At a guess, that's why metal 10l and 20l jerry cans don't have screwtops, but have the bayonet-style hinged lids. The lid CANNOT, physically, open until some point after the pressure's been released.
I can't remember what i was watching on TV, but there was a programme about classic designs, and the WW2 German jerrycans (there's a clue in the name ;) ) were held up as a masterpiece of design. Everything about them was perfect.
Hmm. I can't really believe my petrol can reached 95C. It would have been to hot to pick up and surely I would have noticed. But whatever the reason, the can went off like an oversized fire extinguisher and pretty well emptied itself over me and the driveway.
Only while it's still pressurised. Take away the pressure and whoosh...
Think car cooling systems, they can still go whoosh when still hot but below 100C. Maybe there is something like a fizzy drink mechanisium taking place? Under pressure more air gets dissolved into the fluid, remove the pressure and the air comes out of the fluid all of a whoosh.
Pah, didn't stop the 20l jerry can of diesel gloping out a large splodge of diesel when I opened it the other day. Can from garage so cool and not in the sun, just warmer than when it was filled.
Or the can was a metal 1 gallon oil can repurpused with "PETROL" written on with chinagraph pencil.
Bruncefield.
Indeed - but there's no way that petrol got to >95C!
It sounds like a very badly made can. After all why should the cap be pushed off its thread when undone slightly - but not blown off when tight?
No idea of the make, but it was rather like one of these, but red.
I have a vague recollection that the really old cans (red rectangular ones in metal) had a slightly tapered thread.
And in case it hasn't been metioned elsewhere, unleaded petrol is [apparently] far more carcinogenic than leaded due to the additives that they use to replace the lead content - and shouldn't be stored in a car boot or sealed room on a regular basis or for long periods of time.
Please don't ask me for links, but the info us from a HSE course that I and several employees attended before I retired many years ago, which resulted in the PITA of having to carry full AND empty petrol cans on open-backed vehicles.
Cash
Fizzy drink is carbon dioxide, which is quite soluble in water under pressure. Air, OTOH, is not particularly soluble either in water or in hydrocarbons.
Not sure what features it has to make it "explosive proof".
I wasn't doubting your experience, just that unless the can had got up to well over 100 C I can't see a physical mechanism to explain that. Now, whether there might be a *chemical* mechanism, e.g. acid in the can as well as petrol which resulted in a significant overpressure from hydrogen, I don't know. There are probably quite good ways to "booby trap" fuel cans, but I guess we should not be discussing that these days.
A BBC "effects" man once told me that the standard "exploding" car on film/tv is done with a traditional five litre oil can containing petrol, plus an ounce of gelignite.
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Vague memories of Kent (?) fire service complaining that unleaded petrol was more of a fire risk in the late 80s ...
The WW2 UK equivalent for shipping fuel was a disposable tin can. Large numbers of which were used on one occasion to create false railway lines in the Western Desert to create a dummy railhead, which very successfully attracted a lot of German bomber attention.
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It has a metal mesh inside the tank, which spreads heat and is supposed to prevent fuel exploding. It used to be touted as something you wanted in your car if you took part in motor sport. There is a cut-away view of the can here:
Sod that for a lark!!. Whenever petrol's needed we go down to the filling station collect the juice and it comes straight back here.
I carry some dicey things around in my estate car but I'm buggered if I'd want to go any distance with a can of Petrol on in the back even if it was a very stout strong metal one with a leak proof filler cap and most these days are flimsy plastic affairs...
I firmly echo that request its a PITA to scroll down and further still for a one of two line reply. I'm more akin to skip that post and go to the next easily readable one!...
On 02/07/2014 11:45, tony sayer wrote: ...
Since they opened a Morrisons within easy walking distance, my gardener simply walks down with the can and hands me the receipt when I next see him, rather than him relying upon me to remember to buy petrol on one of my about once a fortnight visits to a filling station to buy diesel.
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