuel contained all or in part in the bellows. In those 

instances where fuel was captured in the bellows it was 

generally at least a few milliliters and in most cases was 

associated with topping off. 

During our visit we made some other observations which 

should be noted. First, two motorcycles were refueled during 

the survey. In both instances the customer manually compressed 

the nozzle bellows in order to achieve fuel flow. Second, 

during the refueling of one late model vehicle, gasoline vapors 

were clearly visible escaping from the fillneck/nozzle 

interface. The customer seemed to be familiar with the 

equipment although he manually held the nozzle in rather than 
P.5 

-4-

latching it with the latch ring. However, this should not have 

caused any problems with the nozzle/fillneck seal. Finally, 

one customer in a large commercial vehicle inserted and latched 

the nozzle. He then started pumping and set the lever clip to 

continue pumping while he went into the station building. When 

the automatic shutoff was triggered the jerk of the mechanism 

caused the nozzle spout to become unlatched. The compressed 

bellows then ejected the nozzle from the fillpipe causing a 

small splash of fuel as it landed on the ground. Although we 

did not record the exact number of people who engaged the lever 

clip, the percentage of people who did was very small. 

One final observation we made was the difference in the 

way the customers in California operated the equipment compared 

to the customers in Washington, D.C, which we had observed on 

February 16 and 17, 1988. The customers in California appeared 

much more comfortable with the equipment and only one customer 

had to be shown how to operate the equipment. This is in 

contrast to Washington, D.C. where many customers appeared 

unfamiliar with the hardware and had difficulty operating it 

before being instructed by station personnel. One reason for 

this difference may be the fact that the D.C. station is 

located very close to a non-Stage II area. Since Stage II was 

installed in 1981 it is unlikely that those unfamiliar with the 

hardware were regular customers. Additionally, the customers 

in California topped off more frequently than the D.C. 

customers (55 vs. 35 percent of events). However, the average 

number of topoffs for those who did topoff was approximately 

the same at both stations. 

Attachments 
P.6 

-5-

Attachment I 

Photos of Stage II Equipment 

Bel Air Shell Station* 

The original set of photos is in Docket A-87-11, 

Environmental Protection Agency, Standards Development and 

Support Branch, 2565 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor, MI, 48105. 
P.7 

-6-

Photo l. Mozzle with protective sheath 
P.8 

-7-

Photo 2. Multi-product Dispensers 
P.9 

-8-

Photo 3. MPD Standard Operating Instructions 
P.10 

-9-

Photo 4. MPD Stage II Operating Instructions 
P.11 

-10-

Photo 5. stage II Nozzle Operating Instruct! 

ons 
P.12 

-11-

Attachment II 

Record of Refueling Events 
Refueling Observations at Pump 6 

Shell Station, Bel Air, CA 

Tuesday, March 8, 1988 

Time 

(PM) 

3:00 

05 

08 

12 

14 

3:20 

3:22 

3:25 

3:45 

3:59 

4:17 

4:30 

4:33 

4: 

4: 

5: 

5: 

5: 

5: 

:39 

:43 

04 

07 

15 

21 

5:23 

5:27 

5:38 

5:46 

Sex 

M 

M 

M 

F 

F 

F 

M 

M 

F 

M 

M 

M 

M 

F 

M 

M 

M 

M 

F 

M 

F 

Fuel* 

Reg 

SU 

RU 

Reg 

RU 

Reg 

SU 

RU 

RU 

Reg 

SU 

RU 

RU 

SU 

RU 

Reg 

Reg 

RU 

RU 

SU 

SU 

M 

F 

SU 

RU 

Gallons 

13.43 

17.95 

8.75 

1.22 

4.66 

8.55 

0.97 

19.56 

9.31 

2.81 

9.86 

3.50 

8.15 

4.91 

16.15 

3.66 

12.58 

7.26 

3.49 

14.88 

12.52 

13.71 

11.64 

Topoffs 

1 

0 

0 

0 

2 

10 

0 

5 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

7 

0 

10 

0 

0 

5 

0 

0 

Drips** 

0 

0 

0 

2-3d 

lOd 

lOd 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

4-5" 

0 

0 

0 

lOd 

0 

6" 

Comments 

Held nozzle in - escaping vapors 

visible 

Careful with nozzle 

Careful with nozzle 

Careful with nozzle 

Removed spout very quickly 

Careful 

Trouble getting nozzle latched in 

fillpipe 

Rear-fill, used nozzle to hold 

open license plate during fillcap 

removal/replacement 

N3 

I 

Prefill 

diameter 

spill of 4-5 inches 

1 

0 

3d 

0 

Trouble inserting nozzle -

attendant helped, postfill spill 

of 6 inch diameter 

Station attendant pumped 

** 

Fuel: Reg = regular leaded (88 octane, $0.819) 

RU = regular unleaded (87 octane, $0.859) 

SU = super unleaded (92 octane, $1.019) 

d = drops, in most cases number of drops was estimated 

TJ 

CO 
Tuesday, March 8, 1988 

Refueling Observations at Pump 8 

Shell Station, Bel Air, CA 

Time 

(PM) 

2:53 

2:56 

3:00 

3:04 

3:09 

3:13 

3:18 

3:22 

3:42 

3:48 

3:54 

4:05 

4:07 

4:12 

4:20 

4:25 

4:29 

4:35 

4:41 

5:05 

5:08 

5:13 

5:20 

5:25 

5:31 

5:33 

5:40 

5:43 

5:45 

5:50 

Sex 

M 

M 

M 

M 

F 

F 

M 

M 

M 

M 

M 

F 

M 

M 

F 

F 

M 

F 

M 

M 

M 

F 

F 

M 

M 

F 

M 

F 

M 

M 

Fuel* 

Reg 

RU 

RU 

SU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

Reg 

RU 

Reg 

RU 

Reg 

SU 

RU 

SU 

SU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

SU 

SU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

RU 

Gallons 

3.34 

13.48 

7.27 

8.45 

9.31 

8.73 

2.33 

13.17 

19.50 

20.57 

5.84 

3.66 

14.54 

29.10 

11.77 

13.05 

7.68 

12.02 

15.54 

11.91 

20.68 

12.13 

12.86 

2.46 

5.82 

8.15 

5.82 

8.15 

16.47 

8.15 

Topoffs Drips** Comments 

2 

2 

7 

4 

14 

13 

1 

12 

0 

3 

0 

5-6 

7 

9 

0 

2 

0 

3 

2 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

ld 

3d 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2d 

dribble 

0 

1 

0 

7-8d 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2d 

2d 

0 

4d 

Motorcycle 

Careful to avoid spillage 

Careful to avoid spillage 

Apparent premature shutoff 

Held nozzle in 

Held nozzle in - apparent 

premature shutoffs 

Used filler cap to hold nozzle 

lever up 

Also some spilled on side of 

vehicle 

Difficulty inserting nozzle 

I 

Motorcycle 

5d 

* Fuel type: Reg = regular leaded (88 octane, $0.819) 

RU = regular unleaded (87 octane, $0.859) 

SU = super unleaded (92 octane, $1.019) 

** d = drops, in most cases number of droos was estimafpH 
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