Blowing Up the Longhouse
— Dr_Insensitive_Jerk (@DrInsensitive) November 1, 2024
By law, this heater is equipped with a thermal switch that shuts off the gas if the flame goes out. It is marketed as a safety feature, but it is something else entirely.
This post will not attract engagements, because our culture has been successfully… pic.twitter.com/kdDnAiOtII
This is just a simple example of the even more extreme long-housing of small engine plastic gasoline containers.
It is damned nigh impossible to get modern gas containers to drain successfully using the built-in no-flow spout.
I say no-flow because that is clearly the priority here.
The solution is to buy a normal spout off Amazon, intended (I presume) for five gallon water jugs.
Or buy the D-cell battery operated siphon that pumps gas very efficiently out of your gas container with the idiotic spout/plug removed.
That siphon pumps a lot of gas very fast. So what is gained by the unusable spout? I suppose it prevents spillage should the container fall off a shelf. Gee, but I can remember the days when one did that with a spout that had a screw-on plug. Of course in those days the container was metal.
That’s why my primary lawnmower gasoline container is a 1950’s USMC Jerry Can.
Yep, an outdoor heater does not need a “thermal shutoff” of that kind, and even from a safety POV, it’s worse than not having one (because systems can malfunction, while systems that don’t exist, can’t).
As as for gas cans, I got a rude shock when I tried to buy a replacement for my ancient one (had to, the plastic had gone brittle). Utterly unsuited for the purpose. My new one is a 5 gallon metal water can, which has an engine-oil filler for a spout. Works great.
I bought and read his SF novel “God’s Girlfriend”. Enjoyed it. He’s obviously encountered the Australian bureaucracy.
“because systems can malfunction, while systems that don’t exist, can’t”
The best part is no part.