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These new "safe" gas cans

jvitez

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Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
2,429
Location
Big Sky Country, Canada
I have a 30 year old plastic jerry can that works as the day my dear old dad bought it. I bought another about 10 years ago, then when we moved to acreage I needed a few more. When I heard about the new cans, I sucked up as many old style cans in as many sizes as I could foresee using. Yay!
 
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hh76

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Joined
Nov 9, 2010
Messages
3,447
Location
NE Wisconsin
I needed a can in a hurry (my old van didn't have an odometer or a fuel gauge), and the only thing the station had was a 2 gallon safety can. You have to move a little lever, and then press down on another with your thumb. I thought it was the stupidest thing ever, but now I realized that it is the only small can that I've ever had that doesn't spill a drop. It's a little cumbersome, but I love it.
 

NUTTSGT

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Sep 14, 2009
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50,928
Location
Northern Central Ohio
Yesterday I was at the NAPA store and saw the Summit Racing fuel cans. Counter man told me they do not leak when used. Not cheap though. I think they come in colors also. Of course, they are for racing purposes only, not commercial and everyday use. So, only those racing folks can legally use them. I think I will set a race between the DOT cans and the race cans. Loser gets to go live in the wood stove. Winner gets reduced to living in the work trailer.

I can tell you which one will win that race.
 

Inventive1

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 24, 2007
Messages
52
I'm happy with my new style gas can. It's used for gas and oil mix for two cycle engines. (chainsaw, weedeater, etc.) The gas pours out slow, so it less likely to overfill the tank. The other advantage is that it doesn't leak to many vapors. I accidently left this gas can in the trunk of my car for a day and a half recently. After all that time, the interior of the car did NOT smell like gas.

Now, I have NO plans to part with my older style 5 gallon gas cans. Filling larger fuel tanks with one of these new, slow pouring cans would NOT be any fun!
 

4BT

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
884
I still have 2 older cans without the EPA BS, a 5 gallon and a 2.5 gallon. The 45* neck on them *****, but it's more tolerable than the idiot valve. I also use the Race Jugs from VP Race Fuels.
 

rocketpowered_keith

Well-known member
Joined
May 29, 2010
Messages
47
Location
Bay Area California
This is quite simply wrong.
The lack of a vent on portable gas cans is more about preventing the escape of vapors in storage, than about capturing vapors displaced by the dispensing of gas.

Venting the cans causes four big issues I can think of, off the top of my head.

Did you realize that gasoline blends can contain 15% butane nowadays (ok, only in winter blends, but still).
It's in solution, but it will fraction off just sitting around. So the first issue, is if you leave the can vented, it will be 15% (or more) lighter in a few weeks.
This loss of fuel costs you money, but more importantly, it also lowers the octane rating of what's left behind (that's issue #2). This is counter-intuitive, as you'd think that the more volatile fractions would lower the octane, but butane has a RON rating of 94.
This combined lower octane and volatility makes starting harder (but prevents vapor lock).
No amount of gasoline stabilizers will help with these issues, but I guess if you're willing to pay close to double the normal price for gasoline (and deal with the issues introduced by lead), you could use 100LL aviation gasoline. It's low volatility (necessary for operating at altitudes with reduced air pressure, to prevent boiling) would mean that the pressure in the can's headspace would remain low (which would mitigate the next issues too, and which is why aviation gasoline stores much better than car motor fuel).

Gasoline in a vented container "breathes", and the more volatile the fuel, the more it breathes. As the daily temperature swings, the pressure in the container's headspace will go up and down. It vents volatiles during the day, and ***** in air at night.
This exposes the gas to fresh oxygen, which accelerates the process of producing varnish (issue #3). This ONE issue can be prevented by the use of gasoline stabilizers.
The ethanol in blended gasoline is hydroscopic. That means that it will literally **** water out of the air. This isn't so horrible, so long as the ethanol/water mixture stays in solution in the gasoline, but with gasoline being a primarily non-polar solvent, and water being very polar, it doesn't take much water in that ethanol, to get the solutions to separate like a salad dressing badly in need of shaking. This water/ethanol/gunk mixture will rot out the bottom of your tank, but more importantly, causes havoc if it gets into your engine.
Some gasoline stabilizers help with this too. Either by preventing the "phase separation", or by mitigating it's effects by blocking the corrosion caused by the water.

Now, if your gas can is not vented, it won't breathe, and the liquid will not be exposed to any more water vapor and oxygen than what is already in the headspace (this is very little). Problems all avoided.

