Steel gas cans

[Dave Lehnert]

I noticed Lowe's sells a steel gas can. I thought metal gas cans were outlawed years ago because of the risk of a spark from static electricity??? Obliviously not, but ask anyway.



http://eagle-mfg.com/products/safetycans/images/UI50S_UI20FS.jpg

[Andy Haney]

Due to somewhat recent safety rulings, we (public agency) had to eliminate all of our plastic fuel cans and replace them with metal cans such as you illustrated.

Andy Haney

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, actually the metal gas cans are safer because they're electrically conductive.

This means that any stored charge can be removed by attaching a ground wire, or sitting them on a grounded conductive surface..........Regards, Rod.

[Ole Anderson]

Filling a plastic gas can sitting in a plastic bed liner is a fire waiting to happen. Saw a video on the tube once of a gas station surveillance camera catching such a fire. Interesting thing is a bystander knew of the danger, but was too late. He did manage to put the guy out. I have one of those 25 gallon plastic "Gas Docks" that I fill while in the back of my van. I hold my hand on the plastic and kick off a sandal to get a bare foot on the concrete, so I can dissipate any static charge as it tries to build up. A full Gas Dock is too awkward to get back in the van while full.

Sometime while you are at the pump, take time to read the safety warnings about filling your vehicle and your cans.

[Marty Paulus]

I have a wide variety of gas cans floating around the boat house. The newest of them being about 3 or 4 years old and others going back 30+ years. One thing I have noticed is that I still grab the old metal cans first to put gas in the boat. The reason is the older cans have vents with caps on them on the top of the can. The newer plastic ones have a tube in the spout that is supposed to allow air back in the can. However it sure seems to take longer to dump those cans then the ones with vent on the top. The can will actually collapse before the vent tube starts to work. I occasionally look at cans in the stores and can't seem to find cans with the vent on the top anymore.

[Matt Meiser]

No vents because they don't want the vapor getting into the atmosphere. Of course the newest cans seal so good that if you use them in the heat they'll collapse to about 3/4 size in the middle of the winter, meaning you have to run them under hot water to expand the vapor and expand them back out, then open them to let the vapor out anyway.

I have one diesel can that is ventless but allows air in that works well that is made by Blitz. The newer ones have a different spout though that doesn't work (at least my newer small gas can doesn't. I keep watching for used cans at flea markets but haven't found one yet.

I wonder if vapor is part of the reason for going back to metal cans? Plastics can actually be permeable to gas vapors. If you were to cut open a plastic car gas tank you'd see several different layers of plastic to get the required strength and seal in the vapors. The strong plastics are permeable and the non-permeable ones are weak. Gas cans don't seem to be made much different than a thick milk jug.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

My newer plastic gas cans look like they are about to explode because it becomes so hot during the day and they cannot vent.....

[Chris Damm]

I was at a gas station where a guy at another pump was filling 5 or 6 5 gallon plastic cans in his minivan. He didn't bother to take them out to fill. He was pushing one back in on the carpet while filling another and the whole thing went up like a Roman Candle. Luckily his family had just exited the van and he was blown back about 20 feet with only minor injuries. It blew out all the windows in the van, melted the pumps and destroyed the station sign that was 10' away! It only lasted about 10 minutes and the van was completely destoyed. The fire department was only a block away so their response was real quick.
I always place a gas can on the ground to fill!

[Bryan Morgan]

Oh man they look like they have proper pouring spouts too! What I couldn't give for a proper spout... in CA we are only "allowed" to have gas cans with spring loaded contraptions that just spin fuel all over the place. I might have to smuggle some of those cans in.