Where are the complaints?
Damn right. So why don’t you think about the people who own the gas station, and out of kindness and goodwill give them a few pennies for the cost and maintenance of the air compressor, the rent on the land for the gas station, and maybe a few pennies more for food to feed their families. Since people are more important than pennies, after all.
Or you could just be a cheap whiny bastard who selfishly demands “kindness and goodwill” from others without contributing any in return.
I really do miss Diamonds05. He was one of the most entertaining trolls we’ve ever had.
Poor PSXer seems to try, but I can tell that his heart isn’t in it.
Please, feel free to skip this post as it contains more useless information than you would ever need to know.
Back in the old days, when you got gas at a service station, the station had free air and water available, ostensibly for their customers, but available to anybody who pulled up.
Hey - it was a simpler time and people didn’t worry so much if somebody got a cent or two of free service if it helped them out somehow.
The station had a big air compressor back in the shop, or more likely, behind it - at least until you couldn’t even cage them up without somebody trying to steal or vandalize them for parts or scrap.
The compressor had a big reservoir tank on it, and a couple of minutes running would easily fill many tires with no problems. The extra wear and tear on the compressor, due to customers getting a little compressed air, was negligible.
Around the early 1970s and the first “gas crunches”, a lot of convenience stores started adding gas pumps to their property. This was in contrast to the public upset at the increase in gas prices, and the gas providers claim that they made little profit from the sale of gas, but somehow it was worthwhile to expand into a new line of products and add tanks, pumps and plumbing to the stores. Huh.
At the same time, regular service stations were feeling the crunch and started being more grocery oriented and catering to the “pick up some bread/milk/beer/etc” on the way home crowd. Slowly the service bays and mechanics started to vanish from the American service station, and the space was filled with coolers, shelves, and displays.
There was also a short period where a few shelves behind the counter held movies for rent on VHS and Beta-Max video tape, but that was a fleeting time that few remember nowadays. This phenomena was short-lived because stores started opening up that actually sold and rented movies on video tape. Really. What a crazy concept. Imagine a store that only sold or rented movies for home viewing! Unbelievable.
Of course, the converted service stations still had the big compressors and made free air available as an incentive to get people to stop by and maybe fill up, or at least pick up something while they were there; a few Slim Jims and one of them new-fangled Slurpy/Icey/Freezee/Squishy/etc.
After the service bays and oil racks disappeared, the convenience stores wanted you to forget about all those old service stations, so they set up an air station for their customers too.
But they didn’t want to invest much money into a proper air compressor that could deliver decent air pressure, volume or reliability. No, money like that was better spent on rotisserie hot-dog machines, popcorn poppers, and open coolers of ice and beer, at the time, a fine (and tolerably legal) Texas drive-home tradition.
By this time the shelves of video tape movie rentals were gone, but it was supplemented by the addition of the obligatory video game machine between the exit and the magazine rack. Old worn and scarred video game machines never died, they just ended up down at the local Minute Mart.
These new generation of gas station compressors were, for the most part, cheap pieces of crap.
Firstly, they were powered by small, high-speed motors. This was partially because they ran off a simple circuit of 115v as opposed to the old service station units that were wired on a 220v circuit and turned quite slower in comparison.
Secondly, the compressor on the new units was usually an oil-less design, which means it spun on sealed greased bearings. They are light, thin alloy castings, and generally have a short life span. Fine for the occasional tire or beach ball at home, but not intended for many hours of use.
The old service station compressor was built more along the lines of the engine in your car. They were heavy cast-iron units that had a sump filled with motor oil and ran on heavy ball or insert bearings. The splashing oil not only coated all the moving internals of the engine with lubrication, it also absorbed and cooled the parts down for longer life.
Thirdly, the new air stations had little or no reservoir to store any compressed air, so you have to use the pressurized air as it makes it, which can take quite a while if you have a large truck tire or two, but you can wile away the times listening to the pump motor scream its guts out as it tries to inflate your tire.
The old service station compressor had a huge tank on it, to better power the high air volume demand of air tools and professional tire changing equipment, so a fully pressurized tank might be good for most of the day, or at least several hours. You probably had instant and adequate air as soon as you put air chuck to valve stem.
Fourthly, the new air station compressors are located along the side of the lot, so they are housed in a metal box to keep them from being stolen or vandalized. These little oil-less compressors are pretty susceptible to extremes of heat, cold, and humidity and don’t fare so well in that metal box with the louvers punched in the side. They probably have a little fan mounted to the motor to move air around the compressor when it is running, but it is usually trying to cool with hot humid air.
