How to Siphon Articles and Blog - Gas Tapper

How to Siphon Gas Out of Newer Cars - Our Most Popular Article

12/7/2015

Our June 2014 Blog on “how to Siphon Gas Out of Newer Cars” is the most popular article we’ve written. 40% of our website traffic comes from people finding this blog. We changed our product line a great deal since then. We should really have a number of articles that talk about “How to Siphon Gas Out of a _________ (fill in the blank).
We’ve sold thousands of Gas Tappers since then and we have expanded to cover the many challenges with siphoning gas out of lawnmowers, tractors, boats, generators and pretty much all general power equipment. We’ve noticed a resurgence in interest in siphoning gas out of cars due to the concerns as of late around terrorism. This seems to energize the prepper market as they revisit their disaster tools.
What’s changed in our offerings? We’ve added very simple fluid pumps for the small equipment (see the GT Power Equipment) and we’ve added the “Siphon Pro” which is a larger hose diameter all-purpose siphon that has a hose which is safe for potable water. Keep in mind that the Siphon Pro is not a good tool for getting gas out of modern cars as it does not have the modern car adapter. We find that the Siphon Pro is used for general purpose siphoning such as getting the water off of your pool cover or draining a broken washing machine. It also works great to simply transfer gas from a gas can into your boat.
Now you have an update on our offerings. In honor of the ever popular article on “how to Siphon Gas Out of Newer Cars” we are having a Christmas sale on our 12V models. We hope you take advantage of this as they don’t go on sale often. Take Care and Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.
Chris A

Tips and Tricks to Siphon Gas From a Newer Car

10/2/2015

Dear Gas Tapper fans,
As you might expect, we get many questions about specific car models and using GasTapper. We have lots of tips and tricks to help you in the process. It's always difficult when it comes to a buy recommendation on a particular vehicle for a customer because even if we've tested a particular vehicle it still takes a "knack" to get in many cars. We often suggest that if a customer is truly only interested in getting gas from one model vehicle that they buy the low cost manual Gravity version of our product and just test the modern car access line without running any gas through the siphon hose and pump. This will allow you to return it if you are unsuccessful (for the cost of shipping).
You might also choose to keep it a s a great general purpose fuel siphon. You can do the same with a 12v model. Don't pump fuel through the pump and hose, simply test the access line.
All of that said, I thought I'd share and email thread between me (Chris A) and a customer that was having difficulty on 2006 Corvette.
Here it is:

From: Name removed
Sent: Thursday, October 01, 2015 12:08 PM
To: Chris Aliberti
Subject: Corvette

I have your GasTapper Pro
Can not get hose into my 2006 Corvet.
Any tricks or ideas that may work?
Felt like I went past 2 baffles and hit a solid stop, backed up 3 or 4 inches and tried the small hose but can not get the small hose past that point.
Your system would be perfect for removing old gas & replacing with new.
The car is in storage, no way to drive & consume it.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
(name removed)

On Thu, Oct 1, 2015 at 6:19 PM, Chris Aliberti <chris@gentap.com> wrote:
Hi (name removed),

We can talk but phone buy here are a few suggestions:

Use the 1/2 inch hose as a piston to drive the 1/4 inch line further in. Push both lines on the down stroke and keep down pressure on the 1/4 inch line on the up stroke of the 1/2 inch line. Note if the 1/4 inch line id making progress. Another option is to twist the 1/2 line to re-position the 1/4 inch lines strike point as often it will get past the blockage if moved slightly. Finally, lube the end of the 1/4 inch line with while lithium grease to assist in getting past.

Let me know and don't hesitate to call or plan a time to talk.

Chris Aliberti

Managing Partner
(951) 708-1060

GENTAP, LLC. - Manufacturers of these products:
GASTAPPER http://www.gastapper.com
COOLER SHOCK http://www.coolershock.com

Chris,
Appreciate your fast response and suggestions.
We we are good now........
After trying several different methods without success I cut the 1/2" line on a small angle like the 1/4" hose, while pushing I rotated it in small increments and pushed as suggested.
It went past a 3rd baffle... haaa
After that I inserted the 1/4" hose and followed the same pattern, rotated and pushed.
Success..... it slipped past the valve. Ran it into the tank until I blew bubbles, hooked up the pump and success!
When the pump sucked air I slowly rotated the 1/4" hose and picked up more gas, pushed in..... pulled out, rotated until the tank was completely empty.
It took a little finesse and muscle but now I have the idea & feel.
Thank you again for your help!!

