This review has three parts: a CARB/EPA section, followed by a section comparing this can to other gas cans on the market, followed by my personal experiences using my cans.The short story: YES these cans are CARB and EPA compliant, and are safer and more durable than plastic cans or steel cans with plastic spouts.
CARB/EPA:
The long story: CARB stands for California Air Resources Board. They established environmental requirements for portable fuel containers in California, but many other states adopted the same regulation (CT, DE, D.C., ME, MD, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, TX, and VA), and finally the federal EPA adopted the same regulation, making CARB-approved cans the standard across all 50 states starting January 1, 2009. Portable fuel cans and nozzles sold MUST be CARB compliant or manufacturers face huge fines.
Here's why these CARB/EPA laws worried me: CARB is supposed to fine only manufacturers, but you will sometimes hear stories of cops ticketing people using non-CARB/EPA cans. (You are still allowed to use older cans if the older cans were made prior to the date that CARB went into effect in your state. That could be January 1, 2009 if you weren't already in a CARB state by that point. But if you were already in a CARB state prior to 2009, that date is earlier depending on date of legislative adoption of CARB.)
This product's description says nothing about CARB or EPA in the title, unlike its big brother, the "CARB Approved 5 Gallon Type II Gas Can" that's also made by Eagle. If you say "CARB Approved" for that can and not on this can, isn't it reasonable to think that this can is not CARB approved? Furthermore, if you go to CARB's webpage, this metal Eagle can doesn't appear on their list of CARB-approved products. (Their list is mostly made up of plastic cans that get poor reviews on Amazon.)
In the course of my digging for information, I discovered that this can is not on the CARB-approved list because it is EXEMPT from CARB! If you look at CCR § 2467.3(c), CARB regulations exempt cans meeting OSHA requirements under CFR § 1926.150 et. seq. I only found this out after digging through Eagle's website where they note the CARB exemption: "Eagle Safety Cans are permitted for use under the new CARB regulations via exemption no. 2467.3(c)."
So I worried about nothing. I'm glad I did the research anyway, because in the process, I learned a lot about plastic vs. metal cans and flame arrestors.
GAS CAN COMPARISON:
A few words on plastic vs. metal and flame arrestors:
Safety
For all gas cans, you're supposed to put the can on the ground to ground it (a truck bed doesn't count). That way, you reduce the risk of static electricity generating a spark that ignites fumes that reach into your gas can and detonate the liquid fuel inside. (This really happens sometimes, albeit very rarely and usually after someone re-enters the vehicle while fueling up, slides around on fabric to build up a charge, and then gets back out and touches the fueling nozzle which has been building up a charge of its own due to the moving gasoline. If you never re-enter the vehicle that should be fine since you already discharged yourself by touching the pump when you first touched it to begin fueling.) This Eagle can features a metal mesh flame arrestor, designed to stop flames from reaching the liquid fuel. As far as I can tell, none of the plastic cans sold by Amazon has a flame arrestor. So I am skeptical that cheaper plastic cans are as safe as metal ones.
Longevity
Even if we assume plastic gas cans are as safe as metal ones with flame arrestors, I believe an old metal can will outperform an old plastic can. Most plastic cans are made out of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). Gasoline will slowly evaporate through untreated HDPE, and even if the can is treated or lined like some plastic containers are, the plastic can degrade from the outside as well (sunlight, temperature changes, wear and tear).
The best-reviewed plastic gas can on Amazon is the No-Spill, which has a "view stripe" made of translucent plastic that doesn't look as tough as the rest of the can. A can is only as strong as its weakest link. And people say the plastic caps degrade and break over time on the No-Spills. No-Spill will replace caps for free under warranty, but I'd rather they not break in the first place. Also, what happens when you go out of warranty? And what if No-Spill has another product recall, like they did a few years ago regarding leaky caps?
