Guys, not sure if this is the right place to post this, if not, the mod can move it to the appropriate place. I came to a rude awakening 2 years ago on vacation when I wanted to be a good guy and buy 4 new fuel cans for my bro in law so we didn't have to haul his ski out of the lake and drag it back into town to refuel it. I got the cans, filled them up, and brought them back to the cabin. I noticed the nozzle looked a little weird when I bought them, but didn't give it a 2nd thought. That is, until I tried using them to fill his big ski. It was like an 90 year old guy with a prostate issue trying to take a pee! After suffering thru the 1st one, I had to time it to see how painful this was going to be. It took all of 5 minutes to empty a 5 gal can... I wanted to take a header off the roof! Almost 20 minutes to fill a ski up. Talk about the arms getting a little tired.
Well, at this point I decided to look into buying a few Real cans, and found out after doing a little researching that due to CARB rules, those types of tanks are outlawed, I think in 2009 or 10. So, I thought about buying a pre-made fuel transfer tank, and took a look at Northern. They were a pretty penny, and I'd already spent a bunch on those gas cans, so I thought there had to be a better way.
I noticed that many of those tanks had an electric pump on them, and thought that was a great idea, 10+ gallons a minute, that's the way to go! I looked into getting just a pump, but didn't see anything too practical, and besides, I only went out with him a few times a year, so I didn't want to dump a big chunk of change into the setup, because in all honesty, they were His skis.
Fast forward a couple years, now I am going to be having my own, and also we plan on taking them out a number of times during the summer, so fuel becomes a little more of a pressing issue. I took a look around, and decided that they still make good fuel cans, now they just call them Racing cans, and this was the way they get around all the crappy restrictions on the current crop. Of course, being Racing, that means the price could be double what the 'normal' cans were.
I found a company selling VP Racing 5 gallon fuel cans http://www.ebay.com/itm/281312721415?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (here is the Mfg's site on the same cans http://www.vpracingfuels.com/containers) and the price each came to about the same as a regular can in the store. I talked with the seller a little about them, he said they def filled faster than the big box ones, but if I really wanted to fill it fast, I should use the funnel, that is what they often do in track settings. That made sense to me, but I still had that electric pump stuck in the back of my head.
I was looking around Fleabay at some pumps like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tuthill-Fill-Rite-FR1210G-12V-DC-15-GPM-Rotary-Vane-Fuel-Gas-Transfer-Pump-/291126401813?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c87c5b15 which seemed fairly capable, it should theoretically drain a 5 gal can in under 30 seconds, which sounds a heck of a lot better than 5 minutes.
Of course, using something like that requires a little MacGyvering, and here lies my question. Seeing as I am dealing with a fairly flammable liquid, I want to be sure I do this properly. Most of the pumps of this style are set up to go into the 2" bung of a 55 gallon drum. Obviously, this won't work in a standard plastic fuel can, I will have to adapt a flexible pickup hose. The biggest question I have is regarding grounding. I know they have the drums in both plastic and metal, and that the fill hoses are grounded to the pump, but can anyone see any issues with what I would like to do? I plan on getting a cheap garage sale 2 wheeler, and mounting the pump onto a shelf I will attach to it, with a 12v deep cell battery at the bottom. Flexible hose to gas can, handle into ski, and away we go!
Thanks for reading all this, and if anyone has any comments to share, please feel free, because this seems like a winner all around to me. Unless of course I missed something that would cause me to have a Very Bad Day... Thanks!
Well, at this point I decided to look into buying a few Real cans, and found out after doing a little researching that due to CARB rules, those types of tanks are outlawed, I think in 2009 or 10. So, I thought about buying a pre-made fuel transfer tank, and took a look at Northern. They were a pretty penny, and I'd already spent a bunch on those gas cans, so I thought there had to be a better way.
I noticed that many of those tanks had an electric pump on them, and thought that was a great idea, 10+ gallons a minute, that's the way to go! I looked into getting just a pump, but didn't see anything too practical, and besides, I only went out with him a few times a year, so I didn't want to dump a big chunk of change into the setup, because in all honesty, they were His skis.
Fast forward a couple years, now I am going to be having my own, and also we plan on taking them out a number of times during the summer, so fuel becomes a little more of a pressing issue. I took a look around, and decided that they still make good fuel cans, now they just call them Racing cans, and this was the way they get around all the crappy restrictions on the current crop. Of course, being Racing, that means the price could be double what the 'normal' cans were.
I found a company selling VP Racing 5 gallon fuel cans http://www.ebay.com/itm/281312721415?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 (here is the Mfg's site on the same cans http://www.vpracingfuels.com/containers) and the price each came to about the same as a regular can in the store. I talked with the seller a little about them, he said they def filled faster than the big box ones, but if I really wanted to fill it fast, I should use the funnel, that is what they often do in track settings. That made sense to me, but I still had that electric pump stuck in the back of my head.
I was looking around Fleabay at some pumps like this one http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tuthill-Fill-Rite-FR1210G-12V-DC-15-GPM-Rotary-Vane-Fuel-Gas-Transfer-Pump-/291126401813?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43c87c5b15 which seemed fairly capable, it should theoretically drain a 5 gal can in under 30 seconds, which sounds a heck of a lot better than 5 minutes.
Of course, using something like that requires a little MacGyvering, and here lies my question. Seeing as I am dealing with a fairly flammable liquid, I want to be sure I do this properly. Most of the pumps of this style are set up to go into the 2" bung of a 55 gallon drum. Obviously, this won't work in a standard plastic fuel can, I will have to adapt a flexible pickup hose. The biggest question I have is regarding grounding. I know they have the drums in both plastic and metal, and that the fill hoses are grounded to the pump, but can anyone see any issues with what I would like to do? I plan on getting a cheap garage sale 2 wheeler, and mounting the pump onto a shelf I will attach to it, with a 12v deep cell battery at the bottom. Flexible hose to gas can, handle into ski, and away we go!
Thanks for reading all this, and if anyone has any comments to share, please feel free, because this seems like a winner all around to me. Unless of course I missed something that would cause me to have a Very Bad Day... Thanks!
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