G'day Everyone!
After a recent discussion re metal VS poly jerrycans - here's a little education on the major differences between the poly jerrycans built to a price level - and the poly jerrycans that are built to do the job.
I have a number of 20L Rheem jerrycans (now made by Haigh), that are around 25 yrs old.
They've been dragged around the countryside, emptied and filled multiple hundreds of times - and they're still completely serviceable.
I have only just, after 25 years, had to replace a couple of the filler spouts - because they wore out and split. I had no trouble obtaining new Haigh filler spouts from Auto One.
In recent days, I had to fly to
Alice Springs to pick up a traytop vehicle and drive it back to
Perth. I went via the Stuart Hwy, the Lasseter Hwy, the Tjukaruru Rd, the Great Central Rd, the Goldfields Hwy and the Gt Eastern Hwy.
I had to purchase 3 new jerrycans for the trip, as I couldn't bring mine on the 'plane.
I bought the cheapest jerrycans that I could find - the red-coloured "Adventure Products" 20L jerrycan, that's available from Bunnings, Repco, Supercheap, camping stores, and probably half a dozen other retailers.
These red jerrycans range from $18.84 at Bunnings to around $21-23 at the other retailers.
The marketing blurb on the sticker on the jerrycan advertises, "Made in Australia for Australian conditions" - and and it claims, "tough, durable filler spout".
Sadly, like most advertising claims, these cheap jerrycans don't live up to the advertising blurb.
The jerrycans were both roped down, and tied down, with 10mm diameter rope and 500kg ratchet strap, so they couldn't move on the tray.
I used these new jerrycans just ONCE - I filled them in
Alice Springs and emptied them into the tank along the route, as required.
Whilst emptying one of the jerrycans into the tank, I was appalled to find fuel running everywhere from the filler spout!
It turned out the filler spout had split along the convoluted bend in the spout!
A second jerrycan was emptied, and the same thing happened!
Now, I know I bought cheap jerrycans - but to not be able to even get one use out of the filler spout is pathetic, to say the least.
I have included a series of pics, showing one of the almost new jerrycans, and an old Rheem one.
Also included is pics of the caps and filler spouts showing the major differences in construction and thickness - and the very rapid filler spout splitting incurred on the cheap jerrycan filler spouts.
The red jerrycans are stamped that they meet AS/NZS Approval 2906-1999 for fuel containers.
IMO, they only just scrape by on the approval level of standards.
I have to say the red jerrycans did endure a couple of 39 deg days when full of petrol, without splitting.
I would be suspicious of them being able to resist repeated extreme temperature days, full (or half full) of fuel, along with regular handling and tying down - without failing.
The bottom line is, of course, that you get what you pay for.
In the case of the much better quality Haigh/Rheem jerrycans, you pay more than double for these jerrycans - but the life of the Haigh/Rheem jerrycans would be measured in decades, as compared to as little as weeks for the cheap jerrycans.
Cheers, Ron.
Cheap jerrycan and quality jerrycanCheap jerrycan cap with minimal ribbing - difficult to unscrew and with little strengthHeavy duty jerrycan cap - lots of heavy ribbing, strong, and easy to unscrewTwo filler spouts - quality one on the left, cheap one on the rightThe startling differences in wall thickness and design, between a quality filler spout and a cheap filler spout Cheap filler spout showing splitting and holingCheap filler spout, showing split