The safety spout gas cans now mandated by federal rules are almost impossible to use, break easily and require drilling a vent hole in the container and then cleaning it out before first use.

In these days when it seems every keyboard warrior is furious about something, I hate to add to the din.

But, gas cans . . . .

All boaters (and anyone who runs a lawnmower, ATV, trail bike, etc) have occasional or maybe frequent need for a small can full of gasoline. 

And I’m not about to belittle the dangers of gas in small containers, having once had my eyebrows singed by vapors touching off where I thought there was no trace of escaped fuel. It gets your attention, to say the least.

But the “safe” composite gas containers that are now the only cans you can buy at Wal-Mart and other big box stores are the worst invention since the ceramic skinning knife.

Replacement spout kits are now widely available and just about everybody is buying them because the safety spouts make gas cans pretty much unusable.

In an effort to prevent vapor ignition and spills, the federal government in 2009 mandated that gas can spouts have self-locking fuel-tight closures on them. Sounds like a good idea, right—who hasn’t seen a fuel can knocked over in the back of a pickup or on a boat dock? The devices also prevent gasoline vapors from getting out of the can.

But the closures, in order to be fuel-tight, have to powerfully resist opening, which means it’s very difficult to use them for the purpose of putting fuel into most anything. When you are trying to hold up a 5-gallon can of gas—weight around 30 pounds plus the can—and you have to take one hand completely away from supporting the can to manipulate the “spigot” that allows the fuel to flow—the process becomes a real challenge.

Not only that, but if you fail to install the vent provided—but not pre-installed--with the can, the fuel won’t flow at all after the first few “glugs”. 

Before first use, you have to drill a hole in the can, snap in the vent, and then very carefully flush out the can repeatedly with water because plastic filings fall inside when you drill, and these will stop a small engine like a chain saw or lawn mower cold.

But now you have droplets of water inside your gas can. If you don’t blow them out or wait for them to dry completely before adding gasoline, the water will get into your engine’s fuel system and cause lots more problems.

The replacement kits allow the gas can to actually be used to add gas to vehicles, boats, lawnmowers and anything that runs on gasoline.

Thus, rigging the gas can you bought so it is actually usable is a process—you can’t just buy it and fill it up at the nearest station, and then go start your outboard or mower or whatever.

In fact, the whole process is so annoying that a pirate industry has sprung up selling plain old fuel can spouts. They cost about as much as the new, improved and very safe fuel cans that nobody can use.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist but it does occur to me that if Washington is trying to destroy the oil business, this would be one more step in the right direction. The last chain saw, yard blower and weed trimmer I bought were lithium-ion powered because I hate these gas cans so much. 

Now all I have to worry about is all those touchy batteries starting a fire in my garage while I’m sleeping.  

— Frank Sargeant
Frankmako1@gmail.com