So long as you don't have winter blend gas stored in an unvented can left out in the sun in the summer, it may look like it is unnaturally expanding, but it will not explode. Today's cans are pressure rated for something like 10PSI (above which, the valve is supposed to vent before anything fails from the pressure), and that is a lot of pressure for a small plastic can, so it can be expected to expand a lot.


Hygroscopic not "hydroscopic"
 

jam0o0

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Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
244
Location
Katy, TX
These are the cans you want. You can buy a 4 pack or just one. They also have smaller sizes as well. Great cans and the nozzle listed on the link is also a good one. Mine did have a tiny leak where the nozzle met the flange. However, a little JBweld and it worked perfectly.

http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1718

Spout link.
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=3015

10 liter (little more than a 2.5 gallon) can
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1967

5 liter (little more than a 1 gallon) can
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1968


Believe me, these are the way to go for fuel cans.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU. my old source for nato cans will not sell the old style in the US anymore. looks like i gotta spend the big bucks to save my driveway from smelling like diesel.
 

mmack66

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Joined
Dec 5, 2011
Messages
2,947
Location
Kansas City, MO
These are the cans you want. You can buy a 4 pack or just one. They also have smaller sizes as well. Great cans and the nozzle listed on the link is also a good one. Mine did have a tiny leak where the nozzle met the flange. However, a little JBweld and it worked perfectly.

http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1718

Spout link.
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=3015

10 liter (little more than a 2.5 gallon) can
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1967

5 liter (little more than a 1 gallon) can
http://www.deutscheoptik.com/product_info.php?products_id=1968


Believe me, these are the way to go for fuel cans.

I have a couple of the big ones in red that I picked up at Sam's Club years ago. They are great.
 

toyotadriver

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Joined
Dec 30, 2010
Messages
1,586
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANKYOU. my old source for nato cans will not sell the old style in the US anymore. looks like i gotta spend the big bucks to save my driveway from smelling like diesel.



You're welcome! Glad to help!

These are really good cans and are brand new. One little warning...they are marked "Not for fuel use". This is ONLY to allow them to be imported. They will still hold fuel just fine.

A gas can that seals completely will keep fuel (even ethanol fuel) good for a very long time....over a year without any kind of fuel stabilizer easily.

I use PRI G and change my stored gas every year or so. It's always still good and smells as good as the day that I filled it. I've gone about 2 years on stored fuel and never had an issue. Most cheap cans allow the various chemicals compounds to escape....and then the gas goes bad.

Keep your gas in a well sealed can and it'll last for a long time.

I have a 5 liter can for 50:1 weedeater/chain saw mix and a 10 liter can for lawn mower gas.

I am using weedeater mix from 2010 that was stored in a well sealed gas can and it's still good. I prefer to use non-ethanol gas in small engines and normally do. However, the weedeater mix that I'm still using from 2010 has ethanol in it and it's working great. WELL sealed is the key.
 
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Kevin54

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Jan 12, 2005
Messages
29,341
Location
Urbana, Ohio
I still have one of the older 5 gallon cans. I'm gonna hate when something happens to it. I hate the new ones with a passion. It's pretty awkward trying to fill a 2 cycle weedeater with one without spilling something somewhere.

On the other hand, I just found out about a month ago that the gas cap snaps to the lid. :rocker: All of these years and I never knew that. I really need to get with the program. :lol:


gas1.jpg
 

Drunken Yak inc

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Sep 4, 2011
Messages
759
Location
Osceola, IN
I'll be honest, I don't mind my safety cans too much. Yes, it takes a little longer to fill my tractor, and God forbid you ever have to try and fill a vehicle without a funnel, but I was a cautiously slow pourer with the old cans, so it's not much of a difference to me.

Having said that, they should not be forced on anyone who doesn't want to use them, people should have a choice. It doesn't appear to be at that point yet, seeing the submissions from other posters proves that there are "good" cans still out there, you just might have to do some digging to find a proper can for your needs.
 

lowbucktruck

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Joined
Aug 9, 2010
Messages
1,323
Location
Foothills, Northern California
The jerry cans are the best! I use a few of them myself. I refuse to use those plastic fuel cans and slop gas all over. I realize that the average Joe Q. Public homeowner may not be knowledgeable about long-term fuel storage... which is probably why we now have these plastic "safety" fuel jugs (I cannot call them a "can" by any means).

Think I need to get some of those NATO cans; thanks toyotadriver for the link.


