Called CARB at 800-242-4450 and was transferred to Angus at
916-445-4686 who discussed with me the legality of gas caps:
formatting link
Angus says that the cans aren't tested in the sun, but the "system" is certified for permeability after 140 days in an enclosure or after an accelerated 30-day test at 100 degrees F. It seemed to him that gas cap 'should' easily meet those permeability requirements, as long as it's made of similar material.
Angus said the cap must hold the ~13 psi above atmospheric Reid Vapor Pressure of California winter formulation gasoline (which has a higher vapor pressure than summer formulations); but that RVP & permeability requirement seems easy enough for a gas cap of the same material as the current spout.
In addition, the spout must be spill proof and child proof; but again, those requirements would be met by use of a cap.
The only requirement of the spout that the cap can't meet is the auto-shutoff requirement; but if the cap is used just for storage, then that requirement wouldn't be applicable.
Interestingly, Angus said there is a provision in the specs for a "secondary opening" (e.g., a vent!); but he said none of the cans certified for California have opted for that secondary opening.
Angus said these 5 manufacturers are certified in California:
The Plastics Group
Scepter
Midwest
Great Outdoor Products
NoSpill
Of those manufacturers, the first three have the lions share of sales in California, according to Angus, and the first is the one he thinks who bought the Blitz operation in July of 2012.
That explains why I can't get a hold of anyone at Blitz to affirm the threads on the gas can caps. I'll work on The Plastics Group next, to see if they sell just the gas caps.
Apparently Angus was right in that Blitz ceased operations:
formatting link
formatting link
And, Hopkins Manufacturing technical support was right when they told me they bought everything *but* the gas can manufacturing.
Blitz was spending about 3 million dollars a year in lawsuits, mostly for the gas cans not having flame arrestors built in.
---- cut here for verbatim press release ---
MIAMI, OKLA. (June 13, 10:15 a.m. ET) ? Plastic fuel-can molder Blitz USA Inc. will shut operations after unsuccessfully trying to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since Nov. 9, according to a company statement issued June 12.
The July 31 shutdown will affect 117 employees at Blitz?s manufacturing plant in Miami, Okla.
The firm plans to liquidate all assets either en masse or piecemeal, external affairs manager Amanda Emerson said in a telephone interview.
?We appreciate the support of our employees and their families in their efforts to reorganize and develop a viable business plan,? said Blitz President Rocky Flick, according to an article in the Joplin (Missouri) Globe. ?Unfortunately, we were not able to address the costs of the increased litigation associated with our fuel-containment products.?
In April, Blitz sold its F3Brands LLC business, a major in oil drains and other associated auto products, in a bankruptcy auction sale to Hopkins Manufacturing Corp. of Emporia, Kan. Court documents stated Blitz netted $14.6 million from the sale, which it applied to secured debt.
Blitz has been facing a storm of lawsuits blaming its products for consumer injuries caused by fires. The firm spent some $30 million defending itself in product liability suits and owes $3.5 million in legal fees, Blitz reported in court documents.
Blitz?s decision to sell its assets is subject to approval by bankruptcy court. It sought Chapter 11 protection in Delaware. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., a major retailer of Blitz gas cans, also faces lawsuits.
Blitz has been the dominant producer of plastic gas cans in the United States and claimed 75 percent of the market.
?Other manufacturers face similar uncertainty ? putting the industry?s ability to meet the typical spike in demand driven by storms in serious jeopardy,? Blitz stated in a news release.
In the week of June 4 the Portable Fuel Container Manufacturers Association began alerting consumers in hurricane-prone states of a potential product shortage, which increases public safety risk. In times of disaster, consumers rely on portable fuel supplies to operate electricity generators, vehicles, chain saws and other relief equipment.
PFCMA?s legal office is in Sacramento, Calif.
PFCMA has said congressional intervention is needed to stabilize the business environment so PFCMA group members can continue supplying the products necessary for safely transporting and storing gasoline and diesel fuel.
?While it is now too late to save Blitz, adoption of mandatory safety standards could convince others to invest in expanded operations,? the Blitz news release stated.
PFCMA has criticized the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission for twice refusing to mandate fuel-can safety standards because it claims that harmful incidences were the result of misuse of the fuel cans rather than a product issue.
Fuel-can producers have adopted voluntarily standards developed by the American Society for Testing and Materials since the 1980s. The standards include container stability and heat resistance, openings and closings, filling and pouring, drop strength, permeability and cautionary labeling.
Labeling, for example, states that gasoline should never be used to start or accelerate a fire. Much litigation resulted from such misuse of the fuel in the containers.
U.S. consumers buy more than 15 million portable fuel cans each year, but that number rises by 30 percent when hurricanes make landfall.
?If gas cans aren?t available, disaster victims will still be transporting and storing fuel, but at much greater risk to themselves and everyone around them,? Blitz stated.
Blitz President and CEO Rocky Flick said the sale process for the Miami assets could take three months.
Other PFCMA members include Midwest Can Co. of Melrose Park, Ill.; No- Spill Inc. of Lenexa, Kan.; Scepter Corp. of Scarborough, Ontario; and the Plastics Group Inc. of Willowbrook, Ill.
