Spare fuel in the car

[Van-Wild]

Does anyone carry spare fuel inside their vehicle? On my van, I carried spare fuel externally, in my pick up I carry spare fuel in the load bed (truckman cover).

Does anyone carry spare fuel in the boot of their vehicle? Some of us carry spare gear in our vehicles, but how many of us carry spare fuel?

Just musing that's all......

 

[TeeDee]

Does anyone carry spare fuel inside their vehicle? On my van, I carried spare fuel externally, in my pick up I carry spare fuel in the load bed (truckman cover).

Does anyone carry spare fuel in the boot of their vehicle? Some of us carry spare gear in our vehicles, but how many of us carry spare fuel?

Just musing that's all......

Reason for the musing ?

I used to carry extra in my Fourtrak .

None in my little MX5 Mazda for obvs reasons.

Once the Delica is more in use I will contemplate having some reserve about it.


Interested in your thoughts on why you are asking?

 

[Damascus]

I did when I lived in Germany, it’s a legal requirement, then for a few years in the uk, till the kids came on the scene, ran out space!

 

[Van-Wild]

Reason for the musing ?

I used to carry extra in my Fourtrak .

None in my little MX5 Mazda for obvs reasons.

Once the Delica is more in use I will contemplate having some reserve about it.


Interested in your thoughts on why you are asking?

Just literally musing mate. Its what happens when I'm doing nowt.... .

But now you made me think about why I'm thinking.... so I guess I'm thinking because I know its unlikely that we will actually run out of fuel these days but I drive to remote places sometimes for work so I carry 20ltrs all the time. But what about carrying spare fuel in an average car? Your common-a-garden 5 door hatchback? Where would you stow it and how?

 

[Pattree]

I have no reason to carry fuel in UK. I tend to fill up before I get down to a quarter tank. Long ago when Wales shut on Sundays it was sometimes touch and go whether my BSA combo would make it to the border but I never did run out.

I have thought about keeping some at home but throughout various fuel crises I’ve never been unable to find what I need.

 

[Laurentius]

I do, hangover from the days when I used to drive a landie. Wondering what we will do when we are all forced to go electric, how long will it take to charge from a generator kept in the boot?

 

[Toddy]

I do much like Pattree, but I fill up when the wee indicator thing just goes below the half way.
When I was working in some truly remote areas I admit there were times I wished I did have an extra tankful just in case. Never actually ran out though.

I think if I were driving a car with low mileage, then it might be more of an issue but modern cars .....I average well over forty to the gallon.

M

 

[Pattree]

Luckily that won’t happen in my lifetime and it may not even in yours.(edit - all cars being electric)
I’ll be driving diesel cars till I drop off the twig. IF they keep the present target and if I continue to drive four year old cars and if I can keep them going for five or six years I’m all set. I’ll have stopped driving before that.
Of course I shall have to pay some sort of penitence tax for persisting with diesel.

That’s a thought. As fuel stations gradually close down I may need to start carrying fuel but not just yet.
There is no way that I’d carry petrol inside my car!

 

[Paul_B]

20 odd years ago my escort went from north Lancashire up to Glenrothes and back on one full tank and a fiver put in at Carlisle just in case but the needle was where it was before I put it in when I got home so wasn't needed. That cost me £35 and I got £280 back in business mileage allowance for that journey. Made my day when I saw that in my bank account!

Now I take the view that I can fill up all over the place. In the few places I might go with petrol stations far apart I predict that and fill up before the last one. I drive a converted vivaro swb and it is not that efficient but has a big tank to it. We went from north Lancashire to various places in a tour of parts of Scotland and in two weeks we never once found ourselves at risk of running out of fuel. Is a tank of flammable liquid in your boot really worth it? Is it really needed or is that prepping too much? I reckon if you live and work in the more remote places of the UK then perhaps extra fuel means you need to take that longish journey to refill less frequently. Not many fit that description I reckon.

BTW are you allowed to fill up fuel canisters much above those emergency plastic ones? I think plastic they're the biggest but all metal you can fill bigger. Is the capacity of these any better than just being aware of your fuel levels and keeping topped up above a certain proportion of your car's fuel tank? Basic driving skill or action I reckon.

 

[Pattree]

I’ve seen people filling up Jerry cans (20l 4,5gal) at my local garage but there is a limit of two containers whatever size.

I don’t know how general that is.

 

[Tantalus]

I did when I lived in Germany, it’s a legal requirement, then for a few years in the uk, till the kids came on the scene, ran out space!

Not sure this is true. I lived there for 10 years and even took an HGV test there in the 1990s, never heard of such a thing.
Anyway back on topic, always had a can in the back of the Landy because you never knew if the gauge was working properly and those things are a pig to push even to the side of the road and boy were they thirsty, also those days if you did run out you had to manually bleed the air out the system with a spanner at the roadside if you did run it dry.
The habit continued as I live fairly rural and there is always the possibility of an "Ooops forgot to fill the car again" moment.
This year I bought a much newer car and a few reasonably priced petrol stations have opened on some of my most travelled routes. ( Remember when the rural stations used to cost an arm a leg and a kidney for half a tank?)
Haven't really decided if I need a can in the back but I have one in the shed just in case I ever make up my mind.
At some point someone will work out how much fuel is actually used carting a full tankfull and a jerrycan full around (maybe 60 or 70 kilos total) compared to limping from petrol station to petrol station on a max of 20 liters a time. Am fairly sure over a year it would make financial sense but can anyone really think, say, running out of fuel while stuck in a traffic jam for 4 hours for example an acceptable risk?

 

[Tantalus]

BTW are you allowed to fill up fuel canisters much above those emergency plastic ones?

