New jerry Cans

The old ''its only Diesel dont worry about it'' attitude. I swore by this for years when i used to discharge Diesel tankers and work the Bulk Storage Facility. We used to smoke while bolting the hoses together and dismantling them when they were full of Diesel. We used to be covered in Diesel for 15 hours while testing and sampling, but never thought anything less when lighting up a smoke. Never smoked near the ship or tanks though, no way. Wasnt until we had to do our Fire Wardens course that we actually seen how volatile Diesel was. Believe me, we had 3 drums quarter filled with Unleaded, Diesel and Premium Unleaded. We were each told to light a cigarette and drop in each bucket then put out with the fire blanket or extinguisher. I tell ya what the Diesel was the easiest to go up, the fiercest, the hottest, and the hardest to put out. Also it lit more times then the others after being put out. It really did shock the hell out of us, and we never ever lit a smoke anywhere near the product hoses, did our job alot more carefully with less spillage and alwasy washed our hands before a smoke. But yes Diesel does have a higher flash point but it really is just an excuse cause Diesel is dangerous. I still cant believe what i seen that day. Though im not trying to talk anyone out of carrying Diesel in jerrys or anything just make sure there sealed as i said we smoked for years covered in the stuff and sitting on top of 200-400 litres of the stuff and somehow we never went up. Its alot easier for it to light when there is less of the stuff.

Wow is that right! Like i said its beter to be safe than sorry, and i have been lucky with one of the worst of all... Avgas. If my tongue was sticking out the other side, my chordless drill soaked in a running stream of the fuel would have cut short any 4WDing trips i had planned lol.

Tippa described it correctly; I didn't.

Must admit I had to drag out the text books again to get a proper definition:

The flash point of a chemical is the lowest temperature where it will evaporate enough fluid to form a combustible concentration of gas. The flash point is an indication of how easy a chemical may burn. Materials with higher flash points are less flammable or hazardous than chemicals with lower flash points.

Some fuels and their flash points at atmospheric pressure are listed below although it should be noted that these fuels can differ in composition e.g. diesel can be winter/summer grade, biodiesel etc, each of which varies the flashpoint.

Fuel Flash point
Ethanol 13°C
Petrol 62°C
Jet fuel >38°C
Kerosene >38–72°C

My cut & paste of the table above stuffed up. Hopefully this one works correctly:

Fuel Flash point
Ethanol 13°C
Petrol 62°C
Jet fuel >38°C
Kerosene >38–72°C

The gremlins are out to get me:

Petrol is: 62C

Others are correct

Try again:

D-i-e-s-e-l is 62C
Petrol is minus 40C

Doug, no-one is an expert and if they say so then they are usually setting themselves up for embarrasement ha ha.
We are just blokes who are sharing a bit of knowledge we have picked up from here and there.
As it turned out with Q3, its not hard to confuse the terminology, and even though i was right with it, we were both saying the same thing and offering the best advice to answer his question.
Good pick up though as some people do blurt out uneducated poor advice!
Cheers!

Mosy fuels have water in suspension in them, so sitting still over a period of time the water will still find its way to the bottom even if they are full. However you are definitely right that keeping the containers full will eliminate the majority of the prob.
I personally wouldnt worry about it during tours as you would be using the fuel over a period of days or weeks, not months where it could become a problem.
Cheers!