Why are big steel oil and fuel drums found in remote places along the coast called 45 gallon drums in Canada and 55 or 50 gallon drums in the US?
The standard steel drums used around the world for shipping oil and fuel are actually 45 Imperial gallons (formerly the gallon used in Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and other British Commonwealth countries), 55 US gallons, or exactly 208.2 litres, however they are sometimes also referred to in the US as 50 gallon drums (presumably there is a bit of space left for expansion when they are only filled with 50 US gallons).
