Keeping spare petrol in the boot of my car?

Wig

You might be more fortunate than others financially, but there are plenty of people who do find there is not much money to go around. I find your dismissal of reason 1 above as "silly" incredibly arrogant.

The other 2 reasons I have done myself on quite a few occasions, it has nothing to do with "driving skills" general or otherwise. It is just plain common sense and planning ahead.

peter999

Hapless wrote: »

Well petrol can go "off" so it should be used within a week.

:rotfl:

Have always kept can of petrol in boot, you never know when you might just cut it too fine on petrol gauge, get stranded & it could be a long long walk or even at night when petrol stations may be shut.

peter999

moonrakerz

Wig wrote: »

You might be more fortunate than others financially, but there are plenty of people who do find there is not much money to go around. I find your dismissal of reason 1 above as "silly" incredibly arrogant.
.

Ah - first sign of someone losing an argument - resort to insults !

You say you might be waiting for a cheque to clear - fine ! To use that as a reason for carrying a can of petrol in the boot in case you run out is totally illogical.
If you've only got £10 to buy petrol why put half in the tank and half in a can, in case you run out ? Bizarre !

If you can afford to buy a can and fill it with petrol why not use ALL that money for extra petrol in the tank !
You make it sound as though anything in the can is free - you paid for it - put it in the tank !!

As I said - Silly - 'cos that's what it is !

peter999

moonrakerz wrote: »

If you've only got £10 to buy petrol why put half in the tank and half in a can, in case you run out ? Bizarre !

You obviously don't understand the way an emergency petrol can works, do you !!

peter999

Wig

When you are running low on petrol, you eventually run out of petrol, if you have 5 litres in the boot of your car, you add that to the tank You know 100% that you now have 5 litres before the car runs out of petrol again (I can't believe I'm having to explain this to you) so you know you have approx 1 gallon in the tank, you know roughly the mpg your car returns so you know you have lets say 30 miles of range in order to Get home/destination or Go to a petrol station (depending on what your preference is and the distance to your home/destination).


If you know that you are going to be in the situation where you will be running your car with the petrol light on - i.e. a tank almost empty. Then it is common sense to plan ahead and keep 5 litres in reserve, because in case you didn't know when the needle is at the bottom of the gauge and the light is on it is impossible to tell how many litres remain in the tank. You cannot predict at what point you will run out of petrol. Hence you keep a reserve 5 litres. incase you do run out. Once you have added the 5 litres you do know exactly how much you have left.

You've never heard of the concept of saving money in a bank account instead of spending it all before the end of the week? You've never heard of the phrase "save it for a rainy day" <<< I'm using this as an analogy about keeping 5 litres of petrol for emergencies. Someone on a low income might not have enough to save a bundle in a bank account. But they will probably have enough to save 5 litres in a can.

You don't understand the concept of planning ahead.

If ever there is a major disaster, or accident, I pity the survivors who end up with you in their group.

You think I was insulting you before? That wasn't an insult, I haven't got to the stage where I'm insulting you - yet. You're also a hypocrit because if your posts #35 & #41 aren't trying to be insulting I'll eat my hat. It was you who started insulting due to losing the argument so you might want to wipe off the egg from your face.

RichyRich

Why do these kinds of discussions always degenerate into personal insults?

The OP asked a very simple question: "is it safe to carry petrol in the boot of my car?"

Some people have opined that it is, and some have opined that it isn't. Whether you think it's necessary, pointless, daft or otherwise is, quite frankly, irrelevant. The question was whether it was safe.

Personally, I don't carry a can of fuel in my car as I keep my fuel topped up, because I don't like the fuel level to get so low that sediment gets dragged through the engine. Unfortunately I have no idea how safe carrying a can of petrol is, but if I needed to carry it for budgetary or other reasons I'd reckon that following the HSE's advice/recommended limits would be reasonably safe. The HSE are not known for recommending unsafe practices

I'll get off my soapbox now.

Rich

Paul_Varjak

I do mystery shopping surveys; one vehicle owner claimed that his petrol gauge went up and down in line with his rev counter!

So, keep the revs up and you will have petrol forever! The only problem is that, as a mystery shopper, I cannot tell you what make and model and vehicle he drives!

Joking aside, I always carry a fuel can but I never have any fuel in it!

anewman

Interestingly, often when my car is started the battery light stays on on the dash. Rev the engine slightly and it goes out and the petrol gauge goes up slightly (I assume due to the slight voltage increase when the alternator gets going). Apparently needing to rev a little on occasions to put out the alternator light is usual on my car. The petrol gauge also has another quirk. Go round corners, over bumps, slow down and speed up the gauge moves up and down :rotfl: And I mean all the way up and down.

jeannieblue

Its been sorted now and the OP knows he can carry petrol in a can in the boot for emergencies...

Can I just add that its reasonable to do this - it is a precautionary thing to do - not only to safe guard yourself but you never know if that can of spare fuel could help someone else out of trouble.

Superior beings who always drive around with a full tank... don't be too smug, you never ever know what is round the corner. Be it incorrect gauge, bad weather or an empty lawn mower. Don't judge - help.

moonrakerz

Wig wrote: »

You don't understand the concept of planning ahead.

I really must apologise, I obviously didn't understand your modus operandi.

When I plan ahead, I plan NOT to run out of fuel.
You, on the other hand actually plan TO run out of fuel, hence the need to carry spare fuel all the time.

How silly and stupid of me not to realise this !!!