Extended Use of Gasoline Cans

tow driver added a couple gallons to my '08 when i ran out of fuel, no problem. he had an old gas can with a skinny nozzle that fit into the hole.

 

Skinny nozzle cans will work just fine. No reason not to do it

 

I see no problem except safety...trying to think, you may want to ground the can with a wire to the car.
Quite certain I have poured-in up to 1-gal without worrying about grounding, but 5-gals could generate more static as the flow is longer. Let's see if there is a Google instruction somewhere.

Perhaps as long as you have physical contact of the nozzle to the car, you will dissipate static charges.

Here are some good precautions, suggest read through this, they say you can add stored gaso back to fuel tank. However, they do not say how to do that. But probably you can reverse the instructions for filling 5-gal can from pump. Think of your car as the "can" and think of your 5-gal container as the gasoline pump. Assuming this analogy works, follow instructions, including keep contact of nozzle to car, and add slowly to minimize static, and so on (be cautious of ignition sources, ventilation etc).

Handling Storing and Disposing of Gasoline

 

I do it all the time, although I would not want to heft a five-gallon can up (forty pounds to try to hold steady and not spill is a bit much for me).

I keep six gallons of gasoline around in the winter for the power issues. I buy non-ethanol premium each month from November through March. At the end of each month the gas goes into a car and the cans are refilled. Sometimes it is the Prius, sometimes another car.

I have two gallon cans. I have a longish galvanized screened funnel (maybe that funnel grounds as it contacts the steel inside the car fuel filler, honestly, I never thought nor worried about it).

I use the funnel because the generator two gallon gas cans are those new CARB cans and most of the time I end up spilling so much fuel trying to operate the complicated CARB system, it is just easier to take off the entire gas can nozzle system and just use the funnel.

So, YMMV, obviously, but I have never had an issue.

 

^^^this style open pouring I think is a case where you might want to consider a grounding wire from the can to the funnel, assuming the funnel is contacting the car, and assuming your can may not be in contact with the funnel during pouring.

I have never seen a fire, but have seen one time we were pouring diesel from a can into a fluted filter paper. The static caused a small stream of diesel to shoot out of the filter paper...looked like it was a squirt gun.

PS- I also see on Amazon and other places they sell small transfer hose/pumps for doing the transfer from the cans....looks like a little gas pump nozzle.

 

I'm not imagining how how the can could be different than a normal pump set for a slow flow. Numerous GenII owners intentionally use a slow fill to prevent premature pump shutoff.

 

I really am no expert. And I am all for safety, but each day across the world, don't millions of people heft up gallon gas cans and pour them into lawn mowers, chain saws, lawn tractors, weedeaters, cement mixers, etc. with no issues (and no grounding wires)?

 

Most 5-gallon gas cans I see are made of plastic, so a grounding wire is not going to do much. If OP uses a funnel that fits into the filler opening and has an appropriate shape, I don't see any issues.

 

Why not just adjust your schedule and fill 5-6 gallons, thus going well above the 4 gal that triggers recognition?

The reason gas cans have been modified so much of late was from imbecils pouring gas directly onto their barbies, not because of accidents filling cars. You can thank our legal system that it is now much safer (though still against all warnings) to subsitute gas as lighter fluid, and the cans are a pain to use.

 

No issues here. I use up stored gas in containers about 1x / year. Just pour into tank, 5 gals at a time (when there are 2 -3 bips showing on gage). I add stabilizer to the gas cans to prevent problems and I refill with fresh gas and store for another year.

You won't have any problems adding the gas by can to the Prius.

DBCassidy