Keeping giant scale gasser full of fuel is made easier with a good pump-equipped
gas can.
Text, photos and video by Tom Hintz
Posted – 11-10-2014
When I decided to put a gasoline engine in one of my planes I realized that I needed a couple gas cans. A 5-gallon can for mixing and storing fresh gas to refill a smaller can that went to the field. I hadn’t bought a gas can in several years and in that time it appears that between sue-happy lawyers and brain dead lawmakers every gas can I could find sported an idiotic spout mechanism that made spilling gas a virtual certainty if you lack a third hand. Plus those new “spouts” replaced the simple caps that used to be so easy to convert to accept hobby pump plumbing for our airplane fuels. I was able to make the new style can work (sort of) but it did nothing to contain fumes and the modified cap leaked. I knew that there had to be a better idea. Enter Hahn’s Gas Can Systems and my refueling world got way better.
The Hahn’s Gas System cans are available in several configurations (all smart) with versions sporting hand cranks or electric pumps. Since I never warmed up to the idea of attaching a battery directly to a gas can I went with Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas can.
The cans themselves are still the same heavy red plastic that has worked for years. The red makes them legal to carry gasoline in case you didn’t know. Hahn’s also offers clear/white cans for glow fuel and yellow cans for kerosene. The cans have a semi-transparent white strip on either end that makes seeing the fuel level much easier than through the colored plastic especially in bright conditions.
The can does come with one of those mandated spout systems (this is one actually looks like it would work) screwed on the can, no doubt to comply with a regulation. You also get a large diameter DOT approved replacement for the spout device that makes refilling the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System easy. The revamped cap has a purpose designed fitting for fuel lines that lets me us transfer gas into my airplanes easily.
Also included is an aluminum bracket that fits around the can’s neck with a DuBro hand crank pump affixed to it. The pump is already set up with 3 feet of fuel line terminated with a nice aluminum probe, a properly sized internal line for picking up the fuel and a two stage filter to keep junk from being pumped to the model.
Because the pump, bracket and lines come assembled from the factory “assembly” for us consists of removing the spout cap, putting the bracket over the neck of the can and screwing on the modified cap. I think we can skip the “In the Shop” potion of the review usually devoted to assembly and setup because that is it.
My old gas can did have a DuBro pump on it but it was swinging around on the chain they give you with it so whenever I used it I had to unwind the lines so I had enough to get to the plane. And then there was my adaptation of the original spout/cap. Combine those issues and the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System was to me like a whole new world of refueling. In the process of going from my old junk gas can to the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System the toughest part by far was getting the gas out of my can and into the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System. Even that was rather easy because of the large diameter opening on the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System. I have used the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System at the fling field a few days now and it doesn’t leak, it pumps gas when I turn the handle and the trailer doesn’t smell like a gas bomb waiting for a spark.
The Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System really is a nice piece of equipment for gas-using RC’rs. Sure it is a gas can with a different top but they took the time to find a good can, source out the wide DOT-approved cap and then figure out how to put all this together in a package that RC’rs can use easily. I think that the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System is worth every penny of the $89.95 (11-7-2014) price tag. I would have likely sent more trying to put together a combination that would work this well and I was already frustrated with my old one. Buying the Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System was the easy and smarter way out.
I have seen others with these Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas Systems and those folks seemed pretty content and none were swearing under their breath at the mess they just made with a homemade “contraption”. I am happy that I have joined the ranks of the smiling Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System users and look forward to many years of trying to wear this thing out.
Visit the Aeroworks Hahn’s 2.5 Gallon Crank Gas System page – Click Here
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