Technical Safety when filling gas can question.

I have read that when you fill a metal gasolene can you should remove it from the bed of your pickup and place it on the ground to avoid static electricity build up and an explosion.
WOULD IT BE SAFE TO DO THE FOLLOWING?
Leave the metal gasolene can in the bed of the truck and attach a metal chain to the gas can that is long enough to touch the ground. Then fill the gas can as usual. I am thinking the metal chain would give the static electricity a path to ground so eliminate chance of explosion.
Thanks, JIM

 

Sorry, I can’t answer your question, but a couple months back, I was filling up my NATO plastic gas can on the tailgate of my pickup at Costco, and they told me I had to keep the can on the ground. I asked why, and he only could say that it was their policy.

 

You are a champion for having a functional metal gas can, haven't seen them for sale for years.

Got me thinking on the grounding thing. Old cars with metal fuel fill nozzles and metal fuel tanks, wouldn't it be the same risk ? The metal can sitting in a metal truck bed, should ground thru the truck.

 

I think I found the answer which is NOT SAFE. Click on answer below.
if you run a metal chain from your metal gas can to the earth is it safe to fill the can while its inside your truck bed - Search

 

My guess is that requirement came from the large number of pickups that have plastic liners or rubber mats preventing grounding. Then too, undisturbed paint on the bed floor prevents grounding also. Lastly, I think plastic cans will build a static charge due to the flowing liquid, metal won't if the nozzle is in contact with the can as the nozzle is grounded through conductors inside the hose.

Short answer, fill on the ground, be safe.

 

All of the gasoline powered vehicles I’m familiar with have metal gas tanks secured to the metal frame of the vehicle. The vehicles are connected to the ground by rubber tires…..so the vehicle is insulated from the ground. Haven’t had one explode while filling them with gas in over 70 years.

Now when it comes to aircraft we have the same situation, metal machine sitting on rubber wheels preventing a path for static electricity to flow to ground….. always clipped a static ground wire to aircraft, usually to the propeller, when fueling.

Your choice

 

Tires are conductive, due to the carbon in the rubber compound.

 

Will give you credit for putting a lot of thought into it. But think it's a losing battle since the requirement to fill portable fuel cans on the ground while filling is mandated by the fire marshals office under NFPA codes. NIOSH and OSHA also weighs in on the subject.

 

Where I live you see these individuals pull into the cheap gas station and fill the little suv and about a half dozen gas jugs lined up just inside the taillgate all too often.
I take the jug out of my truck and set it on the ground because I don't like gas dripped in the bed but had a gas station attendant tell me I had to put it on the ground 30 or so years ago when I went to fill it in the truck bed.

 

Man, how did I live to be so old?

Ben

 

Having the container on the ground is always safer..............

 

Just fill it on the ground and i always keep the nozzle in contact with the can.
I use a 2.5 gallon sovereign oil can that is older than I am, it's how my dad bought oil back in the 50's

 

During my S.E. Asia tour of duty as an OH-13 scout crew chief we fueled several times daily from huge bladder containers driven by a gas engine with a ground clip attached to the air frame, never heard of any issues but a bit unnerving standing on the skid cross supports & fueling twin tanks over a hot engine & a turbo charger that visibly glowed red in predawn & dusk hour missions.

 

What ???
That's ridicules... A chain will defiantly create a huge explosion.... Id suggest hook up a pair of old TV antenna rabbit ears and sprinkle hair of nute on the truck bed whilst holding a un-lit Cuban cigar in your teeth, while standing on a small sheet of Saran Wrap

 

You just need to go to an old station that still has the br*** nozzels ! Seriously though, its a spark or open flame that will ignite it, not a cigarette like the woman above, red heat is not high temp enough for ignition.

When I was a kid we had an old time grocery store with a gas pump, the Cottagewood Store, still there, google it, and the big kids would put their lit cigarette ****s down the fill pipe into the tank. No boom.

 

Big time and don't forget about the metal belts.

