Jerry cans

[308Mike]

I picked up a metal Jerry can at a moving/garage sale for $5, but it's missing the lid/spout.

They are still available at various places. Did you get the cam lock (NATO) style, or the threaded US style?

Threaded US style. If they'd had more cans, I would have bought them too, but all they had was the one can.

[Netpackrat]

http://www.amazon.com/Blitz-12040-Metal ... B00004X14F

[308Mike]

THANKS!

[Rich Jordan]

The screw in Blitz spouts are still available in some hardware stores for $10 -$12; I picked up a couple at Ace and True Value within the last two weeks. They're also on Ebay sometimes for a little more.

There's a surplus seller who has clamp-in nozzles that are supposed to work on Blitz cans, NATO cans, _and_ the plastic MFCs. Reportedly even the Wedco NATO style cans still show up sporadically at those two chains as the remnants trickle out of the warehouses (not the ones around here though, darn it...); I don't see one on ebay right now though. I do NOT know how well they work on the various cans.

And just for fun; the most recent new Wedco can sale on ebay went for $175. Plus shipping. $200 total... dang. Who needs a stock market? Or gold or silver? Just buy banned gas cans cheap and sell them dearly...

[Netpackrat]

That's the same seller. I wonder how many of them they are sitting on? I should have ordered another 20 of them at least. It's the AK parts kit thing all over again; note to self, when the .gov is about to ban anything useful, buy all you can get. Could have quadrupled my money...

[Netpackrat]

The screw in Blitz spouts are still available in some hardware stores for $10 -$12; I picked up a couple at Ace and True Value within the last two weeks. They're also on Ebay sometimes for a little more.

Another thing to be aware of, is that while the new CARB compliant Blitz metal cans will still physically accept the old nozzles, they lack the internal vent tube needed to make them pour correctly with the non-CARB nozzles. I think it would be possible to modify them by installing a small diameter tube, using brazing or silver solder, etc. Obviously you'd only want to try this on a new can that has never had fuel in it. The metal cap for the CARB Blitz cans has also changed from the old style gasket, to a plain o-ring, so you would need to revert to the old gasket so the vent tube would be covered properly with the can capped. As a matter of fact, when I finish up the current work to the Jeep, I may come up with a process for doing just that, and document it on the web for people who wish to circumvent the new regs.

[Denis]

Grrr. Jerrycan nozzles.

The blessed things always seem to leak, and usually on my shoes, pants or both.

Over here, we have the NATO type, with the cam-locks, and they never seem to seal right. I have tried replacing the rubber gaskets with new gaskets, with thinner gaskets, with thicker gaskets, with two gaskets, with silicon mastic with and without gaskets.

Nothing works, they always leak when pouring.

If, by sheer good luck, I find a nozzle that doesn't leak, it will do so only with one particular can. Put it on any other can and it leaks like Foggy Bottom to the NYT. Of course, that means that I need one nozzle per can (I actually own more - enough to test to find the right one per can). If a can and its magic nozzle get separated (remember CDs and their covers...) the game starts all over again.

Grr... and don't even get me started on plastic fuelcans.

[Rich Jordan]

Denis,
I've used one German surplus and one Wedco NATO can, with one surplus heavy cast metal spout (with rubber hose) and the stamped steel Wedco spout so far; I haven't tried the clamp-in multipurpose ones I mentioned above. Both worked perfectly, no leaking, minimal glugging. I've got a couple of MFCs also with the proper spouts, but haven't tried them yet; being in a townhouse with attached garage my ability to store any amount of gas outside of the car tanks is extremely limited but I do want to do some more tests.

If you're using the stamped steel spouts perhaps you should look for one of the cast metal ones; around here CTD was selling them for a while for cheap (< $6) and they seem to work well. Two have a crown logo on them that looks like the one on my old Swedish Mauser (I don't know if that means they were Swedish though)

Right now I'm holding off doing anything with the two unused Wedco cans; if they keep selling for stupid prices on ebay they may just get sold.

NPR, my Blitz cans don't have vents (nor do the older spouts). Only the NATO and plastic MFCs do; I thought that was one of the issues you originally had with the Blitz style cans. I just looked at my older Blitz spout and there's definitely no venting capability outside of the glug-glug variety. And its definitely a few years old.