Thanks,
(name removed)

Damsel in Distress

7/9/2015

GasTapper To the Rescue…Again!

My business partner and I were driving on one of the major highways in the Phoenix, AZ metropolitan area discussing product improvements while nearing our exit when our conversation came to an abrupt halt, as did the traffic! While trying to avoid hitting the vehicle in front of us, we observed a later model Ford Taurus moving at a crawl attempting to exit the highway.

Unlike, the other drivers, in a hurry to get around this car oblivious as to whether he/she was in distress, we slowed down as we passed and noticed that the driver was a young (20-25 year old) female that was obviously scared at her predicament. We pulled over and approached her as she came to a stop behind us. Imagine how we felt when she told us she had just run out of gas!

She didn’t know whether to believe us or not when we explained that we manufacture a product that could help her right then and there by getting gas into her vehicle on the spot. We promptly got my GasTapper 12V out of the trunk and began inserting hoses, plugging in power and moving fuel! Within 5-6 minutes, we were putting the GasTapper back in my trunk satisfied with ourselves at being able to help this young lady out. We then stayed close by as she made her way to the gas station 2 miles up the road.

I can’t tell you how handy having this tool in my trunk has been, but being able to help a person on the side of the road in distress is icing on the cake.

This just shows how “one in every trunk” (right next to the jumper cables) is not just a catchy phrase, but should be everyone’s goal!

Dave---

About Fuel Filters

4/23/2015

GasTapper keeps evolving. We originally used paper element gas filters as they were the most common for gasoline use. Paper is great and gets down to a very fine particle level. On one hand this is great as you catch every little thing, but on the other hand, they can get clogged quickly. For fuel transfer it’s not always necessary to get down to such a fine level. Typically what you’re after is the larger debris that settles in fuel tanks and containers. As GasTapper has evolved, we’ve moved toward a multi-fluid model to make our products more useful across the board for liquid transfer.

The Challenge - paper does not do well with water based liquids. In order to address this we’ve added filters with nylon elements. You can see here on the website that we have alternate filters that you can add that are not only nylon, but in one case, can be opened up and cleaned (chrome and glass model). The other one (larger plastic on with Red element cage) is not serviceable but will last a very long time due to its size and surface area.

These filters are great for all fluids but do not get down to the small particle level of paper. It’s our opinion that they are just fine but you can make the call. Keep in mind that nylon elements and serviceable filters will cost more.

Our 12V products come with paper since they are primarily used for gasoline. We offer alternatives and you can change the filter out as needed. Notice that the GT Power Equipment model comes in 2 forms. One is the paper filter with a simple bypass pipe that you can use if you want to remove the paper filter for water based use. The other model comes with the universal nylon filter. In this model you just use it for all liquids without ever removing the filter.

REMOVING FILTERS AND SECURING THEM

It’s always better to push the hose off rather than pulling. Pulling actually tightens the hose because it stretches and narrows in the process making it even tighter. If you can push it off using a plastic tool, finger nail or screwdriver and gently pry it off by pushing at different points, it typically comes right off. If it’s a real battle (been on a long time) simply cut it off by slicing it along the barb lengthwise and then cut an inch off the hose and install the bypass or new filter. The best lubricant to help in this process is rubbing alcohol. That’s what we use in the manufacturing process.

We really like using zip ties for hose clamps. We’ve tried many things and we find that they work as good as any option with our hose.