Metal cans are not indestructible either. A lot of gasoline in the US now contains ethanol; for some states, it's almost impossible to find gasoline that isn't diluted with 10% ethanol or more. Galvanized steel (which is what this Eagle can is made out of) will eventually succumb to ethanol and impurities contained in ethanol, over the course of decades. Other than avoiding tainted gasoline whenever possible, there's not much you can do against that. One thing you can do is to use a chemical stabilizer like Sta-Bil, PRI-G, Sea Foam, or StarTron. Stabilizers try to prevent the gasoline from separating as quickly; many also try to suspend water molecules inside the gasoline so that it won't pool at the bottom of the can and accelerate corrosion. If you store ethanol-tainted gasoline then you may want to avoid Sea Foam since unlike the others, it contains IPA alcohol (which absorbs water from water vapor in the air like ethanol does), and some people say that adding IPA alcohol to ethanol-laced gasoline is overkill/redundant. (Side note: Ethanol is a multi-billion dollar boondoggle. The process to make it out of corn actually takes more energy than you get back (think of all the oil in tractors; fertilizer; water pumps; transport; etc. that goes into farming corn). Even if you made ethanol out of something more energy-efficient than corn, ethanol contains water and is corrosive and thus requires specially modified pipelines and containers to transport = high extra cost. Biodiesel does not have this problem and can be shipped on existing infrastructure.)
One last note about longevity: most of the can is metal, but the handle you pull to release the spout is made out of plastic, as is the funnel. Plastic will degrade, but at least the body of the can is metal, so the plastic won't be touching gasoline nonstop and thus may last longer. Also, the red paint flaked off in a few places on the bottom of my can, leaving what is probably bare galvanized steel that will wear down to the bare steel over time. So the can may rust from the outside-in, not just the inside-out. I am going to take care of this problem by spraying some automotive primer on it and then using water-resistant paint over the primer.
Price
If you don't plan to use a gas can much, a plastic can may be more economical. The 5-gallon No-Spill goes for $27, plus another $5 for an extension nozzle if you want to use it comfortably with cars, as of the time of this review. So you save a little money over a metal can like this Eagle. In the long run, though, I think you'd at least break even with the metal can and get a safer product, because you don't have to worry about broken plastic caps or degraded plastic, and you also get a flame arrestor.
As for the plastic cans made by companies other than No-Spill, they either have bad reviews, or they are going out of business (it's hard to get replacement caps from a nonexistent company!), or both. Blitz USA is permanently closing its gas-can manufacturing operations at the end of July 2012 due to lawsuits alleging defective product design due to lack of a flame arrestor (I don't know if that is true or not, but even if that were true, I feel bad for the employees who got laid off, as most of them had no role in designing the Blitz cans).
After considering all of the above, I paid a little extra to get this metal can instead of a plastic one. I also wanted to avoid Justrite because a) it's taller and wouldn't fit in my car trunk as easily; and b) the Justrite design is structurally weaker (the Justrite is built like a tin can with two seams, whereas the Eagle is built with a single seam near the bottom, sort of like a soda can but not quite). The Justrite does have a metal handle, though, which is better than Eagle. And both the Justrite and Eagle have metal spring-loaded lids, which is far better than the Briggs/Stratton steel wannabe-jerry can. I say wannabe because it's a fake jerry can like most consumer jerry cans--it doesn't have the NATO-style venting or steel clamp and lid. Instead, the B/S "jerry" can has a plastic spout. The plastic spout is obviously the weak link, will degrade over time, and defeats the purpose of getting a steel can in the first place, at least for me.
PERSONAL EXPERIENCES:
I received this product and it says on the can itself "CARB COMPLIANT." Great, Eagle, but why not advertise it as CARB/EPA compliant like you do your Eagle Type II can? It seems like a simple enough thing to do.
Filling with gas from a regular gas station pump can be tricky. To fill, put the can on the ground and discharge your static electricity if you haven't already, e.g., by touching any large metal object such as the outside of your car or the fuel station pump. This eliminates any possibility of a spark. (Chances are you already touched something, even if it's just punching the octane button on the pump. About the only common way you'd build up a lot of static charge is if you go back into your car and slide around a car seat or something. So don't get too paranoid about this.)
Then use one hand to open this can, and the other to lightly push the gas station fuel nozzle into the can. Do not press too hard or the sensor at the tip of the nozzle will think it's in contact with fuel and thus refuse to start. Also, some newer gas pumps require pulling back the black rubbery ring around the nozzle in order to trick it into thinking that the gas pump has made contact with the side of a car. Just continue to pull on the rubbery ring with your hand until you are done fueling up. The fueling should automatically stop after about 4.7 gallons. You can try to top off the can with a little more fuel after that, but you will still not quite hit 5.0 gallons... maybe 4.85 gallons.
