Did you know 20lb propane tanks have an expiration?
And they have a coded expiration stamped on them?
My neighbor showed it to me as I wasn't aware. I had two expired and when I took them to Costco for refills the guy refused to fill them up.I was just testing ;)One expired in 2002 and the other in 1988. I bought 2 new tanks and now I'm hesitant to use any of the "Exchange" tanks at WalMart or gas stations. You could bring in a tank that doesnt expire for 8 years and get an exchange that expires much earlier.
[quote source="/post/8073/thread" timestamp="1426706971" author="@shovelhead"] You could bring in a tank that doesnt expire for 8 years and get an exchange that expires much earlier.
[/quote][font size="3"]Yes you could. But then, you could also exchange an expired tank for one that's current. It pays to check the cert date on the tank you take home. As I recall, the tanks must be re-certified ten years from manufacture. I think they can be re-certified only once, then they're junk. [/font]
I'm lazy, I take mine to the grocery store for exchange. The kids they have working the exchange could care less what the tank you give them in exchange looks like or if it is expired.
Trouble with that tlbones is the price. I can refill for $8.90 at Costco. The exchange at Ingles is $19.98. I've never bought a new tank so I dont know if it would be more economical to buy new and fill it up. I would keep refilling since the new tank should be good 9-10 years.
Around here the exchanges run around $30, and refilling at the local gas station is around $18. And the gas station has no problem refilling bottles that have the exchange labels on them, so I go back and forth between the two depending on whether or not I'm in a hurry. There always seems to be a line at the gas station...
[quote source="/post/8081/thread" timestamp="1426716119" author="@shovelhead"]Trouble with that tlbones is the price. I can refill for $8.90 at Costco. The exchange at Ingles is $19.98. I've never bought a new tank so I dont know if it would be more economical to buy new and fill it up. I would keep refilling since the new tank should be good 9-10 years.[/quote]Yea, I wish my costco refilled tanks at all, let alone at that great price. I don't know of any fill places near me, they are all the exchange type. It seems Blue Rhino has a monopoly around here. Luckily I only go through maybe 2/year, so it doesn't break the bank.
Refill is definitely the way to go if you can. I'm lucky enough to have a fairly large gas distributer in town which will fill basically anything. The last time I filled my 100# tank the guy said any tank can be recertified indefinitely assuming it is in good condition. Which makes sense, if it fails certification its trash (or maybe project material), but if it passes then all is well. I have yet to have one fail to be recertified, but I have had to replace a few valves.
I just did this yesterday. Since we only use it for a lantern and stove, I have a ten pound tank instead of the normal twenty. Same outside diameter, but half as tall. It also reduces the weight on my motorcycle carry.
I went to fill it Sunday and they refused, because it was 12 years old,(By one month!).
These little tanks are expensive. A replacement is $50. They told me recertification was around $35 so I almost bought a new one. The only thing that held me back was their tanks were skinny and tall while mine is short and fat. That would entail a new mount and new cover.
Yesterday I called the local Cenex Co-op. I found out the recertification process is to visually inspect the tank. There is no charge for doing so if you have it filled at the same time. I cleaned it up and took it in. They put a sticker on the inside edge of the safety ring and said I'm good for another 5 years. Out of curiousity, I called three different suppliers. The most expensive one charges $5, but waives the fee if you let them fill the tank when they are done. If your tanks are in good shape, don't throw them away just because they got old.
Come to think of it, I should tell the kids the same thing about me. :)
I just gave away two extra tanks we had around because we did not know they could be recertified. Then, in typical me fashion, went out and spent $30 on a new one.
Someone stop this fool....
When they changed the valve specification thingie a while back, I upgraded my old tanks to the new connectors by leaving the old ones at Blue Rhino and taking new ones.
Did you know that allot of the propane exchanges are not giving you a full tank (80%).
[quote source="/post/10023/thread" timestamp="1430093317" author="@swbc150"]Did you know that allot of the propane exchanges are not giving you a full tank (80%).
[/quote][p]Everybody knows that. [/p][p]
[/p][p]But did you know that former NFL player Ickey Woods [a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFrsR9NByc4"]will celebrate almost anything [/a]?[/p][p]
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Yes of course!.....I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express last night!
Sorry, what I meant was the interchange propane places that I have used twice, both out-of-State did Not have the interchange propane bottles full, not even to the 80% mark.
My fault for not getting my Propane Bottles topped off at a True Propane filling station, lesson learned.