gasoline odor in shop

[Dan W.]

Last spring I bought a Case VAC and worked on it outside as time permitted. With the cold weather, I drove it into my small shop and have since noticed a stong gasoline odor coming from the gas cap vent. I know there are no leaks. Can I safely cover the gas cap and uncover it only when I run the engine? Thanks for your responses.

[AL Farmall Boy]

Yes. You're gonna have funny smells, leaks, etc. from these old tractors. Might have some bad/old fuel in there too. I'd drain the tank, clean it out good, and refill with fresh gas. Probably needs a cleaning anyways.

[John *.?-!.* cub owner]

due to expansion and contraction from heating and cooling it needs to be able to vent some. The vent holes in the cap may be a little larger than normal, or the gas may just be rank smelling from age if it is pretty old.

[beaconlight]

The smell of gasoline always scares me. I did gas testing in Telephone Co. Cable vaults. Gas of many types can enter telephone underground cable ducts and try to get past the seals into the basement cable vaults. There have been explosions caused by these gases therefore tests are made similar to those in mines. Lower explosive Limit (LEL) for gasoline if I remember correctly is 1.2%. Upper explosive limit (UEL) is 7.2% by volume. This means that below LEL it wont explode. I will just smell bad. Above UEL it won't explode either it will smell stronger. The fly in the ointment is that when you vent to get below the UEL you have to pass through the explosive area. You don't want any sparks at that point.

Some reading about explosive meters.

http://www.rkiinstruments.com/pages/faq ... EL_UEL.htm

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/explo ... d_423.html