Oil & Fuel Tell diesel and gas apart ?

   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #1  

bcarwell

Gold Member
Joined
May 24, 2006
Messages
269
Location
Austin, Texas
Tractor
Kabota 7500DT
Doofus question: I filled two gas cans one with diesel and one with gas, and now I can't remember which is which.

Could somebody please tell this idiot a few easy very reliable ways to test which is which ? I couldn't see much color difference. And somebody said the gas smell would persist and be more pungent but maybe my smeller isn't as sensitive as it used to be...

Thanks.

Bob
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #2  
Smell test for sure.

If that fails you, dip a papertowel into each jug. then lay it out in the sun.. the gas will evap pretty quickly.. the fuel oil one will be there for quite a while...

The darwin way would be to hold a flame over each containers mouth.. whichever one blows up is the gas filled can. ( warning :humor.. don't do this! )


Soundguy
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #3  
The smells are quite distinctive, but some people have dulled or limited sense of smell.

Pour a little of each into two baby food jars. The diesel will be thicker and oily. The gasoline will be as thin as water and will evaporate much, much quicker than the diesel.

If all else fails, light a match. If it burns, its diesel. If it explodes, it was gasoline. :eek:
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #4  
Soundguy -- two great minds travelling on the same path. ;)
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #5  
Dang.. that's scarry.. exact same replies.. just worded a bit differently! each of the 3 points represented the same..

Soundguy
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #6  
The stuff in the RED jug is gas and the stuff in the YELLOW jug is diesel.

(Sorry - couldn't resist! After all, sound and jeff already gave the perfect answers, the only thing left was humor.)

jb
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ?
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thanks guys. Enjoyed the advice <and> the humor. Indeed I am using the diesel for burning and adding to my tractor and obviously didn't want to mix up the two for both reasons but especially the first (!). And I guess if all else fails, I'll get another can of gas and compare.

Sorry for the stupid question. I actually got a red, yellow, and blue can (actually have multiples of each) and I just knew one of these days in a hurry I'd mix them up and forget and never get around to marking them. Lesson learned.

Thanks again,

Bob
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #8  
Further to Soundguy's paper towel test -

Take the towels outside and away from anything you value - actually I'd do it in the barn just way away from the fuel cans - but you can't be too careful. Light said match. The gas soaked towel will literally explode. The diesel soaked will light, maybe, and then burn rather like my 9 year old pursues her chores, only with much more black smoke. When I use diesel to light off our burn piles I often have to use a gas pilot (teaspoon of gas) to get the diesel started.

The volatility difference is extreme and why we use diesel (60 deg Flash, or higher) on ships.

I guess I'm lucky, I can still tell the difference between gas, diesel and pre-mix by smell.
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #9  
I always liked the display the fire dept did.. when i was younger.. they took shallow pans of diesel and gas. a match trhown into a pan of diesel fizzled and went out.. the one thrown inthe pan of gas made a crater...

Soundguy
 
   / Tell diesel and gas apart ? #10  
Soundguy said:
Smell test for sure.

If that fails you, dip a papertowel into each jug. then lay it out in the sun.. the gas will evap pretty quickly.. the fuel oil one will be there for quite a while...

The darwin way would be to hold a flame over each containers mouth.. whichever one blows up is the gas filled can. ( warning :humor.. don't do this! )


Soundguy
;)
anybody knows the stuff in the red can is gas and the stuff in the yellow can is diesel.

Why ya think the cans are different collors.
 
 
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