Ethanol - the Worst Offender

3/25/2015

As a boy that loved toying with anything that ran on gas, I learned early on that gas goes bad. It was easy to detect as the altered smell made it obvious. I had lawnmowers that I used for cutting grass in the neighborhood and inevitability when winter ended, I had to disassemble the carburetors and run thin wire through all the carb passages to clean the varnish out. Why varnish? That is what old gas would leave behind. It would peel out like dried varnish. It looked like a piece of plastic lining.
The same would be true for my old dirt bikes. My Honda XL-175 and XR 500 would never run right at the start of the season. I could get it to run but they would not idle. Old gas and the varnish was the culprit. You can't just flush it out because new gas does not melt the varnish. Its there to stay until you physically attack it with a brush or wire.
Today things are worse due to ethanol content. Most of today's fuels contain 10 percent ethanol. I recently purchased a 2 stroke blower to use around the house and it came with a flyer explaining the risk of ethanol. They also packed it with a new oil appropriately named, Ethanol Shield (TM).
Ethanol is worse than old gas because it eats at the soft components in the fuel system. To add insult to injury, ethanol also attracts water which settles out of the gas only to be drawn up into the engine at some point. This all leads to a failure of some sort.
Consider using the GT Power Equipment product to simply pull out the gas when your not using the machine for more than a week. It's simple one handed operation allowing you to be sure that the next time you break out the machine and add some gas everything will be as good as the day you bought it. I squeezed the GT Power Equipment bulb twice to fill the blower and then twice again to put the gas back in the gas can. I fired up the blower and it ran dry in 30 seconds. Done and ready for next time.

New product for ATV's and Lawnmowers - Spring Preparation

3/5/2015

GasTapper update – drain a fish tank or your motor oil. Great for spring seasonal equipment prep.

We’ve added the GT Power Equipment product for simple fuel transfer and oil removal. The intent here was to make a simple, small and affordable option for general power equipment use such as lawnmowers, generators, trenchers, or motorcycles, ATV’s, UTV’s and so on. Use it to transfer gas when out on a long ride and one of your buddies runs out of gas or use it to get the old gas and oil out of your lawnmower.

Can you use it to siphon out of a fish tank or drain a clogged sink? Yes. It’s designed with a removable fuel filter so that you can reserve the filter for siphoning gasoline and diesel or remove it for oil, water, antifreeze and so on. The overall length is just over 6’ with an additional 12 inches of semi rigid line to access motor oil.

I recently used it drain the soap out of the washer dispenser because I accidently added soap to the fabric softener dispenser. By the way, this is a good strategy to keep you out of the laundry room. Just saying…

Gas Siphon - a good storm preparation tool?

1/30/2015

As GasTapper gas siphon completes its first year delivering its full product line, it’s been interesting to learn how and when people by our product. Where we thought that we would have a winter slow down as folks put their boats, motorcycles and lawnmowers away, we’ve noticed that winter storms cause sales to go up dramatically. Winter storm Linus increased our web traffic by 300% and sales by 600%. It’s clear that a gas siphon is viewed as a storm aid and disaster preparation tool.

We had a number of conversations with customers last week that were prepping for the storm or were reminded that they need to be prepared in the future. 75% of all our sales during the storm were from the east coast. The conversations were typically around snow blowers, generators and the potential to have reduced access to gas due to power outages. If you remember hurricane Sandy, one of the biggest problems were gas stations unable to pump fuel due to the power outage.

Now with winter storm Juno on the way, we are hustling to build enough product to keep up with demand. Thanks for the great reviews, sales and confidence in our product.
GasTapper team
Dave, Chris, Todd & Murry.

How do you replace motor oil in lawnmowers and other power equipment?

1/22/2015

Have you ever changed the oil in your lawnmower, generator, snowblower or tractor? Why not? It's a real pain, that's why. You can use your GasTapper multi-purpose pump.
GasTapper is a universal siphon. You can use the manual siphon to not only remove old gas from your power equipment, you can also remove the old and used oil. It's best to warm the oil up to operating temperature and then insert the input line from your siphon and either squeeze the bulb or turn on the power. Keep in mine that this will be taxing on GasTappers with paper fuel filters.
We are now offering a cleanable element nylon screened filter in our store. Add this to your GasTapper for best multi-fluid performance.
This will also allow you to use the GasTapper Siphon to remove water and anti-freeze. You should always flush your siphon after running motor oil or anti-freeze through it. For motor oil use kerosene for long term (60 days or more) otherwise gas works well. For anti-freeze use water on the manual version and Kerosene on the 12 volt powered version. We will eventually advertise this ability and call it Siphon Pro.
Chris A

How do I start a siphon and how does a siphon work?

