Flo-w
7th September 2012, 01:31 PM
I did some research on fuel bladders and thought I share what I found.
Fuel bladders are a tempting idea to me. Small when you don't need them, lots of fuel storage capacity for those few very long legs. I also thought about using the space between cargo barrier and rear seats (when folded to the front) since it's nicely between the axes and very low down.
Now fuel bladders aren't all that easy to locate. In fact I've found two suppliers, one in Australia and one in the US. The Australian one is Liquid Containment and they offered me a 120x30x20 cm bladder (that's some 72l) for $380. The US supplier is Turtlepac and has a 70l marine fuel bladder for A$632 plus GST.
Compared to jerry cans which start at $20 for 20l plastic can and $30 for 20l metal can that's quite expensive ($80 - $120 for 80l). In addition a jerry can needs a funnel where a fuel bladder requires a fuel transfer pump. More $ there...
Still the $380 option sounded tempting. But then I read this disclaimer from turtlepac (which I'm sure will apply to all fuel bladders):
NOTE ON ETHANOL CONTENT PETROL:
Ethanol content petrol is containing highly toxic and aggressive aromatics to boost energy rating. These aromatics are changing by oil companies and no legislation or policy in force to police what are the aromatics and how toxic they are. Therefore impossible to have a test program to determine toxicity and destructive effect of ethanol mixed petrol.
Regret but Turtle-Pac advises not to use ethanol mixed petrol as adversely can affect our tanks and your vehicle as well. As matter of interest we tested typical fire men water bag made to close over storm water drains therefore stop spilled fuel in road accidents to spread via storm water drain. It took 3 minutes for ethanol mixed petrol to destroy the PVC coated fabric. Same time we have under test PCV coated fabric in premium grade petrol over 5 years tests not destructed yet…
I reckon it will be very hard to find out what's actually in your fuel and sometimes you won't have a choice but to fill up. And that's the reason why I'll stick to the good old jerry cans with my petrol GQ.
Fuel bladders are a tempting idea to me. Small when you don't need them, lots of fuel storage capacity for those few very long legs. I also thought about using the space between cargo barrier and rear seats (when folded to the front) since it's nicely between the axes and very low down.
Now fuel bladders aren't all that easy to locate. In fact I've found two suppliers, one in Australia and one in the US. The Australian one is Liquid Containment and they offered me a 120x30x20 cm bladder (that's some 72l) for $380. The US supplier is Turtlepac and has a 70l marine fuel bladder for A$632 plus GST.
Compared to jerry cans which start at $20 for 20l plastic can and $30 for 20l metal can that's quite expensive ($80 - $120 for 80l). In addition a jerry can needs a funnel where a fuel bladder requires a fuel transfer pump. More $ there...
Still the $380 option sounded tempting. But then I read this disclaimer from turtlepac (which I'm sure will apply to all fuel bladders):
NOTE ON ETHANOL CONTENT PETROL:
Ethanol content petrol is containing highly toxic and aggressive aromatics to boost energy rating. These aromatics are changing by oil companies and no legislation or policy in force to police what are the aromatics and how toxic they are. Therefore impossible to have a test program to determine toxicity and destructive effect of ethanol mixed petrol.
Regret but Turtle-Pac advises not to use ethanol mixed petrol as adversely can affect our tanks and your vehicle as well. As matter of interest we tested typical fire men water bag made to close over storm water drains therefore stop spilled fuel in road accidents to spread via storm water drain. It took 3 minutes for ethanol mixed petrol to destroy the PVC coated fabric. Same time we have under test PCV coated fabric in premium grade petrol over 5 years tests not destructed yet…
I reckon it will be very hard to find out what's actually in your fuel and sometimes you won't have a choice but to fill up. And that's the reason why I'll stick to the good old jerry cans with my petrol GQ.