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Slow Fuel Filler Neck

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Bamaman

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Florence, AL--Tennessee River
Marina gasoline on our lake is about 90 cents more than pump gas at our drive in market. Since our boats are kept in boathouses, we refuel them with 5 gallon plastic Jerry cans to save money.

I was putting 10 gallons into my Bennington fuel tank last week. Every time the can was tilted up very far, fuel would spit out of the filler neck. It must have taken 10 minutes to empty one five gallon can. The worse part was that the side of my new Bennington was covered in fuel. And, holding 32 pounds at almost shoulder height was not very pleasurable.

I found an old style galvanized funnel with a one foot corrugated metal filler hose for just under $8 at Tractor Supply (TSC.) This funnel is what you'd use to add automatic transmission fuel to a car or truck. The hose was exactly 1" in diameter--the same as my Bennington filler neck. I went home and used a grinder to cutoff the bottom of the hose--for full flow.

When I refueled this week, the funnel stood straight up (horizontally) and took a normal flow of gasoline from the Jerry Can. The funnel was an exactly the size of the filler neck, and it fits tightly. There was no spilling gas down the side of the boat.

The galvanized funnel and hose is not perfect, but it's about all we've got to improve fueling speeds. At least now I won't dread refueling my boat.
 
My 17' SL is horrible to fill

Gas everywhere takes 30 min to fill her 3/4 full

I hate gas all over me my boat and the trailer and the ground

Suggestions ?

Ron
 
Get one of these. Works awesome.

http://superjiggler.com

Also check your hoses and make sure they don't have a low spot. There's been lots of discussion on that issue on the forum.

Smitty
 
When you put gas into a gas tank, it displaces air in the tank. So, if you put 24 gallons of gas in a tank, 24 gallons of air has to be able to come OUT of the tank while the gas goes in, or gas won't go in. You need TWO hoses to accomplish this. One is the main gas hose (which everyone knows as that's where the gas nozzle goes in), and the other is a separate vent hose (which can't be seen from outside the boat). Both of these hoses connect to the filler neck. You can't see the vent hose from outside the boat because it connects to the filler neck several inches down from the opening where you put the gas nozzle in. You will have to open up a seat to get to the area where the hoses are.

Here is a photo of vent hose with a "P-Trap" shape in it. The factory simply wasn't careful installing it, which is why it has the low spot to begin with. The vent hose is only supposed to carry air, but gas can get in it and if it does, and you have a low spot in the hose, gravity will trap the gas and the gas will block air flow through the vent tube, which will cause gas to spit out the filler neck.

venthosewithtrap.jpg


After a simple readjustment of the hoses (just wiggle them around until you work the trap out and just have one steady downward slope to the tank without low spots in the hose) the vent hose will simply drain any gas that happens to get into it back into the tank, and then air will flow freely through it again. And gas will go in.

Here's my "after" picture:

venthosetrapfixed.jpg


I had this same problem at the beginning of the summer (thus the photos). Once I adjusted the hose (just wiggle it around and pull it straight) gas went in fine. Took 2 minutes to fix. No tools. Never had a problem with it the rest of the summer.

You may have a different problem, but this is an easy to check, easy to fix solution if this is your problem. Hope it helps.
 
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Here's the old thread on this. I took the photos above, but others should be credited with solving this problem. I think it was hapehour that came up with the fix.
 
kaydano said:
When you put gas into a gas tank, it displaces air in the tank. So, if you put 24 gallons of gas in a tank, 24 gallons of air has to be able to come OUT of the tank while the gas goes in, or gas won't go in. You need TWO hoses to accomplish this. One is the main gas hose (which everyone knows as that's where the gas nozzle goes in), and the other is a separate vent hose (which can't be seen from outside the boat). Both of these hoses connect to the filler neck. You can't see the vent hose from outside the boat because it connects to the filler neck several inches down from the opening where you put the gas nozzle in. You will have to open up a seat to get to the area where the hoses are.

Here is a photo of vent hose with a "P-Trap" shape in it. The factory simply wasn't careful installing it, which is why it has the low spot to begin with. The vent hose is only supposed to carry air, but gas can get in it and if it does, and you have a low spot in the hose, gravity will trap the gas and the gas will block air flow through the vent tube, which will cause gas to spit out the filler neck.

venthosewithtrap.jpg


After a simple readjustment of the hoses (just wiggle them around until you work the trap out and just have one steady downward slope to the tank without low spots in the hose) the vent hose will simply drain any gas that happens to get into it back into the tank, and then air will flow freely through it again. And gas will go in.

Here's my "after" picture:

venthosetrapfixed.jpg


I had this same problem at the beginning of the summer (thus the photos). Once I adjusted the hose (just wiggle it around and pull it straight) gas went in fine. Took 2 minutes to fix. No tools. Never had a problem with it the rest of the summer.

You may have a different problem, but this is an easy to check, easy to fix solution if this is your problem. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Your picture is worth a thousand words.....It concerns me that the Vent Hose/Fitting are at the same elevation as the Fill Hose/Fitting. Subject to the fluid volume being pumped "In", the Fill Hose/Fitting will "over flow" into the Vent Line. The "over flow" will reduce vent line capacity/performance, thereby restricting "Air Out".

