The other day I went out to the hangar on my grass strip and noticed that my fuel tanks were below 1/4 of a tank. Last time I flew was a few months ago and I remember landing with relatively low fuel. I have no fuel available at the strip where I hangar so I decided to take 2 5 gallon gas cans to the local FBO. When I got to the airport and asked to fuel up they notified me that they could not help me. After speaking with multiple supervisors I walked away with no gas in my cans. Have any of you had this issue before? I'd rather not risk taking off with low fuel even though the nearest airport is only 15 minutes away.

I'm betting that C182 in your pic runs better on ten gallons of MoGas than it runs on ten gallons of air!

Gump

No self service there?

Gump is right , just put some super unleaded in and fly to airport.

I have no fuel available at the strip where I hangar so I decided to take 2 5 gallon gas cans to the local FBO. When I got to the airport and asked to fuel up they notified me that they could not help me. After speaking with multiple supervisors I walked away with no gas in my cans. Have any of you had this issue before?

Yes, in Nome. Crowley refused to fill my plastic cans, so i bought some expensive Blitz metal cans they filled for a couple years, then their policy changed and they refused to fill the metal cans also, too dangerous. So i went over to Bering Air and filled them myself, they didn't care plastic or metal.

I get the potential problem with filling plastic cans, but the number of spontaneous combustion incidents is pretty darn low. Kind of aggravating, Crowley was quite a bit cheaper

Chris

I fly on floats from the lake at my house and have a 100 gallon slip tank that I use to fill my plane. I went to the local airport last year looking to have it filled, I was told by the attendant (a friend of mine) that he could not do it, their license only covered them for direct to aircraft filling. I was forced to go to the local seaplane base and pay the marked up price for it. ticks me off because being on straight floats I have no choice, short of getting a double wall tank installed at my place and having a company from out of town deliver it.

Roamer

I get the potential problem with filling plastic cans, but the number of spontaneous combustion incidents is pretty darn low.

The issue is not spontaneous combustion, it is static electricity. The result of ignition is catastrophic. Plastic jugs are just not worth the risk.

Rich
(Fire Inspector 1, Special Deputy Fire Marshal - State of Utah)

The issue is not spontaneous combustion, it is static electricity

Right, i didn't add the static electric, there is a LONG thread on that subject and that dead horse has been well and truly beaten.

Magnet wrote:No self service there?

Unfortunately, No .... I guess I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one. Although I do find it somewhat ridiculous.

Did they give you a reason why they wouldn't fill the cans?

Is it because they are plastic? If so, perhaps they would be OK with metal ones.

I've seen a local FBO turn away people who come in with cans and can't provide an N number. The assumption is they are illegally using it for automotive use.

So how do we fill the 46,829,127 plastic jugs in this country with gas? Can I never ride my tote-goat, wave runners, ATV's or use my lawn mower? I pour gas into all of these… Do the jugs know they are filling an airplane and not my tiller? Just curious…

I'm well aware that the day you have a spark while filling it will go down in the bad day column but I'm not sure about the terror of putting 5 gallons in the wing so you can fly it out somewhere?

SixTwoLeemer wrote:So how do we fill the 46,829,127 plastic jugs in this country with gas? Can I never ride my tote-goat, wave runners, ATV's or use my lawn mower? I pour gas into all of these… Do the jugs know they are filling an airplane and not my tiller?

Popcorn is in the microwave... Carry on!

Gump

I fill my plane using 5, 6 gal plastic cans I fill up with auto gas at the gas station. I understand static can become a concern with plastic but I've never had an issue. My airport has some rules against putting gas in anything that's not an airplane but its self serve so I don't see how they can enforce that.

Chris
I had the same problem in Kotz. The Crowley guy was great but said he would loose his job so after he filled the wing tanks I used jiggle hose to fill my jugs and than had wing tanks refilled. I am pretty sure it is a insurance thing. Just a little more hassle but at the end of the day I had fuel.
DENNNY

I can sure understand the frustration involved. When I kept my airplane at a private strip for a year, the owner warned me that getting fuel in cans from either GXY or FNL was pretty unlikely, so always land with enough to depart and fly to one or the other. I guess that's the obvious lesson.

