The reality of using a Jerry Can...

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Is a jerry can the ultimate tool for "gentle prepping" or just a massive mess? 

I try to level up my family's resilience by using a 20L metal jerry can for the very first time. After a frustrating experience (thanks South East Water), I am focusing on storing backup water and fuel to get us ready for any minor infrastructure issues.

I walk you through the "idiot proof" classic jerry can design and show the exact moment where it goes wrong. 

The reality of using a Jerry Can...



TRANSCRIPT: (CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE)

THIS IS THE TRANSCRIPT - CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO ABOVE!

It turns out I really didn't want to make this video. I bought this jerry can over a year ago. I've got it wrapped up for a reason. And this is the first time Oh, I thought there was a nozzle. This is the first time that I've bought and used a jerry can in my life. It feels like I've uh levelled up somehow. But I didn't want to make this video because it just feels so negative. It It doesn't feel good. And to me, it actually feels like you're actually inviting badness into your world. But anyway, I got it now and it's full of fuel. And I really want to walk you through uh what it's like buying and using this for the first time. I originally got this for water. It was to to just have some backup water storage. I've been in a situation where we've had our water cut off. Uh well, it wasn't cut off. It was actually turned disgusting by it turns out South East Water, our water supplier, it was coming out of the taps like this. And when I contacted South East Water, their reply was, "Oh, it's mild discoloration." And it wasn't.

Thanks, guys. Guess we just keep on paying for it then. It turns out, so I called the council, you know, the the the public health guy, and I said, "Look, I've got this problem with my water. this this isn't right, is it? And he said, "No, it's not." And I said, "Well, you know, can we get it tested independently?" And he said, "Well, no, because the water companies do the independent testing."