There's an entrepreneur now on ebay selling older vented spouts for plastic cans with 'custom' parts to make them work on the new CARB compliant plastic and Wedco cans; that might actually make the newer Wedco cans usable, if not up to the previous standards.

[Netpackrat]

The ones I bought are the WEDCO NATO style cans, but I haven't really used them enough yet to be able to render a good opinion on sealing or lack thereof. So far, I haven't detected even a hint of fumes coming from them when filled and capped.

NPR, my Blitz cans don't have vents (nor do the older spouts). Only the NATO and plastic MFCs do; I thought that was one of the issues you originally had with the Blitz style cans. I just looked at my older Blitz spout and there's definitely no venting capability outside of the glug-glug variety. And its definitely a few years old.

The pre-CARB metal Blitz cans do have a vent tube, but you are right, the spouts themselves are unvented. If you look closely at the sealing face on the can itself, there is a small hole that is positioned such that it is covered by the cap and gasket when the can is capped off, but the gasket on the spout is not big enough to cover (at least in theory, tighten too much and the gasket can pooch out and cover the vent). This vent hole in the can actually is the end of a tube (you can see this if you look closely enough), and the other end terminates inside the can. The only real problem I have with these cans is that getting a tight seal with the cap or nozzle can be a pain in the neck without using a massive pliers, which you then need to carry with you. It is also more difficult to get a good seal on a flat gasket that has to be twisted to tighten. The vent tube itself is pretty small and prone to clogging, and the rolled seams are not as leak resistant as the welded seams on the NATO cans. The NATO cans seem to address these issues, so that is what I went with when I bought a bunch. The BLITZ cans that I have are going to be relegated to emergency fuel storage out at the cabin. That's still an important use because AlaskaTRX and I have needed to use that fuel supply before in order to get home, and it needs to be kept in metal cans because the bears have already gotten ahold of and destroyed two plastic fuel cans.

There's an entrepreneur now on ebay selling older vented spouts for plastic cans with 'custom' parts to make them work on the new CARB compliant plastic and Wedco cans; that might actually make the newer Wedco cans usable, if not up to the previous standards.

I saw those, and they are probably a reasonable option if you are stuck with the plastic cans. Part of the reason I bought the Wedco metal cans was so I could discontinue my use of plastic cans in general. After the incident in 2008 where the nozzle popped off of one completely when I was fueling my Jeep (gasoline splashed everywhere, including into one of my eyes), I don't really have any confidence in the plastic cans, and I have no desire to repeat that event. I was just lucky I was here in town, using up some stored fuel (we had cancelled a cabin trip due to bad weather), rather than out in the middle of BFE with no access to the ER to get my eye flushed out properly.

[Rich Jordan]

I've only got one Blitz (supposedly pre-ban by date, mis-spoke earlier with the plural); I never noticed the vent but I'll take a look. The surplus and Wedco cans I tested were filled with gas (the ethanol adulterated crap that we're forced to use here) and left in the garage for several weeks, absolutely no signs or smells of leakage or venting. One did spray a little when I opened it (it was filled and sealed at a temp about 30 degrees colder than when I opened it). But I won't do any more testing in the garage; too much like tempting fate.

I did notice that the Blitz spouts I picked up recently have a seal with a smaller outer diameter than I remember from years ago (I used one of the seals on my Challenger; perfect size to fit the fuel tank sender). But I don't have the old can or spout any more; lost when I moved to Ill Annoy.

I no longer have any commercial plastic gas cans (just one Scepter plastic kerosene for the Aladdins and lanterns, but I may switch that to one of the surplus cans). Given the option to use a pre-CARB plastic spout on a current CARB Wedco that the Ebay source provides I may point that option out to other folks still in need; they'd have the same seal issues as the Blitz cans (twisting gasket against metal lip, instead of straight compression like the NATO or MFC cans) but being able to store the spout inside the can could be handy. The pre-ban Wedco spout clips that hold the NATO spout to the can aren't very solid. Of course who knows what new horrible additives await courtesy of the EPA that might digest the spout while its in the can...

No bears here Just bureaucrats...