picking white gas cans that don't stink

Common Coleman Filter Funnel sold for many years now. Mine come in a ziplock baggie.

 

Yeah, mine was also zip bagged, with instructions printed on the bag. Came with both stoves I bought. Someone on YouTube says that's not true anymore, that you have to buy it separately now. But, they were from the U.K., so who knows. YouTube videos will talk about how to properly fill with this kind of funnel, and I learned my snorkel position is wrong. It's supposed to be horizontal / sideways, not pointing straight down like I've been doing it. I bumped it at some point, and just put it back in whatever position I guessed was correct. Which was wrong.

I've yet to see a video about the proper way to clean the funnel. While looking, I came upon the product of another industry, where they absolutely do have to get the filtering right. Lawnmower / small engine stuff. There's something called a "Mr. Funnel" that is designed to take water out of gasoline. Sound familiar to the Coleman funnel directions? Steve's Small Engine Saloon has a video: Does Mr. Funnel Fuel Filter Really Remove Water From Gasoline The answer is YES, it works; he proves / demonstrates it.

So whatever the filter in a Mr. Funnel is made out of, the Coleman funnel is probably similar, if not the same. So now I'm a lot more likely to find out what kind of filter medium this is. And whether it's compatible with isopropyl alcohol.

While searching around, I noticed one of the official Coleman cleaning directions, is to use denatured alcohol to clean the inside of a stove, not rubbing alcohol. Because the latter has water in it, and leaving any water inside your stove is bad. Bet you and other folks around here already knew that, but I didn't. Not that I had attempted cleaning the inside of a stove yet, but with that 424, it's coming up.

 

A lot of overlanders put a rooftop carrier on their vehicle, and carry any objectionable items in that, outside the car. Maybe something similar would work for you.

 

Air tight container, like Pelican?

 

Re: rooftop carriers, I have the attention and theft concerns of an urban camper. Don't want anyone noticing my strange vehicle with a rooftop carrier and calling the law. Don't want anyone taking things when I'm away from my vehicle, or trying to. For some other kind of camper, i.e. forest camper who is going to be attending "their" campsite the whole time, such things would work a lot better.

Even that can be a problem, like attending your forest campsite. I lost $500 worth of camping gear my 1st year, because I went into town to get a $2.50 Walmart coffee cup. I called it my Mug Of Death until it finally broke on some road in Idaho. I left it there.

Re: Pelican Air case. Didn't know about those. Looks interesting, but spendy! Would need to know if that's meant to hold up to fuel vapors, and contains such vapors. Call me silly but I don't actually know if being watertight, is the same as airtight, is the same as tight to fine gases?

Funnels...

The general class of device is a hydrophobic filter. That's the engineering terminology I will be further investigating. I don't know how many different ways there are to make a hydrophobic filter, but here's an article about making them from a [PTFE Membrane](Main Applications Of Hydrophobic And Hydrophilic PTFE Membrane Filter):

So there is at least 1 class of filter product, where my caution about throwing isopropyl alcohol onto things, is totally justified. It's part of their manufacturing process, and I'd need to be pretty convinced that more alcohol, absolutely is always an improvement or stable endgame. What I learned with my tail light, is alcohol destroys all kinds of stuff. Some things it destroys quickly, others slowly. There are compatibility sheets giving a rough idea of how much any given substance, say a specific plastic, can handle. These sheets exist because, say, chemists storing chemicals, have to use the right stuff. Or people get injured and die.

 

I have seen some in thrift stores.

 

I'll keep my eyes peeled if I walk into a Goodwill.

Hydrophobic filters...

Turns out there are many kinds. Some place's filter media selector lists: Mixed Cellulose Esters (MCE), Nylon, Polypropylene (PP), Glass Fiber, PVDF Polyvinylidene fluoride, PTFE Polytetrafluoroethylene, Regenerated Cellulose (RC), Cellulose Acetate, and Polyethersulfone. I don't know if this list is exhaustive. It does prove that absent some kind of great internet luck, it's impossible to know exactly what a "modern red" Coleman funnel's filtering material is made out of. Or even if they always kept it the same.

Interestingly, their compatibility chart says isopropanol is compatible with all these media. So that raises the odds of it working without any long term problem.

The chart says [Kerosene, Gasoline] have limited compatibility with Polyethersulfone (PES) and Polypropylene (PP), so a Coleman filter is probably not made out of those. Additionally, those media are incompatible with toulene, benzene, hexane, and xylene.

This site is oriented towards biological application, so I think I'll keep looking for some info that's more industrial. Like what if there are common types of industrial / inorganic hydrophobic filters, that these biological folk don't care about? And what if those filters are incompatible with isopropanol?

An empiricist would probably take my truly disgusting funnel that got contaminated with ancient gasoline, and see if it passes water. i.e. Is it a good hydrophobic filter, or meh? Then see if 70% isopropyl alcohol cleans it up. If it's destroyed it's destroyed. Already seems like garbage right now.