I found this article very interesting about gas with Ethanol additives and fuel storage:
http://www.historicvehicle.org/Late...spx?_id=7B89DC52A2F546EDBD164627B55101B0&_z=z

one of the fuel additives tested was Stabil, which I use. "Eastwood Ethanol Fuel Protection and Fuel Stabilization formulas significantly increase E10 gasohol resistance to phase separation and decrease the probability that phase separation will occur in the fuel tank of stored vehicles. "

Part 2 of the article: http://www.historicvehicle.org/Late...ember-2011/2011/11/17/Fuel-Additives-FollowUp


Something else I read about old cars and current gas with Ethanol additives:
http://www.historicvehicle.org/Late...011/2011/09/22/Under-hood-ethanol-classic-car

I did find this website that lists gas stations which distribute Ethanol-fee gasoline:
http://pure-gas.org/
 

tez929rr

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Joined
Dec 26, 2005
Messages
3,759
Location
Welfare, TX
The link is blocked here at work but I bought four of those NATO cans from Cheaper Than Dirt for 100.00.
 

tlmartin84

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Joined
Apr 23, 2012
Messages
1,085
Location
West Virginia
This was dumb on my part.....but I will post anyhow.

The new plastic cans build up pressure and swell up like a balloon (you all know that).

Here is the thing, mine is all swelled up, I'm on my knees replacing twine in the weedeater, i just happen to set the jug in front of me so I could fill it up. I let the weedeater get away from me while putting the spool back on (shaft slipped out of my hand) usually would just hit the ground no big deal but this time the shaft hits the handle on the gas can and ****, I get a nice warm faceful of fumes. Burnt my eyes like a mofo....

So yeah I am always careful about that now.
 

cderalow

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Messages
1,326
Location
Potomac, MD
You guys need to ditch all of those POS plastic cans.

I use these guys. Never leak, never spill, always odor free, and made in the USA :beer:

572106.jpg



You can get actual commercial grade safety cans at Grainger and Mcmaster in all of the normal colors (Red, yellow, blue & green)
 

jam0o0

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Joined
Jul 14, 2009
Messages
244
Location
Katy, TX
The link is blocked here at work but I bought four of those NATO cans from Cheaper Than Dirt for 100.00.

they are now 45$ each plus shipping. they also say they have very limited supply. no more cheap cans exist.
 

graffix000

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 23, 2007
Messages
872
Location
Philly
I bought an eagle safety type 2 can with a flexible spout and it is the best thing ever. The stupid red cans with the auto shut off valves would spill no matter how careful you were filling up equipment.

No spills and a auto vent on the eagle can. A little pricey, but I'll pay for it and the ease of use. Well worth the initial investment.
 

Gonsenheimer

Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2012
Messages
19
Location
Mainz, Germany
Let's see how long it takes until these stupid gas cans reach Europe.
Steel cans for petrol, round like gas bottles that's really funny and surely their weight is higher than the petrol inside. Enjoy.
 
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toyotadriver

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Dec 30, 2010
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1,586
The link is blocked here at work but I bought four of those NATO cans from Cheaper Than Dirt for 100.00.



CTD had some chinese cans at one time that were ****. Not sure if they are still selling them or not because I haven't bought anything from CTD in awhile.
 

earthmover1980

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Joined
Oct 16, 2015
Messages
125
Location
South West Michigan
The new "safe" gas cans

This is government mandated to us. We are no longer competent to use a gas can. After all, it is a complex process! The California Air Research Board (CARB) came up with this ingenious idea. The sad thing is, we are paying our government workers big money to make these kinds of decisions. No person with common sense would design something so stupid. Who wants a gas can that spills everywhere, and pours slow? Not me. I feel the same way about the tier4 emissions control on all new diesels. Basic theory is burn more fuel to create less emissions. That also makes no sense, but since big brother says we have to, people buy these products. What a communist idea. The class action lawsuits, and ongoing highly cost prohibitive maintenance of these systems are Insanity. Give me black diesel smoke. Give me a gas can that is vented. After all we are "free" Right? Our country has gone to hell, and we are paying our government to take us all there.
 

vettex2

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Jul 30, 2012
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1,146
Location
Northern Ca.
I use a 16 ga. barrel with a rotary pump.
I can't remember the last time I used a can to put gas in a car.
That is why they have gauges right?
I just do dirt bikes and generators
 

Excelerater

Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2014
Messages
21
not exactly

