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Publication #ABE301

 

Filling Gas Cans Safely1

Carol J. Lehtola and Charles M. Brown2

Vehicle fires sometimes occur while people are filling metal gas cans placed on plastic surfaces. This type of fire usually involves a gas can in the back of a pick-up truck with a plastic bed liner.

Gasoline tends to carry a static electric charge. When pouring gasoline into a can, this charge can build up on the can. If the can is sitting on concrete or the ground, the static charge can safely flow away. But when the can is sitting on plastic, such as the plastic bed liner in a truck, the static charge can not escape because the plastic is an insulator, that is, it does not conduct electricity. A spark can occur between the can and the fuel nozzle and ignite the gasoline.

When the spark occurs in the flammable vapor space near the open mouth of the gas can, a fire occurs.

Figure 1. 

Use only gas cans approved by OSHA and follow these precautions:

  • Use only an approved container.

  • Don't fill any container while it's inside a vehicle.

  • Always place the container you're filling on the ground and away from other customers and traffic.

  • Keep the nozzle in contact with the can while you're filling it.

  • Never use a latch-open device to fill a portable container.

  • Don't smoke.

  • While transporting containers, tie them in place.

For More Information

For more information about tractor safety, visit the Florida AgSafe website: <www.flagsafe.ufl.edu>; or the National Agricultural Safety Database (NASD): <http://www.nasdonline.org/>.

This publication is a part of the Safer Tractor Operator series. A complete list of publications in this series is given below. All are available at your county Extension office, at the EDIS website, <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu>, and at the Florida AgSafe website.

• Filling Gas Cans Safely <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AE174>

Safer Tractor Operations for Landscape Maintenance and Horticultural Industries <http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/AE198>

Footnotes

1.

This document is ABE301 (formerly AE301), one of a series of the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. First published September 2001. Minor revision: August 2006. Reviewed: August 2009. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

Carol J. Lehtola, associate professor and Extension Agricultural Safety Specialist; and Charles M. Brown, coordinator for information/publication services; Agricultural and BIological Engineering Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.