Contents

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

My Gas Can Plugs


When the mowing season ended and winter was approaching I emptied my two 5-gallon gas cans and planned to get fresh gasoline next spring.  I noticed the salvage job I had done on both cans a few years ago and thought I’d pass along the tip.

My cans were made by Chilton.  I think the company was bought by Blitz.  I found one which looked like mine on ebay and they were asking $65 for it.  I don’t remember them being expensive twenty years ago.  They have seen a lot of use and held up well except for the plastic tethers holding the spout cap and the vent plug cap.

When the original caps broke off I substituted whatever was handy to serve as a plug and I continued to drop and lose those things and I was always looking for a replacement.  Eventually I went to the shop and welded up the ones I am currently using and attached them to the container with nylon cord.  This solution has worked perfectly for several years.

Perhaps the plugs aren’t really needed that much but I believe they keep gasoline from sloshing out during transport and prevent water from entering the can if they are left out in a rain.  If the can got tipped over they probably wouldn’t stop some leakage.


If plastic breaks, replace it with steel seems to be part of my mindset.


Spout plug tether
Vent plug tether
Plugs Removed
Plugs inserted
Spout & vent plugs drawing

Spout plug cross section

No comments:

Post a Comment