This is government mandated to us. We are no longer competent to use a gas can. After all, it is a complex process! The California Air Research Board (CARB) came up with this ingenious idea. The sad thing is, we are paying our government workers big money to make these kinds of decisions. No person with common sense would design something so stupid. Who wants a gas can that spills everywhere, and pours slow? Not me. I feel the same way about the tier4 emissions control on all new diesels. Basic theory is burn more fuel to create less emissions. That also makes no sense, but since big brother says we have to, people buy these products. What a communist idea. The class action lawsuits, and ongoing highly cost prohibitive maintenance of these systems are Insanity. Give me black diesel smoke. Give me a gas can that is vented. After all we are "free" Right? Our country has gone to hell, and we are paying our government to take us all there.
The new jugs are easily modified to flow normally.
Sad ,the reason we have this newer horrible style with the lame vents is because Lawyers won the battle,a man who was smoking a cig while pouring gas burned to death..The warning labels on older cans were not visible enough they said . It put the can mfg out of biz who at the time was employing thousands of workers... go figure. Sorta like the old lady who spilled McDonalds coffee on herself and sued and won...I mean it was not labeled HOT
 

Jess

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Oct 22, 2006
Messages
430
Location
Vancouver Island, BC Canada
Make a vacation trip to Canada and bring back all the cans and accessories you want. Scepter provides cans for the US military. If its good enough for them, the rest of you should be good to go...
 

padroo

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Joined
Nov 25, 2011
Messages
564
Location
Chesterton, In.
Last year I went to amazon and bought ten of their gas can vents and installed them in all my goofy gas cans.
 

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mray312

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Aug 20, 2008
Messages
79
I hated the "safe" spout on my 5 gallon can. I was looking for an old school style flexible spout and couldn't find anything. Then I stumbled on a spout kit at Walmart. The manufacturer sells it as "water jug spout and vent kit." A few bucks later I had retro-fitted my gas can with flexible spout and vent. Works just like the old days. I threw the "safe" spout into the trash. Couldn't be happier.
 

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WWheeler

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Jun 23, 2015
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Middleofnowhere USA
No-Spill

CARB compliant and pours faster than your old vented style can.

Doesn't ever spill a drop because it stops flow automatically when the tank is full.

Best gas can ever.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7L4Umc_kUk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 

donpauli2

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Aug 6, 2013
Messages
91
Location
central Illinois
Just once I'd like to be able to blow myself up by using a non regulated gas can spout. Mine came with a coloring book and locations to the nearest safe room


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

jgorm

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 5, 2015
Messages
463
Location
San Diego
You can get nato gas cans on the internet that say not for fuel. They're awesome! Air tight seal, good spout with a built in internal vent, and metal.
 

like2wheel

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Joined
Oct 29, 2014
Messages
1,693
Location
On an as needed basis
No-Spill

CARB compliant and pours faster than your old vented style can.

Doesn't ever spill a drop because it stops flow automatically when the tank is full.

Best gas can ever.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7L4Umc_kUk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>




There was a gas can in that video?
 

bushmechanic

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Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
4,820
The CARB compliant cans leak, vent vapors, cause spills, and they break.

The cam-lock jerry cans that were made illegal never leaked, trapped vapors, never spilled, and lasted for... Well, some of the originals are still in service.

Wedco and Wavian jerry cans all the way, man. I've got a bunch of them. Just don't get the ones with those new CARB caps.

If it doesn't look like this, and isn't fully coated inside, it's just a waste of money. These things are worth their weight in gold.

wedco-nozzle-on-can.jpg


There are ways to get them still, but no telling how long that'll work. I've been stocking up since I found out they were going to be banned.
 
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ambenz

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Dec 12, 2010
Messages
4,236
Location
NW Chicago Suburbs
No-Spill

CARB compliant and pours faster than your old vented style can.

Doesn't ever spill a drop because it stops flow automatically when the tank is full.

Best gas can ever.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/O7L4Umc_kUk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is the one I bought ....works great!
 

CARNAC

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Nov 3, 2015
Messages
70
Location
Corpus Christi, TX
I could think of a way they could make this video more interesting and their product would probably sell like hotcakes.

If my garage was equipped with one of them, my wife would never get me out of there.
 

Steves32

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Joined
Feb 12, 2011
Messages
845
Doesn’t take a rocket scientist to gut the spout & make it work like a normal spout. Or just buy a spout for a 5 gal water jug & use that.
 

Ree75

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Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
75
Location
Lincolnville, KS
these things are f-ing ****. Had one of the "No Spill" 5 gallon cans where you have to twist and hold the base and then depress the tip. If you don't hold the base it goes back to the "locked/no pour" position. Well after putting gas in my car and trying to remove the nozzle, it came apart, dropping a piece(s) into the filler nozzle. Btw the can was relatively new only used once before. Give me the old cans with the vent cap anyday.
 
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