Kitchen Garden Forum

I have several different petrol cans but none of them are any good.
The caps are a simple screw fit and rely on me remembering to tighten them down hard. The screw-on filler spouts are poor and don't fit well - they all seem to dribble fuel from the top of the can when trying to fill the mower.
Can anyone recommend a good solid plastic can that works well and doesn't cost the earth?

Thanks
John

I echo your thoughts John, I have two different designs of the plastic petrol can that are both very poor and a danger due to the dribble though there is recent hope.

I have just bought Aspen fuel for my two stroke machines, their can is much better and they do a flexible filler that I intend to buy so I'll be able to give an opinion soon.

I have long given up hope of petrol cans and flexible filler spouts that do not leak. I recommend using a can with an accompanying rag and a large funnel preferably with a built in filter.

Barney

I also use a 25 litre metal can and a funnel. Have to be a bit furtive buying it as I think it is illegal but a silly little can full isn't much use.

Then there is the illusive mixing bottle that lets you shake it up and dissolve the oil without leaking everywhere.

I'm hoping to be able to make a recommendation soon, "soon is like, 'In-due-course'.

These Aspen fuel cans are in themselves very good, if the spout is as good as the can then I made it.

But it's expensive at £7.50 just for the filler neck, you get the can free when you buy Aspen fuel and I can already recommend this fuel after Peter suggested it.

The machines start up easier and they do run slightly different so I had to fiddle with the tick-over but you don't get that horrible stink though you can smell the fuel-oil burning. With a five year shelf life it may solve a few problems though I'm not convinced that all unleaded fuels wreck the diaphragms on all machines. Maybe on cheap machine though to honest even cheap machines seem to have the same carb and other parts.

Good news John, depends on how much you are prepared to spend.

The Aspen filler is just under £8 and I assume postage but it is THE most robust filler cap I have ever had my hands on.

It does fit standard fuel cans that I have of the square type with the horrible cheap filler.

How it works is that you screw it into place and it seals the container. To fill a machine you invert the container (The filler has sealed it) then press the filler into the machine and this releases fuel without dribble or any vapour escaping.

Put your hand in your pocket because this is good-kit.

So, I'm wrong again.

I didn't realise that those ubiquitous square fuel cans in green, red and black have at least two different cap-threads and whilst the Aspen filler fits one of mine it doesn't fit the other two.

However, the Aspen filler is an absolutely high quality piece of kite that is obviously being sold at cost.

It's a press-and-fill operation with auto-stop so you can't overfill. The seals stop any vapour or fuel from leaking and the whole thing is just what we-all need. Though the expense of using Aspen is real, the amount of time I spend with machines close to me makes the whole thing more comfortable underlined by the safety of this filler-neck.

I'm intrigued. After your original post I search for Aspen fuel filler and only found a completely different product but at the same price as you quoted.

http://www.aspenfuel.co.uk/products/asp ... ler-spout/

I can't get my head round these expensive pre-mix fuels. My strimmer asks for 40:1 and my chainsaw 25:1 and the Aspen product seems to be 50:1. Are they saying one size fits all or is that just the most common ratio? I use the cheapest oil additive I could find on eBay, measure the petrol in a mixing bottle (I have a litre one for the 40:1 and a half litre one for the 25:1) and the required mls of oil in a measuring cylinder then mix. Both machines start reliably even after Winter rest with fuel in. Is the key really getting the ratio correct so they don't soot up?

I think the filler spout I have is an upgrade, the Aspen rep left it with the stores people at Riverlea Tractors. Because I had bought 15 litres of fuel they gave it me.

I didn't buy pre-mix for the same reasons though most of my machines are Kawasaki and require the same mix. I also have a Husky chainsaw and Stihl blower that use the same mix though I would still rather mix my own.

It really is worth buying yourself a five litre container of fuel for four stokes engines, just to try the fuel and the difference but lastly to get the container and filling spout that I have.

I have always used Oregon fuel oil after bumping into problems with cheap oil and my starting problems two years ago were not to do with sooting.

Just to update you-about this filler spout, after using it for some time now I wouldn't be without it and am due to buy another so I don't have to keep stopping it between the four-stroke can and the two stroke can.

Ultimately this is fabulous safety device rather than just a filling device, no fuel fumes or fuel escape during the filling operation and you can even buy one for the oil filling on chain saws. For those who don't know, chain saws use an oil fill up every other fuel fill up.

Ok, I'm a nerd.