No FBO is obligated to dispense fuel to anyone, and I suspect that their reluctance to sell it to someone who wants to put it in a can may be insurance-driven. FBOs are routinely included into any lawsuit that involves engine stoppage, so the insurers want to make sure that they minimize any odd exposures. For example, they can't know how clean your cans are, or what method you'd use to put the fuel into your airplane.

I'm sorry that I don't have a solution, but I do have a suggestion. Have a buddy fill his airplane, fly to your strip, and siphon enough from his to yours to safely get you to where you can refuel.

Cary

Routinely fill plastic fuel jugs with avgas at airports. Never had an issue, but always use self serve. Few airports I frequent the most, manager is often standing there talking while I fill said jugs. Also folks bring 500 gallon fuel trailers regularly...so wtf over!

Until heard about there being issues with static electricity when became a pilot, had been fueling with these jugs in various machinery for about 20 years thinking it was safe. Now I'm waiting to explode every day while fueling planes at the ranch with plastic jugs.

Serious question here; do bushbags not have issues with static electricity? Are they made of a material that eliminates this risk. May sound like a smart ass, but I have been burned pretty bad and take this very seriously. I'll pony up for the bush bags if they really do reduce risk. Ignorance is bliss right till it bites/burns your ass!!!

Skalywag wrote:Routinely fill plastic fuel jugs with avgas at airports. Never had an issue, but always use self serve. Few airports I frequent the most, manager is often standing there talking while I fill said jugs. Also folks bring 500 gallon fuel trailers regularly...so wtf over!

Until heard about there being issues with static electricity when became a pilot, had been fueling with these jugs in various machinery for about 20 years thinking it was safe. Now I'm waiting to explode every day while fueling planes at the ranch with plastic jugs.

Serious question here; do bushbags not have issues with static electricity? Are they made of a material that eliminates this risk. May sound like a smart ass, but I have been burned pretty bad and take this very seriously. I'll pony up for the bush bags if they really do reduce risk. Ignorance is bliss right till it bites/burns your ass!!!

I may be wrong here, but its my understanding that the risk is not from the cans themselves but the fact that the airplane is not grounded and could be carrying a charge from flying through the air.

Then, put the open can to the tank and it arcs. But i have heard the opposite too, that the static is created from the cans themselves.

By the way, i used to carry 3 plastic 5 gallon cans with me everywhere when traveling in the Savage. It was the ONLY thing i fueled with. But this subject has been beat to death. Ill keep using my plastic cans.

Crzyivan13 wrote:

Skalywag wrote:Routinely fill plastic fuel jugs with avgas at airports. Never had an issue, but always use self serve. Few airports I frequent the most, manager is often standing there talking while I fill said jugs. Also folks bring 500 gallon fuel trailers regularly...so wtf over!

Until heard about there being issues with static electricity when became a pilot, had been fueling with these jugs in various machinery for about 20 years thinking it was safe. Now I'm waiting to explode every day while fueling planes at the ranch with plastic jugs.

Serious question here; do bushbags not have issues with static electricity? Are they made of a material that eliminates this risk. May sound like a smart ass, but I have been burned pretty bad and take this very seriously. I'll pony up for the bush bags if they really do reduce risk. Ignorance is bliss right till it bites/burns your ass!!!

I may be wrong here, but its my understanding that the risk is not from the cans themselves but the fact that the airplane is not grounded and could be carrying a charge from flying through the air.

Then, put the open can to the tank and it arcs. But i have heard the opposite too, that the static is created from the cans themselves.

By the way, i used to carry 3 plastic 5 gallon cans with me everywhere when traveling in the Savage. It was the ONLY thing i fueled with. But this subject has been beat to death. Ill keep using my plastic cans.

I also thought this was the way it worked. So I don't understand how metal can would make any difference. Either way, the can is grounding to the plane but the plane isn't grounded.
I also fuel mostly out of plastic jugs.

Ya'll seem like you could use 12 pages of entertainment:

Explosive subject - Plastic Gas Cans -
viewtopic.php?t=887

Zzz wrote:Ya'll seem like you could use 12 pages of entertainment:

Explosive subject - Plastic Gas Cans -
viewtopic.php?t=887

Thanks for that. I had seen that the discussion had happened, but hadn't had a chance to figure out where...