Gov't mandates gas can flame arrestors.

[tom3]

If the insurance company ever gets into my garage I'm in big trouble anyway. My gas cans sit in a corner and I fill up out in the yard always.

 

[ultrarunner]

Yes… one of my friends shopping for homeowners asked if he has welding tanks?

The odd thing is Oxygen ok if medical but oxygen and acetylene not ok?

 

[arto98607]

tom3

Sure no problem, each to his own.

Fumes escaping from gasoline storage is probably the biggest danger in a shop.
The higher the shop temperature the worse it gets.

 

[two_bit_score]

Fumes escaping from gasoline storage is probably the biggest danger in a shop.
The higher the shop temperature the worse it gets.

Good reminder for a lot of us.

 

[mx842]

When the EPA screwed up something as simple as a gasoline jug several years ago, that proved once and for all that those idiots can ruin and will ruin everything eventually.

Now my jugs swell up like a blowfish in the summer sun because there is no vent. It's sketchy as h***. Makes me think it's just a matter of time until the jug ruptures and fuel goes everywhere. Yeah, that's great for the environment. Not to mention personal safety.

And I've seen 20 different takes on contraptions used for the pour spouts on these new cans, and 99% of them don't work or require an engineering degree to figure out. Sigh...

Society today isn't progressive. It's regressive.

It's funny you mentioned the blow fish effect. In my 30+ years as a boat engine mechanics I've see a lot of crazy stuff. My favorite is the guy that leaves the vent on top of the fill cap closed when he's not using the boat. One day when it was about 95 the boat was outside sitting in the sun. I was working on a boat pretty close to where his was sitting and I looked over that way and was wondering why the hatch had been left open where the fuel tank was. I thought the yard boy had left it open while he was cleaning some grease off the carpet where he dropped the grease gun my mistake. I yelled over to him and told him to close that hatch, a thunderstorm is coming. He said I tried to, but it is stuck and wont close. I told him well find out why it's stuck. He went back over there and stood there for like 10 minutes, I guess trying to find the problem. I finished up what I was doing and walked over there and asked what the heck is going on. He said, I don't know that red thing there is blocking it open. That red thing was the plastic fuel tanks that were stored in that compartment. They had gotten so hot they were about twice the size as they normally was. They had filled up all of the space in the compartment and when there was no more space they expanded out the top of the hatch almost 6". It looked like someone had made it that way. I told the kid, good work, you diagnosed that problem correctly you might get a raise for that, That is, if we all don't get blown up first. I couldn't even get to the vent screws to relieve the pressure so we tried spraying them off with a water hose but that did nothing so I had him take it way back in the rear yard away from everything else and leave it hoping that everything would cool down once the storm hit. It was still like it was when we left for the day. The next morning they had gone down a little but not enough to get to the vents. We left it like that for 3 days and they went down a little each day but still couldn't get to the vents. on the 4th day the customer was raising hell because he wanted to go fishing, All the time, I was trying to explain why we couldn't let it go out with the fuel tanks this way. Of-course he hit me with the old, Well, it was perfectly ok until you messed with it thing. He finally came in to have a look see and when he got there I took him out back to show him what the problem was. All he would say was, well, it won't like that when he brought it in. I told him, well, it is like that now and it's not much we can do about it until we can get the pressure down. He was still raising heck, yelling what if it blows up? I shouldn't have but I couldn't help but blurt out, that's what insurance companies are for. He didn't like that much and started off with well, there are lawyers out there too. I asked him just how bad you want things go back to normal, and before he could say anything I yelled at the yard boy, take this back around front and park it next to the hydrant. While he was doing that I went inside and picked up my Dewalt battery drill and a 1/4" bit and told them to get back. I turned the water on and sprayed it on the tank and hit the first one with the drill bit and there was this big swishing sound then all the pressure was off. I did the same thing with the other tank and told him you can come over now. I told him I might be able to get the tanks out now, but you are going to need two new fuel tanks. Even after pumping all the fuel out, they would not come out of the compartment. I had to half fill them with water and cut them in half before They would fit through the hatch opening. He wasn't happy so I told him I had a couple used tanks out back that I would donate. He wanted me to give him new tanks I just told him you are in the same shape as you were when you came in. You had used tanks when you came in and you will have used tanks when you leave and that's the best I could do. I also told him that from now on it might be a good idea to leave the vents slightly open when it's sitting. A week or two later he came back in and told me that wasn't the first time that had happened, maybe not to that extreme but after he thought about it he felt he needed to come back and apologize. He was a regular customer after that.

 

[lilranch2001]

