Approved fuel containers are metal jerry cans, self-venting plastic fuel cans of 5-20 litres and steel drums with sealed bungs, while thin plastic such as milk jugs and water bottles, glass, and any container that held chemicals or has not dried completely should never hold fuel. Fill every container on the ground with the nozzle touching it, leave a small air space, seal it and label the fuel and date.
Part of Fuel Siphoning & Storage
The container decides how long fuel keeps and whether a spill or a spark becomes a fire, which separates fuel-rated metal and plastic from thin bottles, glass and chemical drums.
Use A Container Designed For Fuel, Or The Next Best Metal One
Jerry cans (NATO-style). 20 litres, metal, with a sealed pour spout and a vent. The parent article calls these the gold standard. Source them from military surplus, hardware stores and off-road shops.
Plastic fuel cans. 5-20 litres in HDPE, self-venting, widely available. They are adequate for short-term storage. Gasoline vapour slowly permeates thin plastic over months, so they are not the choice for long storage.
Steel drums. 55-gallon (208 litres), for bulk storage. They must have sealed bungs and should be stored upright, with the bungs on top and tight.
IBC totes. 275-330 gallons (1,000-1,250 litres), plastic cubes in a metal cage. The parent article says cleaned ones work for fuel. Take more care than that: an insulating plastic tank can build up static charge as fuel flows through it, and a tote that held chemicals may be contaminated. They suit diesel, heating oil and kerosene better than gasoline.
What Will Fail
- Thin plastic (milk jugs, water bottles, bags): gasoline softens some plastics and passes through others.
- Glass: it does not react with fuel but it shatters. Small quantities in a protected place only.
- Any container that held food, water or chemicals and is not completely dry and clean: water in gasoline causes phase separation and corrosion, and chemical residues can react or contaminate. Never use a container that held bleach, acids or pesticides.
- Unsealed or poorly sealed containers: evaporation takes the volatile fractions, the parts that ignite easily and let an engine start (parent article).
- Containers with perished seals or gaskets. Rubber hardens or swells; replace seals with fuel-rated ones.
What You Need
- Clean, dry containers of the right size for the volume.
- A funnel with a filter, a marker, labels and a rag.
- A level patch of bare ground to stand them on while filling.
Method: Inspect, Fill On The Ground, Seal, Label
Step 1: Inspect. Check the seams, the seal and the spout. Smell the inside. Anything that smells of another chemical is not a fuel can.
Step 2: Dry it. Tip out any water and let the container air-dry outdoors, open, with the mouth down.
Step 3: Fill on the ground, never on a vehicle seat, bed liner or carpet. Keep the pump nozzle or hose touching the container rim so any static charge leaks away through metal.
Step 4: Leave an air space at the top for expansion. Do not fill to the brim.
Step 5: Seal and wipe. Wipe up spills at once, and let the rags dry outdoors, well away from flames.
Step 6: Label fuel type, source and date, in writing. Colour conventions for fuel cans vary between countries, so writing is more reliable.
Worked Example
A 208-litre drum decanted into 20-litre jerry cans fills 10 cans with 10 × 20 = 200 litres, leaving 208 − 200 = 8 litres, which goes into a smaller can or stays in the drum.
Common Mistakes
- Using a soda bottle “just for a day.” Thin bottles deform, leak and get mistaken for drink, and “a day” tends to become a month.
- Filling to the top. Heat expands the fuel and it pushes out of the seal.
- Storing a plastic can in a hot car. Heat swells it and drives vapour out.
- Mixing up diesel and gasoline cans. Mark them differently and in writing.
Safety
Static and spills turn a container into an ignition source
Plastic is an insulator, so a charge can build up as fuel flows into a plastic container and jump to the nozzle as a spark in the vapour. Never fill or transfer into a plastic container on a car seat or carpet. Put it on bare ground and keep the nozzle in contact with the rim. Never use a flame to check whether a container is empty or to look into one. Keep containers out of sun and away from flames and sparks. Do not use food containers for fuel: someone will drink from them.
What’s Next
- Learn next: Fuel Stabilization & Treatment — what to add before sealing
- Combine with: Storage & Safety — where the filled containers go