 

Over here in Germany there is no such rule to place the can on the ground and normally we are the world champions in rules and orders. Sometimes it is forbidden to take the out of the car for filling because of the risk of spilling gasoline on the ground. So either we’re living here with very high risks or it’s a rule based on a theoretical risk.

 

A few years back I had a guy go off the rails and lose his **** because I was filling my plastic six gallon gas jug on the ground. I can’t remember exactly what he thought I was supposed to do but it wasn’t filling up on the ground.

 

I'm a retired USAF pilot and we routinely "hot" refueled (engines running) normally from a truck and the grounding process was to "bond" the aircraft to the truck and both to a grounding point in the earth. The reason was the to give the built up static electricity from both a path to ground. I recall that when cell phones became the rage there were signs on the gas pumps warning against using them while pumping because the thought was static was built up while talking but that was later debunked and the signs disappeared. If it's very dry out there is a slight static risk because vapors explode and liquid burns (as we were taught) but as an instructor pointed out you could throw a match into a puddle of jet fuel and it would extinguish it. It all comes down to what is the flash point of the fuel source.

 

Is concrete or asphalt a good ground ?

 

Just spitballing, but would it be easier to manage and extinguish a fire on the ground vs in the back of a car, truck or SUV? Other than these aircraft experiences, static at the local gas station doesn't seem like a regular daily occurrence. Regional? Dry dusty areas may have more free radical static. Maybe twice in my life I got a static charge sliding off of a cloth seat in a car or truck. Who sees regular static at the pump?

 

I can’t believe I read this.

 

The rule is because it must be dumbed down to the lowest level that can still get a license or even over the age of purchase.
If you tell someone put it on the ground, it covers all the "well can I" just like the OP.

A lit cigarette will not ignite gasoline vapors, but if the rule is don't light your cig but you are fine to smoke, someone will step over the line a bit.

This is the same. No placing it on your carpet, your plastic bed liner, your wood and paint bed, anything that can allow static buildup. Also, if the bad thing happens, you have a single spot of flames. If it's on the vehicle, there will be someone who gets in and tries to drive off, spreading the mess. Stop, drop and roll but with moving objects.
Easiest, clearest way to get all to comply is to say 'place it on the ground'. Easily understood when you do it and all around can see it. Covers all concerns.
@19Fordy , Jim I don't know why this rule is a sticking point for you. Just put it on the ground. If it's too heavy to lift when full either fill on the ground to your max lift capacity, go to a full service place or don't do it. The next step is not allowing anyone to fill anything but the motor vehicle. If that happens we are all going to blame you.
I'm not one to blindly follow rules, but this is not the hill to die on.

 

How hard is to to put a gas can back in your truck? Jeezus…

 

That's gotta be photoshopped,nobody is that stupid!But then again maybe he was?!

 

I believe yellow is diesel.

 

Plastic tanks setting on plastic bedliner can cause static electric sparks. Friend was hauling one that way. At a stop light he noted black smoke in his mirror. Messed up his paint. FD told him it happens

 

My 1st job was working at a gas station where the attendants pumped the gas. There was an old man that worked there that would sometimes go out and fill up the customer's tanks. The old guy often would be smoking while he pumped the gas into the car. Always scared the **** out of me, but the old guy never caught on fire or exploded...

For the record, I have thrown a lit match into gas that was dumped onto the ground. If the gas was still good, it burned every time. That was how we tested if the old gas in a tank was still good, get a bit of it out of the tank, dump it on the ground (a few feet away from the car) and throw a match on it to see if it burned.

To the OP's question, how hard is it to put the gas can on the ground, fill it, then put it back in your truck?

Those rules on the gas pumps are there because those things listed have caused problems before. Might have been pretty rare, but do you want to be the latest current example of the reasons for the safety postings?

 

had a pickup for many years where the gas gauge did not work. had a metal jerry can in a metal holder with a strap and lock on it in my metal bed. I poured it in the tank and refilled it every once in a while so the gas would not get too old. did this for a several years. got real good at coasting to the side of the road from the fast lane when I ran out.
had no idea I was livin' life on the edge.