But as I slacked off on hitting the road this evening, and intend to leave tomorrow "morning", I may not. Maybe in a few weeks. And maybe in the interim, I'll finally hit the internet researching jackpot?

 

Another company selling even more kinds of filters. Their compatibility with isopropanol is Recommended for most of their products. Except Nitrocellulose (NCE) which has only Limited Resistance, testing recommended before use. Gasoline and Kerosene are Recommended except with Polyethersulfone (PES), which is listed as "Test". Unlike the previous vendor, they don't call out Polypropylene (PP) as a problem. I guess that means getting a second opinion is good; who do you believe? Toulene, benzene, and xylene are listed as harming more stuff than the previous site said.

Kinda get the feeling this is all for laboratory stuff. Who is selling a big chunk of filtering material, like we actually see in a Coleman funnel? That could change things.

Interesting blurb from yet another compatibility chart:

 

On the smell issue, perhaps one of those big dog food bags will do to put your fuel container in? At least here in sweden they are usually very heavy duty mylar bags with zip-lock openings.
The metal foil in the plastic should seal in all smells, and the bag looks more ordinary than any specialized containers. Just a thought.

 

A second to @pysen78 . I keep my M1950 in an old dry cat food bag. Works well for smell.

 

Interesting; didn't know mylar did things about odors.

 

Every night somewhere different. I went a week during a difficult time and I was a bit paranoid. Can't say I had troubles with smelling fuels. I refill from jerrycans a fair bit. I used truck stop showers and assumed someone had scoped my vehicle parked overnight or early AM so I got on my way early. When its early, truck stop coffee seems to hit the spot.

Dog. I never did it, but if I had owned a dog like you, having a late walk would be a good time to check out the immediate area.

I am planning to try it for a few months over summer. I have a diesel 4x4, a dog, and 4 chickens with me (secure in a trailer). There's fish everywhere. There's plenty of properties out west wanting someone to hold the keys while they have holidays. Never know for sure 'til I try it of course. I do have people i know to visit with as well.

 

It's said that with covid you can lose some sense of smell. Maybe you should not of hid out during the pandemic

 

The most frustrating minor thing to me about covid, is there was a time when gas was so cheap, I could have crossed the USA and back for a song. But every single roadside museum would have been closed. Not much point in driving all those miles if there's nothing to do. We also didn't have vaccines for awhile, so I had a good reason to hide.

Things changed. Gas is almost double what it was, and will probably be double again shortly. Well I can still manage a local trip. See some fall leaves in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

This morning, when I opened the car door I didn't smell anything. Maybe the "airtight" plastic container helped. When I lifted the glass lid of the "pot pan", I did smell the matches though. Those gotta get replaced.

Later this morning, when it got warmer, I smelled something. But a lawn crew has been doing a lot of work, so it could have just been their gas powered leaf blowers, and some other aeration machinery they were operating.

Probably departing in an hour.

 

Have been to a few more stores now that sell Coleman fuel. Haven't really been able to huff odors from those cans. Whereas, a can of Crown white gas at the Marion NC Walmart was awfully beat up, and reeking! Seems like the handling of these cans, for some reason, can be really garbage. Is that another way they're made cheaper?

So here's a problem with Walmart's "deal" on that fuel, when you order online. You're not gonna pick the can out yourself. Someone's gonna bring it to you in a bag. So you'd wanna check if it's foul; although in my case, I didn't much need to explicitly check! 5 minutes said, this is bad, going back inside. Now then one could do an exchange drill, I suppose. Lotta work just to get that "discount".

My fuel funnel hasn't been used yet again, and it still stinks. Fortunately, the plastic gasketed container seems to be keeping the smells contained. I think? We have other smell issues going on in the car right now, either pollen or construction dust residues. Or both, not sure. We did manage to sleep ok last night in the car though, in maybe 45*F weather. Windows slightly vented. It's driving down the highway, that we often have problems. Seems if I do any kind of venting or airflow, the dog goes crazy.

I did finally buy new matches and toss the decade old ones. A small contribution to our cause.

Going to cook some chicken tonight, which means filling the stove up. So we'll see if we suffer any for it.

 

Cooked chicken thighs and salmon with the Coleman 533 one-burner today. I was clumsy but successful at both. The largeish "pot pan" was not unstable like I thought it would be. I don't think I need to worry about making a larger support for it.

I totally failed fuel filling school though. Not a drop on the can. Didn't put the funnel in with the specified 1/4 turn, and I think this was responsible for fuel pouring all over the place, when it got near to full. I used the stove for a long time after that and did not wash it off. I depressurized it before storing it in a gallon ziplock bag.

The stove is definitely stinking in my car now. I don't think the ziplock bag is punctured, but in any event it's doing very little good. I'm going to try washing the stove, particularly where I know I spilled. I'm doubting this is going to help much though.

I also tried running tap water through the red funnel. The white filter slows it down but does not stop it. Using water may have removed a few fuel residues, but definitely didn't get it clean. Fortunately, the plastic gasketed contaner does seem to be working for containing the smell.

