Susser Holdings Corp. will standardize Xflo fuel meters in Ovation dispensers at new Stripes LLC convenience store and retail fuel locations. The Xflo meters will help Stripes sites in Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico reduce the cost of fuel lost to meter drift, a considerable expense that can be as much as tens of thousands of dollars for high volume fuel retailers.
Additionally, Xflo meters help retailers serve more customers in less time through improved flow rates.
The Xflo meter addresses the challenge of diminishing metering accuracy. As fuel meters wear over time, measurement precision is diminished and unmetered fuel within NIST Weights and Measures tolerance is given away in small increments. This can add up to large profit losses. Retailers must recalibrate meters to re-establish their accuracy. The Xflo fuel meter features innovative engineering with axial flow architecture and a screw rotor designed to reduce the amount of friction and wear between internal components, significantly improving accuracy.
“In today’s environment, continuous recalibration is simply not an efficient use of resources,” says Rick Milne, director of physical resources for Susser. “Before Dresser Wayne developed the Xflo meter technology, recalibration was our only option to help keep meter drift in check. The Xflo meter’s precision significantly reduces our recalibration efforts and the amount of unmeasured fuel that is dispensed, yielding a dramatic cost savings for us.”
The SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden, an international leader in technology research and certification, performed tests confirming that the Xflo meter exhibited no appreciable meter drift even after metering high volumes of fuel up to 1.5 million gallons, an amount equivalent to six years of use at a typical site. The results demonstrate that the Xflo meter reduces meter drift by 0.1% or more.
Stripes stores also stand to benefit from the improved flow rate provided by the Xflo meter’s less restrictive design. It features a more direct hydraulic flow path that reduces pressure loss by 30 percent. Consequently, Stripes can serve more customers in less time.
“For many years, Susser and Dresser Wayne have had a solid relationship. We trust the company to provide the latest technology designed to help us accomplish our goals,” Milne added. “The Xflo meter is another example of the ways in which Dresser Wayne’s innovation benefits us.”