Short answer, yes you are but yes they should be suitably approved.
More info here

Are Jerry Cans legal? What is the law on fuel cans? - Jerry Cans UK | Wavian Quality Fuel Cans & Accessories

Here you will find the answers for the following common questions : • How much fuel can I store in my vehicle or home? • How many containers am I allowed to fill up? • What sizes of fuel cans may I use • Are there different laws for plastic and metal cans? • Petrol station etiquette

www.jerrycans.co.uk

 

[Van-Wild]

Why wouldn't you carry spare fuel in your car? Metal fuel cans are odourless (well, the better quality ones are) and so long as its secured properly then its fine. What concerns people about having spare fuel inside the vehicle?

I fill up 10ltr and 20ltr metal fuel cans at the garage. Properly approved cans. Never had a problem.

I rotate the fuel every month.

 

[slowworm]

I've not found the need to keep petrol in my car. I have a quality can that I'll bring fuel home but if left in the car overnight I can detect the smell the next day. My car has a tank that'll go for up to 600 miles when full so I don't have a need.

I would also wonder about insurance, bringing fuel home in the legal limits and containers you should be ok, keeping fuel in a vehicle may be excluded by some insurers.

 

[Van-Wild]

I've not found the need to keep petrol in my car. I have a quality can that I'll bring fuel home but if left in the car overnight I can detect the smell the next day. My car has a tank that'll go for up to 600 miles when full so I don't have a need.

I would also wonder about insurance, bringing fuel home in the legal limits and containers you should be ok, keeping fuel in a vehicle may be excluded by some insurers.

Good point. I just checked my insurance and I'm covered. you can store up to 30ltrs of fuel at home legally.

 

[Paul_B]

What about driving around? Does your car insurance cover it too?

Why do you need extra fuel? If in doubt stop and fill your tank to the brim. If you have a dodgy gauge then replace or learn how it's dodgy. Our seat developed a dodgy gauge. It kind of stuck at quarter full then suddenly jumped down to red. Simple to fill up on hitting a quarter tank.

These things come with understanding your vehicle I reckon. You learn how it handles so adjust your driving to suit. You learn how the car runs and adjust. Things like little tricks for cold starting. This is part of running a vehicle. Extra fuel seems like missing out on part of this or not trusting yourself with managing the quirks your vehicle has.

Personally I've seen cars set on fire and the damage to car and road. Adding a lot more fuel to the mix even if the risk is small doesn't make sense. Certainly in the UK. I guess in larger less densely populated countries but many with Jerry cans in their boot here are UK based. Of course it's personal choice, it's just that I don't understand where the need for it is.

 

[Broch]

Good point. I just checked my insurance and I'm covered. you can store up to 30ltrs of fuel at home legally.

Petrol, you can have hundreds of litres of 28sec fuel or diesel provided it's in an approved tank.

 

[Van-Wild]

What about driving around? Does your car insurance cover it too?

Why do you need extra fuel? If in doubt stop and fill your tank to the brim. If you have a dodgy gauge then replace or learn how it's dodgy. Our seat developed a dodgy gauge. It kind of stuck at quarter full then suddenly jumped down to red. Simple to fill up on hitting a quarter tank.

These things come with understanding your vehicle I reckon. You learn how it handles so adjust your driving to suit. You learn how the car runs and adjust. Things like little tricks for cold starting. This is part of running a vehicle. Extra fuel seems like missing out on part of this or not trusting yourself with managing the quirks your vehicle has.

Personally I've seen cars set on fire and the damage to car and road. Adding a lot more fuel to the mix even if the risk is small doesn't make sense. Certainly in the UK. I guess in larger less densely populated countries but many with Jerry cans in their boot here are UK based. Of course it's personal choice, it's just that I don't understand where the need for it is.

Maybe you don't understand the need for it, but others may do. It's like a torniquet, some don't see the need, and they'll just whip their belt off and be able to apply the required force to stop a femoral bleed with no training when the needs arises....

I suppose its risk vs reward isn't it? You can risk not having spare fuel, or a torniquet, but if you suddenly need it (for you or for helping someone else) then you really need it and having fuel or that torniquet at home ain't gonna help when you're out of the house.....

Knowing your vehicle is fine, but can you predict a fuel gauge failure? Can you predict that fuel station being closed or out of service for any number of reasons?

 

[Paul_B]

Pepper mentality! What about total global collapse? What about... risk vs reward. As I said it's personal choice even personal view of the risks but I just do not see the risks being sufficient. I have experienced maybe 10 cases where there was a doubt about having enough fuel. One was after a fuel gauge started to stick at a certain level, others were when there was a fuel shortage more recently and others were in the 70s. I think also a Welsh issue with shut stations on our way home as a kid. Got towards Chester and found fuel was available. Never had a situation when I had run out of fuel or needed to carry any.

One situation it looked that way but an issue with the ecu being faulty and my tank was actually 1/4 full.

So despite travelling into more rural areas of Britain (including NI and the Republic) I've never found a single need for carrying fuel. I've been close due to fuel delivery strikes, etc. I wonder how I manage to plan for this?

 

[Van-Wild]

Pepper mentality! What about total global collapse? What about... risk vs reward. As I said it's personal choice even personal view of the risks but I just do not see the risks being sufficient. I have experienced maybe 10 cases where there was a doubt about having enough fuel. One was after a fuel gauge started to stick at a certain level, others were when there was a fuel shortage more recently and others were in the 70s. I think also a Welsh issue with shut stations on our way home as a kid. Got towards Chester and found fuel was available. Never had a situation when I had run out of fuel or needed to carry any.

One situation it looked that way but an issue with the ecu being faulty and my tank was actually 1/4 full.

So despite travelling into more rural areas of Britain (including NI and the Republic) I've never found a single need for carrying fuel. I've been close due to fuel delivery strikes, etc. I wonder how I manage to plan for this?

You do you buddy!