It's funny you mentioned the blow fish effect. In my 30+ years as a boat engine mechanics I've see a lot of crazy stuff. My favorite is the guy that leaves the vent on top of the fill cap closed when he's not using the boat. One day when it was about 95 the boat was outside sitting in the sun. I was working on a boat pretty close to where his was sitting and I looked over that way and was wondering why the hatch had been left open where the fuel tank was. I thought the yard boy had left it open while he was cleaning some grease off the carpet where he dropped the grease gun my mistake. I yelled over to him and told him to close that hatch, a thunderstorm is coming. He said I tried to, but it is stuck and wont close. I told him well find out why it's stuck. He went back over there and stood there for like 10 minutes, I guess trying to find the problem. I finished up what I was doing and walked over there and asked what the heck is going on. He said, I don't know that red thing there is blocking it open. That red thing was the plastic fuel tanks that were stored in that compartment. They had gotten so hot they were about twice the size as they normally was. They had filled up all of the space in the compartment and when there was no more space they expanded out the top of the hatch almost 6". It looked like someone had made it that way. I told the kid, good work, you diagnosed that problem correctly you might get a raise for that, That is, if we all don't get blown up first. I couldn't even get to the vent screws to relieve the pressure so we tried spraying them off with a water hose but that did nothing so I had him take it way back in the rear yard away from everything else and leave it hoping that everything would cool down once the storm hit. It was still like it was when we left for the day. The next morning they had gone down a little but not enough to get to the vents. We left it like that for 3 days and they went down a little each day but still couldn't get to the vents. on the 4th day the customer was raising hell because he wanted to go fishing, All the time, I was trying to explain why we couldn't let it go out with the fuel tanks this way. Of-course he hit me with the old, Well, it was perfectly ok until you messed with it thing. He finally came in to have a look see and when he got there I took him out back to show him what the problem was. All he would say was, well, it won't like that when he brought it in. I told him, well, it is like that now and it's not much we can do about it until we can get the pressure down. He was still raising heck, yelling what if it blows up? I shouldn't have but I couldn't help but blurt out, that's what insurance companies are for. He didn't like that much and started off with well, there are lawyers out there too. I asked him just how bad you want things go back to normal, and before he could say anything I yelled at the yard boy, take this back around front and park it next to the hydrant. While he was doing that I went inside and picked up my Dewalt battery drill and a 1/4" bit and told them to get back. I turned the water on and sprayed it on the tank and hit the first one with the drill bit and there was this big swishing sound then all the pressure was off. I did the same thing with the other tank and told him you can come over now. I told him I might be able to get the tanks out now, but you are going to need two new fuel tanks. Even after pumping all the fuel out, they would not come out of the compartment. I had to half fill them with water and cut them in half before They would fit through the hatch opening. He wasn't happy so I told him I had a couple used tanks out back that I would donate. He wanted me to give him new tanks I just told him you are in the same shape as you were when you came in. You had used tanks when you came in and you will have used tanks when you leave and that's the best I could do. I also told him that from now on it might be a good idea to leave the vents slightly open when it's sitting. A week or two later he came back in and told me that wasn't the first time that had happened, maybe not to that extreme but after he thought about it he felt he needed to come back and apologize. He was a regular customer after that.

Most of the time someone is a dlck at the start of a story, they are still a dlck long after….

Lucky for you this guy learned a lesson!

 

[mx842]

I have an awesomely funny story that involves a 5th of Canadian Club, a sketchy old wooden ladder, a chainsaw, and pouring gas on a smoldering burnpile, but I wouldn't want to be responsible for encouraging that kind of behavior in anyone else so I'll let everyone just use their imagination. My children are still laughing at me 15 years later...

Well at least you are still here to get laughed at. Just saying............

 

[mx842]

Why I use Eagle metal flip top gas and diesel cans. No spout at all and the do have the arrestor screen inside that don't impact the flow at all. Not cheap however unlike the poly cans. As with anything today, you get what you pay for.

I don't know maybe I got a bad batch. I timed it one day; it took 7 minutes and 42 seconds to fill one of those at the gas station. The sad part of it is that you cannot get 5 gals in one of then, about 4.5 gals is about it. Trying to get fuel out of one is a real pain especially when I'm fueling my Kubota. Mostly it's a pain because you have to stand on the front tire, and you are in an un-balanced position to begin with. I finally found a big metal funnel that is strong enough to hold some of the weight, but fuel will still slouch out because it doesn't flow out in a straight stream it comes out in spurts especially when the can is full. Witch by the way is the time when the can is the heaviest and hard to hold on to. The last couple gals come out fairly easy but by then you have fuel running off the hood and down your leg.
They came with these plastic funnels that attaches to the spout, but they are not any help at all because they can't hold any weight at all and will flip around and at that point fuel is flying everywhere. Maybe if you are standing on flat ground and everything is perfect you could maybe fill something up without losing much.
I already had 5 of them in the shed that I wouldn't use because they were so hard to deal with. I ain't seen that slick talking son of a gun that sold me those things since.

 

[5030]

I don't have that issue as both my M9's have 35 gallon twin saddle tanks and the fuel fillers are down low and easy to fill, not that I fill them from cans often, I usually fill from the 500 gallon bulk tank next to the barn. I not so fondly remember my smaller Kubby's with the filler up top, very messy until I bought one of those Harbor Freight battery operated transfer pumps and then it was easy other than sitting the full fuel can on the hood which I always put a sheet of cardboard under it so as not to scratch the paint. Still use it actually for a top up in the field if I'm running low. I run Li-Ion rechargeable batteries in it as it tends to eat 'D' cells pretty quick so I have 4 pairs, 2 in the charger and 2 in the pump at all times. I also use it to fill the gas lawnmowers and the side by side with gas as well. Nice pump and cheap too. Under 10 bucks with a coupon.

 

[mx842]

I don't have that issue as both my M9's have 35 gallon twin saddle tanks and the fuel fillers are down low and easy to fill, not that I fill them from cans often, I usually fill from the 500 gallon bulk tank next to the barn. I not so fondly remember my smaller Kubby's with the filler up top, very messy until I bought one of those Harbor Freight battery operated transfer pumps and then it was easy other than sitting the full fuel can on the hood which I always put a sheet of cardboard under it so as not to scratch the paint. Still use it actually for a top up in the field if I'm running low. I run Li-Ion rechargeable batteries in it as it tends to eat 'D' cells pretty quick so I have 4 pairs, 2 in the charger and 2 in the pump at all times. I also use it to fill the gas lawnmowers and the side by side with gas as well. Nice pump and cheap too. Under 10 bucks with a coupon.

Yeah I've been thinking about buying a 125 gal fuel tank with a DC powered fuel pump. I bid on one at an auction last week but when it got up to $900.00 I let the other guy have it. I can buy the same tank and pump new for around $1400.00. I just haven't had that much extra cash to spend on one right now.