Request for an engineering hint to further improve gas siphoning into vehicle (wetness of the 2nd and 3rd can)

[Dr Rig]

My daughter hates to fill up with gas so I often siphon a few 5-gallon cans to fill up her 18 gallon gasoline tank, which I don't mind at all.

The nearest gas station is a hefty drive away and I generally keep 5 five- gallon cans full anyway, so the siphoning isn't at all a bother.

What I'd like to improve though, is the STARTING step of the second and third gas cans, which I've only partially resolved with 'engineering'.

My hose is three parts:

- I stick an aluminum hollow camp chair leg into the 5-gallon jug

- I slip the flexible clear hose down that aluminum sleeve

- I clamped a second rigid (and thinner diameter) hose to the first hose

i) The aluminum sleeve keeps the hose at the bottom of the 5-gallon portable gasoline container. ii) The flexible clear hose shows the fluid (& bubble) flow iii) The rigid smaller hose doesn't get stuck in the opening flap

In addition, the smaller rigid hose also gives me more time to move my mouth away on the first gasoline can so that I never get a mouthful of gasoline on the first can.

HOWEVER: The one problem I haven't totally resolved is the wetness of gasoline on the second and third gasoline cans. Right now, I wipe the smaller more rigid hose on the outside, but there are dribbles of gas on the inside of the hose which I can (barely) taste on the second and third cans.

Do you guys already have an ingenious idea to resolve that last as yet unresolved siphoning problem?

(Please: I can already think of all the jokes so just skip the jokes if you have nothing engineering wise to contribute).

Thanks in advance!

[PV]

No engineering necessary,

Lots of products to overcome this.

[Joe]

[Tony Miklos]

Teach your daughter that along with the privilege of driving a car, the task of filling it with fuel is mandatory. Mommy and Daddy won't always be there to fill it for her so she may as well get used to it.

[Higgs Boson]

I couldn't believe this whole thread! Father is not doing daughter any favor, tying himself into knots so the spoiled princess (I assume) won't have to fill up at a gas station. In fact, he's hurting her, because some day she may have to deal with a fill-up and not know how (is that so complicated?).

So what happened after he died?

[aemeijers]

Not doing Dear Daughter any favors, Dad. She has to learn and accept doing basic chores herself. At some point in her travels, she is passing near a gas station, in all odds. She just has to plan to have the cash and time to full up then and there.

But as to current dilemma- have you considered creating a gravity-feed station? A tall sturdy table to set the gas can on, and a lid with a hose and gasoline-safe valve? Turn the valve off, lift the can into position, stick the hose down the filler neck, and open the valve. Basically a hillbilly version of the old gravity-feed gas tanks farmers used. Yes, you will have to put the can on its side so the lid is near the low point, and if you are filling the car's tank, overflows are a risk without a real gas nozzle with back-pressure cutoff in it. Although I think you can actually buy those nozzles at tractor supply place.

[Robert Green]

Well, I hate to chime in because the OP specifically asked for no comments about the wisdom of doing this but . . . it's a not a good thing to cater to a fear of gas pumps. It's probably going to result one day in her getting stranded somewhere, alone on a dark highway. All sorts of bad things can happen to the engine by running on empty as the junk in the bottom of the tank gets into the fuel lines. Running on E cost my roommate nearly $1000 bucks on his fuel injected Volvo. It's remembering the look on his face when writing that check that inspires me to fill up when at 1/4 full, even if the gas is more expensive than where I usually shop, or if it's raining or if I am in a hurry.

-- Bobby G.

[mike]

No excuse for it being that expensive. It's a loop of tubing with rollers on the crank forming a peristaltic pump. Sometimes, you find 'em at garage sales for cheap.

[Tony Miklos]

Well that's simple! She ran out of gas!

[Harry K]

The various siphoning tools available for cheap in auto stores. I haven't had much luck with them though.

If you have a compressor, a rag and stick the nozzle into whatever you are siphoning out of. One blast and your siphon is running.

Harry K