The old service station compressors are partially cooled by internal oil splash and also by air around the outside fins, but even if it is sitting in a back room or a grated enclosure, it never runs long or hard enough to barely break a sweat.
So, the whole point of this rambling mess - and I was working my way to a point, believe it or not - is that the “air stations” found at nearly every convenience store these days is a weak, inadequately designed and constructed unit that will not last long in the service it is being used for. Therefore, they will quickly wear out, often break, and have to be replaced on a regular basis. Somebody has to pay for the reoccurring parts and labor to do this, and that person is YOU, and that is why free air is rarely seen anymore.
I would think that installing a small home/shop size conventional compressor at the store, and plumbing the air out to the station, would end up being much cheaper in the long run. I myself have a 5hp compressor 220v with a 20gal tank that would easily fill any number of truck and passenger car tires, and would only require a once-a-year change of oil, an occasional check on the air filter and tank drain, and would be good to go. I have used the snot out of my little compressor for sandblasting and blowing off parts, and it has run an hour or two a day almost every day for over twelve years without any major problem. Best $250 investment I have ever made.
As for the free water - well, water isn’t quite the commodity it once was. It isn’t like it is an expensive product, but I think there is probably a considerable expense in maintaining and replacing the water hoses and nozzle. That stuff gets run over a lot, so I don’t think you get away with Walmart supplies. People will let water run and waste a hell of a lot of it of they don’t have to worry about it shutting off before they get their radiator topped off.
It may vary depending on what part of the country you are in, but down here in Texas, you just DON’T waste water. Letting it run carelessly out into the street can be illegal and cost you a hefty fine - having a time dispenser on a water service is fair, and if the expense of the water and equipment is a reoccurring thing, then the customer is going to be charged for it.
And some people are just cheap, and some people are just poor.
I remember when it wasn’t unusual for a family to pack into the family hoopty and drive down to a city park, and while the kids ran around being kids, and mama fixed a cheap lunch for all, dad would drive the car onto one of the roads that had the river running several inches deep across it, park in the middle and wash the car. Those days, my friends, are long gone.
Anyhow, I apologize to anyone who expected a tasteful rant about the lack of free air and water at gas stations, only to be sucked into the unofficial and undocumented history of the same.
I understand the reason why we have to pay for these once free services - I just hate them because I seldom have any change when I am in need of them.
If the OP’s aim is to get air into his tires as cheaply as possible, I would recommend he use an ordinary bicycle pump.
No, you don’t have to have superhuman strength to do this. I’m pushing 60 and have never had much upper body strength (the doctor who used to give me my annual physical told me every year I needed to do something about that), but I have no trouble pumping up a tire with a bike pump. It does take a few minutes, and you’ll be winded if you’re starting from a nearly-flat tire rather than just topping off the pressure, but it’s quite doable.
Back in rural Arizona, there was a guy who had a compressor and put the hose by the fence so kids could air up their bicycle tires. The end got cut off so often that the free air sign was changed to “knock on my door if you need air”. Next the sign got changed to “If you don’t see lights, please don’t knock on my door.” Last time I saw his place, the sign said “NO FREE AIR AND DON’T KNOCK ON MY DOOR!”
Haha, ok. This thread was worth it just to get this joke/story. I don’t care if you’re just bullshitting us here. That’s funny.
Wow. They started charging for air in my area at least 20 years ago.
Really, its not like they were providing pure nitrogen for the tires.
It’s $1.25 around here, so screw you all.
This baffles me, and I’ve seen it a lot. Who the hell cuts the ends off of air hoses? Are they all just antisocial types? Is there some value to the valves, as collector’s items or scrap metal? Is it passive-aggressive revenge against gas stations for raising the price of their favorite slushie? Initiation rite for the world’s lamest gang? Why?
I keep a compressor in my vehicles as well.
When I’m in a hurry, paying to use the compressor doesn’t bother me, what I miss is the days where you could set a large, visible dial to the exact PSI desired and listen to the bell chimes to tell you when you’ve reached it.
These “modern” compressors with a just a coin slot, a hose and a lousy tire pressure gauge are ridiculous.
Even the nice ones with the keypad and LCD screens are retarded. How the hell can I read it or hear a tiny little beep from the other side of the car with a fucking compressor running!?
They still have free air there, it just isn’t compressed.
Thank you Obi Wan!
That’s not the reference that you’re looking for.
whoosh!
Is that whats holding you down? 
Damn, did they cut the nozzle off the line again? I swear, giving out free air is causing me nothing but grief. You try to do people a good turn…
I meant droids.
I caught that, but thanks.
You can go about your business. Move along.
BTW here is the reference you’re looking for, go to 21:12 or so.