The Pumps – Enough of the Lifting

The next product category aims to ease back strain by including an integrated hand pump. Neither of the two pumps tested were CARB-compliant. The Petro Pump has a 5-gallon capacity and features a small plastic pump handle. The Scepter Flo n’ Go has a capacity of 6 gallons with a long hose and trigger-style handle that must be primed by squeezing several times to begin the flow.

The Petro Pump requires continual pumping of the handle to maintain flow. To prevent dripping, we had to let the excess fuel in the four-foot hose drain out before removing the nozzle from the deck-fill. With a nozzle that fit easily into the fill hole, this pump delivered a directed flow and was easy to control, since there is no need to lift the jug. However, the delivery speed was painfully slow. We calculated a flow rate of just over 1 gallon per minute and a total of over 200 strokes to empty the jug in five minutes. The advantage of this device is that it can pump uphill, but all that pumping quickly fatigued our testers who had to change hands frequently because of the strain.

The Scepter Flo n’ Go did not require such repetitive motions when pumping on a level surface or downhill, and once started it would continue smoothly. However, this was only true if the target tank was lower than the jug itself. As a gravity fed device, it was painfully slow and nearly impossible to empty completely. Trying to pump into our test boat from the dock was very difficult when the deck fill was more than 2 feet from the dock surface. According to the pictures on the packaging, you can pump up hill, and we certainly tried, but we gave up after having to squeeze the handle again and again to continue the flow. This device is definitely best suited as a downhill gravity fed pump.

Both of these devices have long hoses that are prone to dripping residual contents, they are slow and fatiguing to use, and neither one is CARB-compliant so the staff could not recommend them.