Fueling tanks with vertical openings is easy. First, tap the gas can mouth a few times to let any pressurized gas escape. (This is like opening a soda can slowly, rather than all at once... let the built-up pressure slowly escape first.) Fit the funnel into the gas can mouth with the ears lined up to the metal, and the can mouth poking through the hole. Make sure you press hard on the funnel so that the metal can mouth is literally poking through the hole! Then just pour, at an increasingly steep angle. The funnel does a good job of preventing sloshes from becoming spills.
Fueling up cars starts the same way--tap to release a little pressure, then attach the funnel and pour. However, car gas tank openings are usually set at an angle, rather than straight up-and-down vertical. The angle prevents you from completely emptying the can in one pour. You can get about 2-3 gallons out. Then you will have to detach the funnel and flip it upside down and stick it into the car's tank. Pour the remaining fuel into the funnel slowly. It's harder to avoid spills when the funnel isn't attached, but it's doable if you have reasonably steady hands. If you have shaky hands, or if you (like me) don't want to deal with such a small margin of error, then consider getting multiple funnels (pour funnel into funnel; you can even do this with the second funnel rotated 90 degrees to help with the angle) or a funnel hose attachment (or make one from appropriate-diameter garden hose and some tape) or a Type II safety can with a built-in fueling nozzle.
Side note: After one too many times of standing in the cold trying to keep the can steady, I gave up and got a separate metal funnel. Now I just pour the Eagle can with yellow funnel into the metal funnel, braced against the gas tank door of my car. This gives me a huge margin for error and I haven't spilled anything yet. I know they make plastic flexfunnels but I don't trust those not to break, so I got a galvanized steel funnel with flexible pipe, instead. Although part of me wishes I bought a Type II can in the first place, there are advantages to buying the cheaper Type I can and flexfunnel separately: you can use one flexfunnel for all your cans, and if it breaks it's cheap to replace whereas a Type II can is expensive to replace if its flexible spout starts leaking. I got my metal funnel at a local hardware store, but you can also find them on Amazon. Here are two examples: Behrens 1-Quart Galvanized Steel Funnel with 14-Inch Flex Spout and Plews 75-007 Utility Funnel Filler
These cans work great. I did fill up a car and to do so I have to remove the funnel and insert it upside down (the piece that fits over the can facing toward the sky) so that I could pour gas right from the can into the funnel. Otherwise I would only been able to get 1-2 gallon our of the can into the car due to the angle of the funnel (the funnel is not flexible). At the end of pouring 10 gallons of gas I had about 20 drips of gas on the ground, but all of it occured at the beginning of the pour as I had the cans totally full. Next time I am going to try using one of the funnels in the car and the other on the can, basically pouring funnel to funnel to see if that helps.
One thing no one has mentioned is filling the cans at the gas station. These cans have a strudy mesh screen inside the lid area that sits about 2" deep. This allows you to sit the gas pump nozzle into the can and it holds it in a uniform spot. The pump will auto shut off at 4.6 gallons of gas so that it does not spill out the top. You can then choose to bleed in the full 5 gallons slowly if you wish or just leave it where it shuts off.This gas can is by far the best gas can I have ever owned. The spring loaded cap keeps the gas in the can and the funnel allows much easier pouring than any other system I've seen. The only issue is that when the air in the can has heated up, a slight amount of pressure develops that you have to release by opening the spring loaded cap before you try to pour. Otherwise if you open the cap with gas already at the brim some of it will sort of spray into the air.I just purchased my second can and love them. The funnel is hard to put on but if you really pull back the handle it goes on pretty easily. The newer one works a bit easier than the older one. I agree with others that if the gas is stored in a hot area you shold release the pressure before pouring but the tank does not expand like my pastic cans do. When transpoting in the back of an SUV or car there is NO odor escape. I use them for tractors, lawn mowers, etc with no problem but I can see that if you were trying to pour into a car or truck filler door that was vertical it could be a problem getting sufficient gas into the vehicle.In hurricane season when a storm is on the way and you need to store extra gasoline in your garage, it is much safer to use a 'safety' can like this one (rather then the standard red plastic ones you get at home depot). Made of durable metal with a self closing lid, this can makes us feel much better about storing gas under our roof. It comes with a funnel to make pouring easier, but to put the gas into your tank you will probably need an additional funnel (we bought the Plews Utility Funnel with Screen, that is made of metal with a flexible spout).
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