I may go look for some food product that comes in a large enough mylar bag.

 

My poor dog was tortured all afternoon by stove fumes, whenever I left him in the car. At first I didn't quite know what was going on. Then I figured it out, but still had to torture him some while trying to find a solution. I made his time cooped up shorter though, gave him walks and aired out the car in between sessions searching at stores.

There are surprisingly few dog food bags made out of mylar at regular grocery stores, or even bulk big box pet food stores like PetSmart. The ones that are available, they want more than $20 for a small amount of food. I wasn't willing to do it just to get a bag. I don't actually believe in dog food; I cooked organic chicken and wild caught salmon for us this morning. Buying an expensive dog food "with" salmon is a serious step down for us!

I have this quirk of my life that I have piles of food stamps, and not nearly as much cash. So I went looking for human food products that come in mylar bags. There are very few. At Walmart I only found "Beer Mix" ? It's like that stuff they put in a cup in bars. Pretzels and nuts and sticks of stuff, I'm sure all totally coated in MSG. The ingredients list was so long my eyes glazed over. That would have been about $9, but would require me to buy food I don't want, that I might have thrown away. I tried going to an Ingles but didn't find anything. Then Whole Foods. There aren't too many more grocery stores to try, maybe Harris Teeter and Fresh Market. Not sure if EarthFare is still open anymore. You can still see their signage on the highway though. Those are all in a different part of town and it was getting late.

As an expedient, I wrapped up the stinky stove in most of my plastic grocery bags. Generally speaking if memory serves, they're #2 HDPE plastic. I'd tie one knot up, then one knot down, then up, then down. Can't remember how many I used, but something like 4 to 6 of them. It did solve the problem, for now. The dog did not squawk in the car anymore.

My abundant readings on the subject of carrying fuel, reminded me that people use paint cans. I was near a Lowe's Hardware and they were still open. I bought an empty gallon can, having taken measurements that my Coleman 533 one-burner stove should fit in it. It did, barely. Had to wiggle some of the armatures back and forth until finally it went in. I didn't take the plastic bags off before I did that operation either. Whole thing went in. I was able to seal the can with mere thumb pressure, once I put it on the concrete outside the car. I really don't know how easy it's going to be to get open again, in a reusable way. Maybe I should go back into the store and ask what tool people use? Something more upscale than a screwdriver.

This was a less than $6 experiment, my kind of pricing. I'm pretty confident that's the end of the stove smell. Until I have to open and then seal that can up again.

 

You'll find 'paint can openers' on line; looks like a couple bucks per.

Curved a bit where the srewdriver is flat. Beer can opener on the back end, which is a bonus.

 

I never noticed any odor from the Crown 1 gal containers I've bought before and I have a fairly sensitive nose. Perhaps those were bad cans or production changed.

A thought on the funnel: Have you considered hiding it underneath the hood? A terrible idea, easily lost and in the warm engine compartment yes but for when the car is parked and cold, some kind of nook/cranny with a container that will prevent it from falling deeper into the engine bay seems like a reasonable idea? You'd need to remember to take it out every time you start the car up but you won't be in the same space as the source of white gas odors. It'd at least be a secured compartment that isn't readily accessible from the outside.

Also as alternatives to the Coleman funnel, there are some "straight through" funnels with a mesh screen like the Optimus funnel (bent at a slight angle) or the Coghlan funnel. Those sorts of funnels can fully "dry out" at least. If you remove the mesh screen there's even less surface for fuel to collect on.

Furthermore, you could transfer the fuel into something like the Trangia bottle or any aluminum bottle with Sigg threads with a Trangia filler cap on it. The Trangia filler cap will hold a small quantity of fuel after pouring but not too much in my experience. If allowed to air out for a hour the smell goes away completely. A sealed Trangia bottle and cap seems to hold up in regards to having the cap screwed down fully for odor control. I've had kerosene/white gas mixes before and they only become apparent (the kerosene part specifically) after I ignited a white gas stove (whoops, needed more prewarming for that time...)

A less "proper" alternative is 64oz HDPE jugs, some of them are offered with a foil seal underneath the cap. You can also buy the little foil seals alone off of various places inclusive of eBay it seems.

I still think that HDPE itself has some degree of permeability (same as gas cans) to some of the smaller hydrocarbon molecules but perhaps the better sealing at the cap is enough of an offset to nullify that. I'd still maybe bet on the aluminum fuel bottles as I've never had any issues with odor from them when they're sealed up with a cap (or with a pump from a stove).

 

I have a bunch of 20l NATO military surplus fuel cans, and they are the only fuel can which I can strap down in the back of my station wagon, and not smell fuel from. I am admittedly not sensitive to such things.

Wavian, the current manufacturer, sells a 5l version. This would let you store a full gallon of white gasoline, as well as being able to refill it when you got down to 1 liter.

Make sure you get a genuine Wavian can, and be prepared to pay for it.