AN ACR MD83 FLC MISMANAGED THEIR FUEL SYS AND THE MAIN WING TANKS WERE ALMOST EXHAUSTED BEFORE THEY REALIZED THAT THE CTR TANK BOOST PUMPS WERE OFF. THE FLC DIVERTED TO AN ALTERNATE ARPT TO CORRECT THE IMBAL PROB.

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ABEAM OCS I NOTED OUR WING TANK FUEL WAS FLUCTUATING BTWN 250 TO 50 LBS PER SIDE. CTR TANK FUEL WAS 18200 LBS. I TOLD FO TO GET OUT VOLUME 1. LOOKING AT THE BOOST PUMP SWITCH PANEL; AT FIRST GLANCE; IT APPEARED NORMAL. NOTE: THIS MD83 HAS THE 3 POS CTR TANK SWITCHES INSTALLED. I THEN PHYSICALLY PUSHED ALL BOOST PUMP SWITCHES AND THE FORWARD/CTR TANK BOOST PUMP MOVED TO 'ON' POS. NOTE: THIS FLT WAS A CONTINUATION FLT SWF-ORD-SFO. I INADVERTENTLY MOVED THE FORWARD/CTR TANK SWITCH INTO THE AUTO POS WHEN TURNING OFF THE BOOST PUMP SWITCHES AT THE GATE IN ORD. ALTHOUGH USING A FUEL LOG I NEGLECTED THE MAIN TANK TO CTR TANK FUEL SCAN AT EACH CHK. OUR ON BOARD FUEL LOAD WAS ADEQUATE TO CONTINUE TO SFO PER FUEL LOG. LNDG SFO WITH 7400 LBS; HOWEVER; WE NOW HAD A NON STANDARD FUEL LOAD. I CALLED DISPATCH AND MAINT CTL. THEY RECOMMENDED WE DIVERT INTO SLC TO STANDARDIZE THE FUEL LOAD AND WHILE WE WERE THERE TO HAVE MAINT CHK FUEL SYS. FROM DIVERT POINT TO THE RAMP AT SLC FROM A SYS POINT; THE FLT WAS UNEVENTFUL WITH NO ALERTS OR WARNINGS. WE REFUELED; MAINT DID FUEL SYS CHK; WE RE-RELEASED AND FLEW SLC-SFO. ARRIVED 1 HR 37 MINS LATE. AFTER HEARING ABOUT THESE MD83 CTR SWITCHES IN RECURRENT GND SCHOOL AND NUMEROUS RPTS OF THIS; I'VE SAID I WON'T LET THIS HAPPEN TO ME. WELL IT DID! BUT IT WON'T HAPPEN AGAIN. NOTE: STARTING FUEL LOAD ORD-SFO TOTAL 37700 LBS CTR TANK 19200 LBS. SUPPLEMENTAL INFO FROM ACN 379392: DURING CRUISE AT FL310 FUEL IMBAL WITH APPROX 100 LBS IN EACH L AND R MAINS AND 18000 LBS IN CTR. MD83 CTR TANK HAS 3 POS SWITCH -- AUTO; OFF; ON. PROB OCCURRED DUE TO 1 CTR BOOST PUMP INADVERTENTLY LEFT IN OFF POS.