# Gas tank capacity-not what advertised



## eddie1976 (Dec 21, 2014)

I thought I saw someone talking about this before but couldn't find it. On my new 24" SHO they advertise a 3.2Q gas tank. I let it run dry today (would not start, but I could see a little gas in the tank), and filled it. It fit a little less than 1 quart. I filled the tank to the point that I could see it coming up the mesh basket. I assume if I had continued to fill it to the brim, it would have taken the full 1 qt. maybe more since the basket sits a couple of inches down in the tank. But there is no way this tank is 3.2 qt. 

Is there anything from Ariens on this? Are they going to offer the bigger gas tanks as replacement? 

Anyone else with this issue?


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

I bought my machine in January this year and the dealer said to fill the tank to the red cross bar at the bottom of the screen insert. I ran out of gas after 1 small driveway. Took a couple of tanks to finish my 5 driveways. Ariens have a company representative on this site (Ariens Company is the username) and she said the the red marker does not apply to the Platinum models as a measure of fuel level.

I emptied the tank and put 2 liters (2.1 quarts) in which brought the level to just over the top of the screen. Easy to do and lots of air space to prevent expansion problems and dangerous leaks. I had difficulty adding additional fuel before overflowing. Taking out the screen helped to show fuel level but little extra fuel could be added with allowance for a typical air gap.

Complained to my dealer and in conjunction with Ariens the tank was measured at 3 liters when filled to the top of the fuel neck which did not allow for any air gap above the fuel. To Ariens and my dealer this satisfactorily shows a 3 liter capacity.

The Ariens Product manager has been informed of complaints on tank size. There is no indication of any change at this time. Running out of gas and having to refill during a single use is very frustrating. Not even close to the promised 2+ hours of use on a tank, even in light fluffy snow.

Good luck.


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## melson (Feb 9, 2015)

I'm not affected by this but I'm quite surprised at the lack of transparency from Ariens on this. Considering the availability of quality machines from numerous manufactures I would think Ariens would address this small, but frustrating issue. In other words, the blower market is competitive and an issue like this could be just annoying enough to spend my $1000 elsewhere.


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## AriensSnowman (Dec 9, 2014)

eddie1976 said:


> Anyone else with this issue?


Join the club.


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## 1894 (Dec 16, 2014)

I've never measured the capacity on mine. It came without the filter screen and new cap though. Any more gas in the tank than where the very bottom of that screen , where the red part is ( now that I have the new cap/screen ) would just splash out of the cap . 
Now with the new cap I fill the tank all the way up to the bottom of the angle on the tank where the cap screws in. No leaks , there is still a higher part of the tank for air space. 
Hope this helps


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## spinkick (Feb 2, 2015)

AriensSnowman said:


> Join the club.


Same here, the tank on my plat 30 is tiny.. plus with these powerful motors they eat up gas. I thought something was wrong with mine when I first got it, then I just realized that they use a ton of gas. Id love an upgraded gas tank on my new plat 30. I have the red thing, should I take that out?


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## buddman (Sep 16, 2014)

not sure exactly how much my tank holds,..but i fill it up to just below the fill hole..the rest of the tank is 1/2 inch higher for any expansion....I get just a little over 2 hrs of run time..every time..takes me 4 hrs to do the yard,..and just under 2 tanks of fuel..every time..


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

spinkick said:


> Same here, the tank on my plat 30 is tiny.. plus with these powerful motors they eat up gas. I thought something was wrong with mine when I first got it, then I just realized that they use a ton of gas. Id love an upgraded gas tank on my new plat 30. *I have the red thing, should I take that out?*


I don't think there is a larger tank for our engine since Ariens still spec's the questionable 3 liter capacity for 2016 models. The screen that fits in the neck of the gas tank has a red plastic marker that shows the gas full mark. Ariens says that it does not apply to our models so ignore that. 

The screen housing does make it hard to completely fill the tank. Others have removed the screen and its housing so that it is much easier to see the fuel level at the top of the fill neck. I have followed their lead and it is much easier to put more gas in the tiny tank now and the machine will run for longer. However, when the tank is this full the cap becomes a weak link again. 

My 10 year old Craftsman 11/30 with a Tecumseh engine had a 1 US gallon tank (3.78 liters) and could run more than twice as long under similar conditions to my Ariens and still not be out of gas. 

Good luck.


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## Town (Jan 31, 2015)

buddman said:


> not sure exactly how much my tank holds,..but i fill it up to just below the fill hole..the rest of the tank is 1/2 inch higher for any expansion....I get just a little over 2 hrs of run time..every time..takes me 4 hrs to do the yard,..and just under 2 tanks of fuel..every time..


I think you are getting the run time that Ariens advertised when I bought my machine, so I thought that would be fine. But I can only get about a half of that. 

Good luck with your well tuned machine.


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## nhplat24 (Jan 6, 2021)

See Also, the "fuel-tank" post:








Fuel Tank


Newer Ariens What are we going to do with these small fuel tanks.4" of snow and ran out of fuel. 24" platinum.First time using it.Thats crazy.Anybody modify the tank yet.




www.snowblowerforum.com


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