In other words, the picture indicates the "safe" fuel line capacity being approximately "half" of what it would be if the Vent fitting was re-clocked 90 degrees. Re-clocking 90 degrees would place the Vent portion of the circuit ABOVE the Fill Neck/Hose......Bennington Engineering may want to consider a Revision.
 
Yeah, I still put in a thousand words though... ;)

I agree on the "re-clocking" 90 degrees. I assume that means rotate counter-clockwise 90 degrees...

I mentioned in the other thread, this is likely why people are getting gas into their vent lines to begin with.

If you don't put the nozzle in all the way, the odds of getting gas in the vent line go up considerably (if you have the low spot). After this happened to us a couple times, I learned the dock hands would put their ear to the nozzle (and they also weren't inserting the nozzle all the way in) so they could better hear when the tank is getting full. They didn't want to spill gas all over the boat by over filling the tank. So, while their intentions were good, they were probably causing the very problem they were trying to avoid.

I think Bennington uses Perko brand filler necks? Not sure...

But I agree, putting the vent off the top side of the neck would be a big improvement. There's probably a reason that's not done though...
 
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Yes, "re-clocking" was intended to mean rotating the bulk head assembly until the vent neck is on top. However, due to the synthetic assembly mold design, rotating the assembly may not be an option.

Therefore, another option may be that of creating a seperate vent for filling. The added vent would be located above the filler neck and capped with a non-vented cap. The cap would only be removed when fueling. The solid, non-vented cap would discourage high humidity air/moisture from being attracted to Ethanol.

There may be some unknown reason Engineering has chosen the described design, though I have no idea what it may be. Before one would assume responsibility for becoming the "Ultimate Vendor" and associated liability, Engineering should provide information.
 
Used the funnel supplied when I bought my boat with with the safety siphon , ( pushed hose into siphon ,fit perfect ) no more issues at all , make sure funnel is all the way in. If you don't have the funnel you can get them at advance , they are called a capless funnel.
Ed
 
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After 3 summers now on 2 different pontoons my problems have been narrowed down to the charcoal canisters. At least since removing the canister my slow fueling problems have disappeared.

I don’t know why some are able to fuel and the next guy has troubles but 2 separate dealers have been responsible for exactly zero help in figuring this issue out. Think of how they (the EPA) “fixed” gas cans for us...they did the same thing to fuel tanks on our boats!
 
Best option (free change) I did on my new build was the direct fill SPS fuel tank option. I did not have any issues at all filling as fas as I wanted. I will not go back to the side fill again.
 
the-little-B said:
After 3 summers now on 2 different pontoons my problems have been narrowed down to the charcoal canisters. At least since removing the canister my slow fueling problems have disappeared.

I don’t know why some are able to fuel and the next guy has troubles but 2 separate dealers have been responsible for exactly zero help in figuring this issue out. Think of how they (the EPA) “fixed” gas cans for us...they did the same thing to fuel tanks on our boats!
Click to expand...
When you say removing do you mean bypassing or replacing canisters ?
 
I meant throwing them into the trash can where they belong. Terrible design in my opinion. They are meant to capture fuel vapors but mine were continually soaked with gas and basically plugged up and not venting. Splashed and spilled more gas with the thing as built and since trashing it can fuel with the pump at full speed and not spill a drop.
 
kaydano said:
When you put gas into a gas tank, it displaces air in the tank. So, if you put 24 gallons of gas in a tank, 24 gallons of air has to be able to come OUT of the tank while the gas goes in, or gas won't go in. You need TWO hoses to accomplish this. One is the main gas hose (which everyone knows as that's where the gas nozzle goes in), and the other is a separate vent hose (which can't be seen from outside the boat). Both of these hoses connect to the filler neck. You can't see the vent hose from outside the boat because it connects to the filler neck several inches down from the opening where you put the gas nozzle in. You will have to open up a seat to get to the area where the hoses are.

Here is a photo of vent hose with a "P-Trap" shape in it. The factory simply wasn't careful installing it, which is why it has the low spot to begin with. The vent hose is only supposed to carry air, but gas can get in it and if it does, and you have a low spot in the hose, gravity will trap the gas and the gas will block air flow through the vent tube, which will cause gas to spit out the filler neck.

venthosewithtrap.jpg


After a simple readjustment of the hoses (just wiggle them around until you work the trap out and just have one steady downward slope to the tank without low spots in the hose) the vent hose will simply drain any gas that happens to get into it back into the tank, and then air will flow freely through it again. And gas will go in.

Here's my "after" picture:

venthosetrapfixed.jpg


I had this same problem at the beginning of the summer (thus the photos). Once I adjusted the hose (just wiggle it around and pull it straight) gas went in fine. Took 2 minutes to fix. No tools. Never had a problem with it the rest of the summer.

You may have a different problem, but this is an easy to check, easy to fix solution if this is your problem. Hope it helps.
Click to expand...
Is the seat easy to remove to her to the hoses? I tried to get to it through the changing station, but too tight to get back there.
 
TedS said:
Also, I cannot open your pictures. can You repost?
Click to expand...
The member you are trying to reach hasn’t logged in since the fall of ‘21, nearly 2 years ago.
 
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