This can had ethanol fuel in it for several years. Looks like the ethanol deplasticizrd the plastic to me as it is extremely britle, but who knows. It literally cracked under its own weight and wasn't dropped or anything like that.
Gas Cans/Ethanol
- Thread starter bwalker
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Idk, sort of conjecture
We'll need a Govt funded study!
I always use Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer
We'll need a Govt funded study!
I always use Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer
I can't say definitively what caused it to be honest but it's a heck of a coincidence. I have several other cans that I bought at the same time that didn't have fuel in them and they are fine and not even slightly brittle.Idk, sort of conjecture
We'll need a Govt funded study!
I always use Sta-Bil fuel stabilizer
Stabil does nothing to blunt the effects of ethanol. It will keep gasoline from forming varnish and gunk a little longer.
Sunlight will do that too.
Well, as you can see by the color this can didn't see much sunlight. Was always stored in my barn.
I have seen cans bleached white by the sun.
Is the can made of HDPE? Has Blitz gone bankrupt by any chance?
I verified that they were devastated by lawsuits.
https://www.plasticsnews.com/articl...d-gas-can-manufacturer-blitz-usa-closing-down
If the can is indeed made of HDPE, which is rather standard here, the plastic has excellent ethanol resistance.
A bigger problem for HDPE is gasoline itself, so for such a can there should be no problem at all with the addition of alcohol.
Yes, plasticizers are going to leach out of plastics, into gas/hydrocarbon more than ethanol. But will also slowly leach even into water.
Remember the plastic drinking cups that had problem, phthalates? That was discovered by a biochemist using the same plastics to culture microorganisms in. He couldn't understand why the microbes growth was abnormal and impeded; The phthalates are endocrine disruptors in humans. It only takes trace amounts that are hard to detect.
I'll take a metal gas can over plastic any day. I buy them up if I see some at tag sales.
I would rather metal also. Much better for storage. Unfortunately my supply of eagle metal cans where thrown in the trash when I could no longer find replacement rubber spouts for them a decade or so back.
Damm!!! Could of at least found/made some metal caps. I'm still using metal ones my Dad had when I was a kid, a couple Jerry cans too.
Not to hard to make a spout with some rubber washers, tubing, scrap plastic, and a brass tubing connector/barb.
Get/make a thin piece of round plastic that fits inside the original metal part of the cap, drill it to accept a threaded 1/2-5/8" hose barb, and two rubber washers to seal both sides. Thread the hose barb into that. Need a cork or plug for end of hose. Could go cheap with a plastic hose barb too.
For 1-gal I have a stash of 1-gal Coleman/white gas metal cans I use for mix. Mix up 5-gal and fill up 5. Those store very well. With 100LL mix lasts at least a couple years for sure, maybe close if you use non-E10.
At the time no aftermarket spouts were available. In retro spec I should have probably kept them and figured something out. I especially like the 2.5 gallon cans for chainsaw use.
I heard a guy say he had an old airplane parked somewhere for over 10years. It started right up with the 100LL that was in it. I bet 100LL stored in a metal can in a cool dry place would still be good after 20years.
It does store a long time, but 20 years is a stretch in all likelihood.
Regardless it's pretty stupid to use it.
