Transporting 20 gallons of gas in your trunk and storing in your back yard in the open air question

And don't forget the possibility of the curious (or destructive) teen who comes upon these cans and decided to light a match to see what happens.

I would just keep it out of any direct sun, not store it for months as some volitile components will escape through plastic, degrading the gas, yes it airtight but not 100% impermiable and be sure you have no enemies.

And I did not think of static electricity. Actually, many years ago I was cleaning something on my engine with a rag soaked with gas. The engine was running (yea, I know that was stupid). One of my plug wires had a crack or hole in the insulation. I got a nasty shock and at the same time that rag burst into flames from the spark. Since I was barehanded, my hand were on fire and my shirt caught too. Luckily I tossed the rag on to the concrete driveway and did a drop and roll on the lawn which made out the shirt fire. Then the nearby garden hose took care of the burning rag. My hands stopped burning as soon as I tossed the rag. In the end, my hands were mildly burned, my shirt was trash, and a couple of the smaller 12v wires on my engine were a little melted. It could have been much worse. I learned a big lesson and I also replaced those crappy plug wires the same time I taped up the melted wires.

These days if I clean anything with gas, the engine is turned off and battery cable disocnnected. (assuming the part is attached to the engine).

On transportation - How else is the gas going to get from where it is to where it needs to be? Perhaps it could miracle itself?

amen. tell him to myob

Ed Pawlowski wrote: ...

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So you can't take gas home to mow the yard if you have only a SUV or other trunk-less vehicle in MA...

Nanny has struck again.

Bill Murphy wrote: ...

While specifics vary as Ed posted, generally sotoo 20 gal is legal in DOT-rated transport containers. It's a relatively low hazard but like anything else, "stuff happens" and in high traffic areas or other reasons for higher than normal accident probabilities one should be duly aware.

OTOH, for farm use I keep a 150 gal diesel and 40 gal gasoline transport tank in the pickup as we have done for 50 yrs or so. Compared to the

As for the original question on storage, I'd try to make a shaded location for the storage if you have no shed to minimize the chances of lifting the safety relief on a hot day of a full can but other than that I'd have no particular concern, either.

== Bullshit...the neighbor has legitimate concerns. 20 gallons of gasoline in jerry cans stored in a trunk of a car is NOT safe. If stored in a locked garden shed isolated from all buildings or fences it would be much safer but not ideal. Residential areas are not designed for the storage of volatile liquids especially in the quantities mentioned. I would not store more than 2 gallons at the most...this would be adequate for lawnmower and weedeater usage. People who do what THEY want and disregard OTHERS are just selfish jerks. I have lived next to these kinds of people in the past and believe me, it is no picnic. ==

You can transport gas, but only 5 gallons at a time, and only in an open bed or enclosed trunk.

Of course, unless you load up ten 5-gallon jugs with gas and stack them in the back of the minivan with the kids, in front of a cop, nobody will be any the wiser.

Unless you ADVERTISE that you're doing something illegal, nobody is going to know you're doing something illegal...

Yeah, let's stack a dozen gas cans along the fence where the nosy neighbor will see them and blow the whistle on you.... That's called being a MORON.

Too bad common sense isn't common anymore.

One or two gallons of gas is all I keep on hand for my lawn mower.I keep that gas in my outdoors storage shed along with my lawn mower and some other odds and ends. cuhulin

You make a good point. Tell the neighbor that it's pre-mixed fertilizer.

My gas mowers, edger's, generator, and so on probably hold more than

Bill Murphy wrote in news:i25fcg$vjv$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:

Do they have vent holes and/or pour spouts? If so, take the spouts out and loosen take off the vent cap. I had a gas can (1 gallon for the mower) that I didn't do that when I got gas at the beginning of the year. Once it warmed up, the vapour pressure forced the gas out the top even though it was tightly sealed. There was a gasoline smell for two days and it could easily have lit from open flame. If your neighbour had smelled that.. Well who wants the fire dept. and city on their tail?

BTW I live in Ontario on the other side of the border. Far farther north than you, so less heat and different laws. We have red plastic cans here.

Absolutely. AFA the neighbor and I know, these could blow up and send shrapnel all over his yard. If that's possible, the OP should know it too, and if it's not, the OP shoould be able to relay this info to the neighbor. He'd be a fool not to raise the subject.

But those are are all little, separate tanks, vented gas tanks. If one goes, it won't take the others with it (except in action movies).

Just how smart is this neighbor? Free gas and you ought to put a case of beer with it.

Yes it is dangerous to keep that much gasoline stored in your backyard... Especially in gas cans... You never know what is going to happen to it, rather than it falling prey to some sort of spontaneous combustion, it is more likely that it will get spilled by someone creating a hazardous materials incident, or that it will be stolen, tampered with by someone adding something which will hurt your engines to it, or it could be set on fire as an act of arson/vandalism... You would be liable for leaving this gasoline out as at "attractive nuisance" if someone were to spill it or make use of it for arson...

If you want to store and haul more than 20 gallons of fuel at a time -- here is a question: I assume that you have some sort of a pick up truck to haul around your bikes and off-road vehicles... Yes ?

Purchase a "fuel transfer tank" for the bed of your pick-up truck... Like one of these:

That is the best way to go... Rather than having a collection of gasoline containers just hanging around in your yard...

~~ Evan

These are the new Blitz enviroflow cans. I don't think they have a safety release.

I guess they must, but they've been tested to not leak one bit subject to the hottest temperatures possible out in the sun for a year and they didn't lose an ounce (they measure gas loss by weight, not volume since it expands so much).

I always fill to the fill line and no more so I think there is no release (which I know is contrarian thinking) engineered into these cans.

I guess if someone artificially heats them to something over 200 degrees, they might have a release, but as far as I know, the tests show they hold their gas (the problem is getting it out, not keeping it in).

But how do you get the clandestine 5 five gallon gas cans into the trunk at the gas station without anyone seeing you?

They are certified EPA spillproof leakproof kidproof red plastic gasoline cans. Gas goes in. Never comes out.

The only opening is the spout. It has special "engineering" to not let the gas out. Gas only develops about 20psi when heated under the hot sun so that's not enough to blow up the can

Of course, it's a B*TC* to get the gasoline OUT of the can, but that's a whole nother topic.