?Blitz was very good at what they did,? said Tom Cray, president of No- Spill. ?The legal system is what brought them down. Blitz exported around the world and only here [in the United States] were there lawsuits.?
That's exactly been my experience but I had never researched the caps thoroughly before. I just used the spouts as caps.
But it would really be nice to find the 'right' sized cap.
After speaking to CARB today (Angus 916-445-4686), it looks like the big four gas can manufacturers in the USA are: Midwest Can Co. of Melrose Park, Ill. No-Spill Inc. of Lenexa, Kan. Scepter Corp. of Scarborough, Ontario Plastics Group Inc. of Willowbrook, Ill.
Since the Plastics Group apparently bought the Blitz manufacturing operation for gasoline cans, I'll start with them.
formatting link
Looks like this is their contact information:
formatting link
630-325-1210 x295, mdeckard at the plastics group dot net
Some of my 5 gallon plastic gas cans happen to be the same size and threads of a briggs & stratton lawnmower engine. I swapped them by accident:( and the sealed cap killed the engine pretty quick.
I have thouggt about replacing my bad caps, 2 lost:( one cracked with those lawnmower gas tank caps. Although they have a automated vent for high pressure. I have never been fond of swollen gasoline cans that look like a over filled balloon:(
That extension was invalid, but I spoke to a representative who said *nobody* bought the molds that Blitz used on their gas cans.
The lady (I forgot to get her name) said that all the molds could be different but they themselves might re-use their own molds for their Briggs & Stratton engines (she wasn't sure). So that would explain how a Briggs & Stratton engine can use the same cap threads as a gas can from The Plastics Group.
Regarding the Blitz manufacturing operation, the lady said nobody bought the molds because then they'd be subject to the lawsuits; so, in the end, it looks like there is no way to get a *direct* replacement cap.
The only option left is to see if someone else's threads *fit* the Blitz gasoline cans. That's going to be left to trial & error.
Now that there are do-it-yourself manufaturing of plastic parts machines readily available, maybe someone will come up with a design for a cap with the needed thread dimensions and make it available on the internet. If they can illegally make crappy-firing guns that way, they should be able to make a gas can cap, legal or otherwise..
Now that there are do-it-yourself manufaturing of plastic parts machines readily available, maybe someone will come up with a design for a cap with the needed thread dimensions and make it available on the internet. If they can illegally make crappy-firing guns that way, they should be able to make a gas can cap, legal or otherwise..
You do not want FDM parts for a gasoline container. I don't recall the gasoline resistance of PC or ABS off the top of my head but FDM by it's very nature will have to be thick to prevent fluid and vapor from passing through it. Also it will cost more than simply buying a new plastic gas container.
And the FDM gun is just nonsense. People with skills and specialized equipment could always make their own firearms.
Everything in those videos was intuitive to me except what to use for a vent. I thought it was ingenious that they drilled a half-inch hole (paddle wood bit would be better than the spiral flute bit they used though) and inserted an automotive tire valve sans the stem.
Pulling out the locking "trigger" was obvious, I agree.
Personally, I defeat the child-proof lock simply by knocking off the nub on the red plastic, whereas in the videos, they redundantly cut both the nub and the ratchet (either one would have worked alone).
That child-proof feature is odd though, because even with it removed, it's still darn difficult to get the cap off.
It's my opinion that any 'kid' strong enough to remove that cap is certainly already old enough to defeat the ratchet lock on his own anyway.
Overall, after experiencing these cans since their inception in California (which happened before you guys had the honor of following CARB regulations)... I've concluded the best thing to do with the spout is to simply remove it.
Everything in those videos was intuitive to me except what to use for a vent. I thought it was ingenious that they drilled a half-inch hole (paddle wood bit would be better than the spiral flute bit they used though) and inserted an automotive tire valve sans the stem.
Pulling out the locking "trigger" was obvious, I agree.
Personally, I defeat the child-proof lock simply by knocking off the nub on the red plastic, whereas in the videos, they redundantly cut both the nub and the ratchet (either one would have worked alone).
That child-proof feature is odd though, because even with it removed, it's still darn difficult to get the cap off.
It's my opinion that any 'kid' strong enough to remove that cap is certainly already old enough to defeat the ratchet lock on his own anyway.
Overall, after experiencing these cans since their inception in California (which happened before you guys had the honor of following CARB regulations)... I've concluded the best thing to do with the spout is to simply remove it.
Everything in those videos was intuitive to me except what to use for a vent. I thought it was ingenious that they drilled a half-inch hole (paddle wood bit would be better than the spiral flute bit they used though) and inserted an automotive tire valve sans the stem.
Pulling out the locking "trigger" was obvious, I agree.
Personally, I defeat the child-proof lock simply by knocking off the nub on the red plastic, whereas in the videos, they redundantly cut both the nub and the ratchet (either one would have worked alone).
That child-proof feature is odd though, because even with it removed, it's still darn difficult to get the cap off.
It's my opinion that any 'kid' strong enough to remove that cap is certainly already old enough to defeat the ratchet lock on his own anyway.
Overall, after experiencing these cans since their inception in California (which happened before you guys had the honor of following CARB regulations)... I've concluded the best thing to do with the spout is to simply remove it.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here.
All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.