1/17/2015

Manual Car SIphon Model Gravity

A siphon takes advantage of gravity and the fact that liquids seek their own level. What does that mean?

If a source tank containing gas, water or any liquid is above a destination tank, you can get the liquid from one tank to the other using gravity. Siphoning is really not a lot different then having a hose directly connected to the bottom of the higher tank and then opening a spigot at the other end of the hose lower than the tank. Picture a tank on a table with a hose attached hanging down to the ground. The tank will clearly empty like it has a hole in it.

Siphoning uses this gravity flow principle and takes it to another level because siphoning allows you to go up with liquid before you go down. There is one caveat, the hose end must be lower than the liquid level. The reason you can have liquid go up first in this situation is that the weight of the liquid in the hose creates a vacuum that draws the fluid out of the tank, basically following the liquid that comes out of the hose. I hope that’s clear? Regardless, it works.

A key point in siphoning and the reason it often leaves a bad taste in your mouth (pun intended) is that you have to draw the liquid up and over the raised part of the hose and get it to travel below the level of the liquid in the source tank, once you do that, it will flow by itself. Most people do this with their lungs. They suck on the end of the hose to create a vacuum causing the fluid to flow into the hose. The part of this that sucks is that the liquid often comes racing over the hump and into your mouth before you can get it out of your mouth into the destination tank.

What are the alternatives? And electric pump that pulls the fluid and pushes the fluid as we offer here on the website, or a manual pump. The problem with a manual hand siphon is that its great at starting the siphon effect but then becomes a blockage in the line once you stop applying human power. You don’t have the free flow of an open hose.

GasTapper hand siphon solves that problem by putting in a siphon bypass hose segment in parallel to the hand pump. This allow you to start the siphon with the hand pump and then open up the bypass line to allow for great flow. No gas in your mouth. This also allows us to use a hand pump that can actually lift fuel and liquids above the source tank, unlike a conventional siphons. The Gastapper Gravity product will allow you to move gas and other liquids above the source simply by squeezing it repeatedly in a pumping action (with the bypass closed). Simple, clean and inexpensive. Thanks for reading the blog!

What do I do with old gas or gas that's gone bad? Gas goes bad?

1/11/2015

Now that you know you can siphon and transfer gas easily from your power equipment as well as new and older cars (please see the rest of the GasTapper website) what should your policy be for eliminating your old gas / fuel? Many customers that use GasTapper have a strategy for cycling gas in and out of their power equipment so that the gas does not go stale and damage the equipment. When you pull the gasoline out of your tractor, lawnmower, generator, snow blower, idle car, etc., what do you do with it?

The best policy I found, short of using it for weed killer (all kinds of issues here) is to add it to good gas and burn it. Depending on how old the gas is (your nose will tell you as the older it is, the more it smells like turpentine) you should limit the dilution of your old gas to new gas to a maximum of 5%. This rule primarily applies to cars, you can go a bit higher when dealing with general power equipment. They are less sensitive to the old fuel (usually no fuel njectors or computers). I’ve regularly added 10% to power equipment items with no issues at all. Just use the fuel you’ve mixed quickly. Don’t let it sit around where it might continue the aging process.

What about gas from two strokes or gas mixed with oil? I have good luck mixing that fuel into a non-two stroke motor at 5%. I would not recommend doing this with any newer car.

Gas goes bad?

Yes, now with the new blends, it happens faster than ever. Gas that is left standing will go bad in as little as 3 months. The rule used to be up to 5 months, but that is changing with the new blends. This is one of the primary uses of the GasTapper product line. Old fuel leaves residue in fuel systems and burns with less energy than new fuel. We recommend cleansing your power equipment every 3 months with new fuel. The best way to do this is to either run the fuel out (not always possible) or pull it out and burn it in something that you are currently using. Replace that fuel with new fuel.

Should you use a product that extends the life of gas? Absolutely. There are several products on the market out there. We’ve had great luck with the Sta-bil product. This gives you a more comfortable window of 6 months or more depending on the temperature during storage. The warmer it is, the faster gas goes bad.