Willow Jerrry Cans - Venting - Covering

Storing petrol, not diesel I take it?

I travelled over 12000 km in a pathfinder with 7 jerry cans of petrol in the back all had good seals when fulling up made sure that no fuel was left on can, funnel and spill rag went into air tight container inside air tight plastic bag. We never got one whiff of fumes we never vented the cans neither also do not 1/2 empty cans make sure thy are either full or empty wrapping in plastic garbage is a waist of time if the fumes get out of cans then a garbage bag tied in a knot at one end is not going to help plus the rubbing of cans will rub hole in bags I also carried spare seals but with care you should not nead these


good luck
greg

How well is your canopy ventilated? I would have thought it would be safer to make provision for petrol vapours to disperse rather than concentrating them to a point where the slightest ignition source could ignite them.

ob

Thanks guys.

Ill take all those notes on board.

Appreciated.

hi silver bravo
if you only put 20lts in each jerry can and not try and get extra in them
then it should have room for expansion and contraction without having to vent them each day imho every time you vent them you waste petrol
i have carried plenty of petrol in metal j/cans even on the csr/gunbarrel etc in october years ago and i have never bothered about venting them

wrapping them in plastic garbage bag will achieve nothing as petrol disolves that cheap plastic

my dual battery was in the engine bay and the fridge was in the rear seat area so didnt have the potential for any fireworks

as for having electrical equipmt in there as well i would hope that the battery is in a proper box
but that wont stop petrol fumes from getting in and if you have to do anything to the electricals at anytime i wouldnt attemp it while the jerries are in there
re -quote (all electricals are fuxed and shrink wrapped)
i presume you mean fused
you also have to be ever mindfull of
-if a jerry can sprung a leak and they have been known too the petrol will find its way down onto the hot exhaust through the rear tub corner drain holes i sealed mine up with sikaflex
i carried my j/cans in a heavy duty cardboard box which had the potential to absorb some petrol for awhile at least and hopefully give a bit of detection time before leaking down and out the rear i still have the box and put diesel j/cans in it if i have to carry exta
it was a parts box i got from work and i put a layer of rubber matting under them and then put a piece of thin sheet rubber between each of them to stop chaffing or static build up this worked for me on many trips on dirt tacks
sorry about the long reply
cheers and safe travels

Any vapour should disperse as you drive.
If you wrap the jerry cans then where will the vented vapour go? It will either build up in the wrap which WOULD be a ticking bomb ... or more likely dissolve the plastic...
If the jerry cans vent automatically then you don't need to vent them every day.
Good idea to hide them. In some locations petrol is very attractive [sniffing].
If you think that there is a possibility of build up of fumes from the cans then maybe vents are needed in the tub... or maybe rethink and mount them on the outside?
Keep the cans filled well... as I understand it, the more air space inside the greater the gas build up and therefore the greater the pressure.....

Slightly off topic (only slightly). The best covers I have found for jerries to stop them rubbing. Get some throw away large truck/tractor tyre tubes that are stuffed from your nearest tyre dealer. Cut lengths of tube the same length as a jerry. (no, not the bit with the cap on top, just the main body of the jerry. Pull these (like a condom) over the jerries. You might need a bit of talc on the tube to help get them on if the tube you get is a bit snug. The curve in the tube stretches out straight over that short a length and the covers fit like a second skin. Strong and light.

Dane,
Do yourself a favour and buy The Rheem/Visy containers. They have a purpose made yellow cap with an "O"ring and are leak free. Willow make their containers but buy in a standard cap that fits detergent and chemical and many other 10litre 15 litre and 20litre containers and can leak and can come free of the container if overtightened. They have had a recall some time ago and you can search on the net to confirm my claim. The one good thing about Willow containers is that they have a big diameter neck that the Visy/Rheem containers dont and they make filling difficult with hi-flow diesel bowser nozzles. Obviously if you are filling with petrol , you wont have a problem. I would for safety sake, not use the Willow containers inside a vehicle with petrol.. Michael

Hi Dane

I would not nothing , provided the containers don't actually leak.

However first there have been a couple of different types and I do not know yours.
Mine were all from supercheap at under $20 each and contain a single large cap and are sort of rounded, and have no vent holes.

About two years ago they came out with a squarer design.

I just made sure the caps on mine screwed on properly (this reuired a couple of plastic burrs to be removed and they do not leak a drop.

However there is a slight penetration of fuel thru the jerry and as I only carry fuel inside the car for saftey reasons you can just smell this next morning if left inside car all night.

This level of expiration will not even come close to causing a flammable issue.

Stopping them rubbing is a seperate issue and I solved this very nicely by just putting them each into one of those $1 shopping bags they flog everywhere these days.

"I plan to vent the jerry cans every day. "

Why ??? More petrol will just evaporate until the pressure inside the can rises to the same it was before you let some pressure out.

People need to understand the concept of Vapour Pressure - any volatile liquids will vaporise unless the pressure above the liquid is the same as the Vapour Pressure for that temperature.

Make sure there are no leaks and that the container can cope with the vapour Pressure at the temperatures you will experience.