OT-gas cans- favorites?

Avoid having to buy a gas can in California. Our state bureaucrats have decided that too many fumes were leaking when a standard gas can was used, so they designed a nozzle system that spills more gas outside the vehicle than gets into the tank and it takes forever to empty the can.

I believe if you read the fine print, it is forbidden to use the new spouts to fuel on-road vehicles. They are for fueling small, off-road devices only. (I guess you just aren't supposed to ever run your car out of gas...)

I have one of the new CARB-legal spouts. The sliding part that is suposed to snap closed when you lift it from your filler neck worked for about a week, but is now almost impossible to move. I suspect the mandated MTBE in our gas has caused the plastic to swell up and stick.

So, you point the spout straight down into the opening, force it open, the fuel sprays out all around the end in a circle, and you have to try to lift it up and out and tip it down to stop the flow when the automatic valve fails - what a mess!

And they made it impossible to buy replacement rubber gaskets for existing "Jerry" cans in California. For want of a $0.99 gasket we are supposed to trash a perfectly good $30 metal can? (You can still order gaskets from out-of-state, but shipping and handling swamps the actual price.)

Finally, everyone sells the new plastic replacement "CARB" spouts, but the simple adapter from old 2" pipe thread to new plastic spout is unobtainium (except with a new steel can). If the new shutoff spout worked, I wouldn't mind converting mine, but you just can't buy the simple one-piece adapter.

(Sorry!)

Loren

For what purpose? Off-roading, lawnmower/chainsaw/leafblower, long term storage for a generator or what? I like the plastic ones that run about 2 gallons that the chain auto parts joints sell for lawn tools and the like, they're light, don't rust, don't tip over in a vehicle and you can readily see how much you have in the container. Blitz is the brand of the ones I have. Downside is that they bloat like a dead dog in the heat of summer, metal cans will do that, too, but not as badly.

Unless it's for playing Rat Patrol with jeeps, I don't have a lot of use for the old jerry can. Biggest problem with those is that they rust and gas always has a little water in it. I once drained a plastic container in sub-freezing weather and had a slug of ice in the bottom about the size of a silver dollar.

Blitz also had a 5 gallon version, it's got a handle in the side for easier pouring. Not as stable when moving it around in a vehicle, though.

Stan