Do you want to go in the brown water? Yeah. Do you want to go in the brown water? Yeah. So, the water company, South East Water, in this case, would be judging whether or not it water was safe to drink and use or mild discoloration. So, it's been in the back of my mind for a few years, and I I think I really love this as an object, this jerry can. If you don't know about jerry cans, let me give you a quick tour. They're actually a thing of beauty where they're designed to be rigid but light. And they have this carry handle on the top, so two people could carry this or pass them along a row of people. They're stackable. And the lid here, if you pull out this pin, and this turns out, this is really crucial. I didn't appreciate how crucial it was until I was at the petrol station. And you'll see the aftermath of me not appreciating this, but it the pin comes out and it stays it stays attached, which is brilliant. And then when you open the the top, wa there's a bit of pressurization there. You can lift it off, but you don't lose the lid. and it has a pouring spout. And this jerry can comes with an even bigger pouring spout and another spout on top of that to help uh get it into your vehicle. And this spout latches on as well. It also has a rubber kind of grommets. Is that what you call it? Some kind of uh widget in there so that it will stay sealed up. And the same with this lid as well. It's got a protective rubber seal on so that when you do lock it, I know how to do this now because it went horribly wrong at the petrol station. I will show you. And that locks into place. And then I can push the pin in. And this is the bit I found really difficult when I had a big queue of traffic behind me because it it doesn't line up. So I need to line that up first and then that should all lock into place. See, even that that doesn't feel right now. I won't give it a shake. Should I give it a shake? But this is basically what won the Second World War. And it's called a jerry can because the Germans invented it. And uh we just stole the design, which I guess was another win for the Allies. It absolutely stinks. So I got it for some water storage, but it just didn't spark joy. The idea of putting water into this. It absolutely stank of a jerry can factory. And I... I think I probably could have cleaned it with boiling water or filling it with sterilizing fluid or something, but I still just didn't it just didn't feel right to use this for drinking water. So, I got these other bottles here. And by the way, I've got both of these items, the jerry can and the water bottles. I'll put links to them in the description, but I've got this water this pathetic water supply stored under the sofa just in case we need water in an emergency. though. I... I've got five of these plastic bottles and it's not nearly enough. That would that would last us about 20 minutes, I think. But it does feel good that we've got at least some kind of fluid resilience, some resilience for our drinking water. But if you're like me and you want to do just some kind of mild preparation so that you've got some little bit of fall back if something goes wrong in the world for a few days. I think that was the thinking behind it. The other trouble with with prepping, apart from feeling like you're inviting a problem to come to you, is that it's really expensive as well. It's not cheap. Buying all of these these items and then storing them somewhere. I wanted to start with this because just having uh a bit of fuel or access to a bit of fuel might be sensible in the unlikely event that we can't get some fuel or that we're caught short at any time. Then I decided to use this for fuel. And that's where my problems began. And you'll see it on this video now. I think I didn't want to be one of those idiots filling up with fuel at a petrol station at the time where it feels slightly heightened at the moment. And that is the exact time that I decided to to make this video. Uh, at time of recording, the world's oil supplies aren't in the they're not in the greatest place right now, but I really wanted to make this video. And also, I did want to get get some fuel. So, we went to Costco where the price of fuel is is really good. We're members. So, I pay enough per year for that. I might as well uh get the benefits of it. I got my son to to video this just to demonstrate filling up a jerry can for the very first time with fuel. This can is 20L and I'm saving about 20p per litre. This isn't why I did it, but it did mean that I'm actually saving about 4 quid by using uh using the jerry can. And then when it was full up, I thought, well, that's that's great. So, what I need to do now is seal it up properly. And I got a bit flustered because I've got you can't see it, but I've got this massive queue of traffic behind me, waiting to panic by at the petrol station. So, I'm trying to fill it up. I'm tearing the glove, my natty glove, to shreds on the pin, and I couldn't get this pin in. This pin was an absolute whatsit to get in. Um, even now I it it doesn't work. And I I think the problem is you have to you have to run it really dead straight, but when you close the lid, you can't actually run the pin straight. You have to sort of lift the lid up a bit so the pin locks and then you can latch the lid of the jerry can into place. I thought I'd done that. Uh but I hadn't. I was panicking. So I thought the lid's on. I'll get it into the back of the car. And I didn't I didn't check it. And I didn't think that you were able to close the lid with the pin not in place. Turns out you can. And you can actually see the moment where I load it into the car. Uh you can see this big splash there. It goes all over my moma... my moma oat milk is now covered in diesel. And I don't know why, but I know something bad's happened. Let's see an action replay. Uh I don't think you can see there's an actual moment where it splashes all over the car and all over my oat milk. Uh, let's do it again. Go even closer. Splash. There you go. I... I thought the whole point of a jerry can was that it locked and it didn't allow the fuel or the liquid to leak. This this idiot proof design that got us through the Second World War was too difficult even for me at the petrol station. My granddad literally fought in this war where these jerry cans did their thing. And I can't even cope with a bit of mild disapproval in the queues at Costco. So my son stopped the camera at this point. Just at the end of that video clip, you can hear someone from the next queue. So it wasn't someone behind me. She shouted at me quite helpfully. I think she just wanted me to know that the lid isn't on properly. And I said, "Isn't it?" And she said, "No, no, I... I definitely saw fuel coming out of it." And looking at the video, that's what she saw. So again, I was flustered because I just wanted I didn't want to hold up the line any more than I had to. So I thought, well, I'll just check. I couldn't see anything wrong with it. It looked like the lid was on. So I gave it a big shake. Big mistake. The diesel went all over me, the floor, the back of the car. And in this video clip, you can see me mopping up the aftermath. You can see it. Nice big splash on the floor that I've paid for. Lovely. Um, and I'm just I'm still trying to get this blooming lid locked and latched and I just can't do it. It's the pin. It's really great that you've got this inbuilt safety device, but for me it just absolutely flummox me. And the more I'm panicking, the more uh the longer it's taking. I think I've got it into place now and now I've got to deal with this diesel in the back of my car. I'm mopping it up with the the tissues that they kindly provide. I ended up tearing off the cardboard from the boxes because they were they were so soden with premium diesel. Um, and I've also got it all down the can as well. Uh, so I give that a wipe. And I think I've just about got it uh cleaned up. But my first time use with the jerry can was a lot harder than I thought it would be, even though it's designed to be the most simple liquid storage device ever, ever designed. So, here it is in place with the with the pin locked in. And I'm just having to clean it up just that little bit more. I could still see uh diesel glinting around. I thought I'd get into trouble. I think my biggest fear was the traffic getting angry at me, which maybe it did, but I was too busy trying to get this fixed. Or I thought that the people running the petrol station would tell me off. But I think it's okay. I think you're okay filling up these kind of metal containers. So, we went on to IKEA. Even though the boot was full of uh diesel and bits from Costco. So, I... I did think ahead though because I did future proof myself. I did know that there might be a small spillage or liquid on the outside. So, I did bring a bin liner with me. Funny enough, a Costco bin liner. So, I've got it all neatly wrapped up in the car, which sort of brought down the smell a bit, which was helpful. That bag sort of kept things under control, but I don't think it was leaking after that. And this is it. This is my very first I wasn't panic. I was panic buying, but I was only panicked because I was making a big pig's ear, not because we're especially in a uh emergency situation. Although it was difficult, it does feel really good that I've got 20 litres worth of fuel if we need it. Now the lid is on properly and secured that it is properly secure. We store it in the garage and this is where the negative stuff comes in because our nearest hospital is a 25 minute drive from here. And you know how it is sometimes you need assistance or you need to get somewhere but it isn't quite a situation where you'd have to call the emergency services. just having the ability to know that we've got a backup plan if we do run low at any time. The other thing we're doing at the moment is also we're making sure that we don't go under half a tank in the car. I mean, I've got ADHD brain, so I forget these things anyway. So, just making sure that we've got the the car full at all times. It is... it is a bit of a reassurance. There is a school of thought which is that you get what you devote your mind to. So if you focus on the thing that you don't want, more often than not, you will actually make that happen. You know, it's a bit like a motorcyclist turning a bend. If you concentrate on the lamp post, you're going to hit the lamp post. If you concentrate into the bend, which is where you want to go, then you'll take the turn safely. And I think I need to just hide this, keep it out of my eyeline, and know that it's there if it's if it's needed. But I don't like this this focus. So, I'm going to just try and take this in the spirit that I've got a bit of backup if I forget to fill the car up and I've got a bit of water if South East Water acts like classic South East Water. So, what do you think? Have you got anything like this in your home? Have you made any kind of backup plan? Or is there anything that you think you should be getting ready for? Or should we just look at the fact that we do have clean water? We've got electricity. We've got unlimited access to entertainment. We've got a family that loves us. We're in a country or an area that is generally really safe. We've got things pretty good. I'm calling this a Dad Delivers success. And if you've made it to this point in the video, thank you for hitting the thumbs up or the subscribe button. It really helps me to keep this channel going. And right here is what YouTube thinks you want to be watching next. Can you please help my daddy get 10,000 subscribers? Just click on his face. Thanks. Bye. All right. This is going to be the proper one.

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