More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Gas Cans

Blakeblog ^ | 10-9-2012 | Blake Sobiloff

[TurboZamboni]

The lowly gas can. A staple in almost every garage in America, storing a little bit of gasoline for the lawn mower, weed whacker, snow blower, and chain saw. Unchanged for nearly 50 years.

Until now.

Thanks CARB and EPA.

Back in 2008 the California Air Resources Board had stomped out all the major sources of air pollution in California, so they turned their Sauron-like gaze upon the evil, fume-spewing, toxin-dripping gas can as the next target of their regulatory empire. They mandated new containers and spouts that would eliminate those noxious off-gasses that contribute to smog in the valleys, and also prevent any possibility of spilling gas onto the ground. Of course, we all know what happens when bureaucrats design a new device, right?

Yep, that's right. The new gas cans with CARB-compliant spouts require three hands (at a minimum) to operate, inevitably cause the user to spill far more gasoline with each refuel of a lawn mower than he managed to spill over the previous decade in total, and flows with the velocity of a mouse with a bad prostate. So, ingenious Californians that we are, we've resorted to throwing the useless spouts away and simply pouring the gasoline from the container into a funnel, thereby eliminating all spillage and at the same time releasing approximately ten times the amount of aromatic fumes as before CARB got involved in the man-machine relationship.

Thus having proven the wisdom of bureaucrat-designed gas cans, the Federal government then decided that they should adopt CARB's brilliant dictates and apply them across this fruited plain.

[Dr. Sivana]

Unchanged for nearly 50 years.

Actually, I have been using a new design in the Great Lakes region for almost ten years. Blitz made a can with no second hole and a thumb push button that works really well . . . No unscrewing the cap.

I don't know if tht's part of a mandate, and a mandate s stupid anyway, but the Blitz design was a good one. Blitz, I understand went out of business a while ago.

[cableguymn]

yup.. I haul a lot of fuel for my boat.. (my back can’t handle the weight of a full 20 gallon tank any more) so I have become a hoarder of pre-2008 gas cans.. yard sales, thrift shops, the side of the road..

I grab them all..

I had a few EPA cans. first thing I did was drill out the valves and punch vent holes in them.

15 minutes to drop 5 gallons of gas in to a 20 gallon tank? hell no.

[Senator_Blutarski]

This is one of my pet peeves. I just remove the moving parts and guts of the new spouts and use a cork from the hardware store as a cap.

Meanwhile, I look for older gas cans at garage sales.

[Fido969]

I hate those &^%&*% cans. The stupid Rube Goldberg spouts make me spill gas all over the place.

[TurboZamboni]

GAD’s Ramblings » One Man’s Quest for Gas Cans that Don’t Suck

http://www.gad.net/Blog/2012/11/22/one-mans-quest-for-gas-cans-that-dont-suck/comment-page-1/

If it ain’t broke, gubmint hasn’t “fixed” it yet.

[jimpick]

Yeh and then I had to spend 3 hours fishing the spout parts out of the tank. Great design. Love spending 15 minutes dumping 5 gallons into the tractor.

[jjotto]

The newest gas cans I’ve used have some kind of weird no-spill valve in the spout. I just take off the whole spout assembly and use a funnel.

[cableguymn]

Blitz was sued out of existence because their cans contained something flammable and someone caught fire being stupid. (dumping gas on a fire if I recall).

http://www.facesoflawsuitabuse.org/2012/12/the-last-week-how-lawsuits-doomed-an-american-icon/

I’m not saying it was lawyers... but it was lawyers that killed them.

[stevio]

I totally agree with you. Although I have yet to drill anything out, I curse the regulators who have created this situation.

[MountainDad]

Yep.
Me too. Lol.

[Lurkina.n.Learnin]

And if the cans don’t spill enough gas how much gets dumped on the ground because it goes bad so quickly? CARB should be jailed.

[headstamp 2]

Excellent cans though not cheap.

http://www.nospill.com/

I still have my old “Cott’s” with the vent holes though.

Add a vent hole like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6WZ9FrXPiE

[dasboot]

http://www.ruralking.com/ez-pour-replacement-spout-kit-10050.html?utm_medium=cse&utm_source=google&CAWELAID=1624225046&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=520009190000031013&cadevice=c&gclid=CN64-eyVnsACFQxp7AodFXUAkw

[anton]

CARB Compliant = Piece of Crap.

[yarddog]

I haven’t seen a “Jerry Can” in years. I simply use the cheap plastic ones and they work just fine.

I do make it a point of not keeping them in the house tho.

[Pollster1]

I have never seen a real person use one of those environmentally friendly spouts. Like every other person who does real work, I throw the useless spout on the ground and either pour into a funnel or just from can to tank. It spills more than the old cans did, but it’s FAR better than using the new spouts.

[headstamp 2]

Easy pour kit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSXvNgW6OEY

[SkyDancer]

The EPA forced Blitz out of business.

[cableguymn]

http://ezpourspout.com/wp/

my local hardware stores sell them.. while they can’t say it, and I shouldn’t.. they work on post 2009 cans too.