What is your Acceptable Time Loss???

[Alpine]

Well our 2- 30# propane tanks have reached their 10 year experation date. I ordered tanks through Home Depot from Flame King Company. They came in today with the Manufacturers date of June/2022. That is 8-months my loss.

When do we stop overlooking bad behavior?

[chuckster57]

I would have taken them to a local propane distributor and had them recertified for another 10 yrs.

Can you return them? 8 months might be the time they sat in a wherehouse waiting for a buyer.

[bobbecky]

The rules on propane cylinder age changed a bit over a year ago and is again 12 years, not the 10 that is on the cylinders. Ours are stamped 06/11, so we are due for recertification or replacement by June of this year. We purchased our rig new in September of 2012, so the cylinders were over a year old, but you will not find new cylinders brand new direct from a factory.

[rhagfo]

Well you could have gone to a local propane distributor and likely gotten the pick of the litter. Ours were only about two months old when we bought them.

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

I would have taken them to a local propane distributor and had them recertified for another 10 yrs.

Can you return them? 8 months might be the time they sat in a wherehouse waiting for a buyer.

I thought recertification was only good for 5 years, unless hydro
tested.

[notanlines]

Alpine, let's look at this in a more reasonable way. I priced two tanks on Ebay at $165.00. You get 144 months of use before recertification so in your case they 'cheated' you out of 5.5% of the use. In real money that is $9.17. How about Acme Tank Company send you a check for $9.17? How about Acme Tank Company destroy all unsold manufactured tanks at the end of every month? How about Acme Tank Company air freight your freshly manufactured tanks on the date the paint dries?
The very day you bought your RV you failed to look at the build date on your tires nor the build date on your LP tanks, yet you consider 8 months as 'bad behavior.' Would you have the RV dealer install hot, fresh Uniroyals right off the assembly line the day you sign the papers? I believe in a world of real problems, you have brought up a situation that simply cannot be resolved in a reasonable manner.
Yes, I may have gotten carried away just a smidgen, but read your post closely and see the triviality of it.

[chuckster57]

Originally Posted by rhagfo

I thought recertification was only good for 5 years, unless hydro
tested.

5,7, or 12 yrs.

https://www.ferrellgas.com/tank-talk...at-to-do-next/

I thought it was 10. Looks like we both learned something new.

[NH_Bulldog]

I had a tank that I originally bought new with a grill. The tank aged-out recently, I brought it in for a fill and they said sorry, we can’t fill it. They gave me an exchange tank instead that was good for 5 more years. So for a few dollars more, I get a tank good for another 5 years that I get refilled (not exchanged) until it too ages out. I did basically the same thing when the OPD rule came into play and was able to get my old non-OPD tanks exchanged for compliant tanks before the exchange places clamped down on the practice.

[dutchmensport]

I haven't used an exchange tank in years. But once I "inherited" an old tank from my mother. It was old when she gave it to me, and it had the round knob, now out-of-date for sure.

I used the remaining propane until the tank was empty (on my BBQ grill). Then took it to one of those gas station exchange places and simply swapped it out. The people in the store took the old one, gave me a new one, I paid the price and walked away.

I then took it home, pulled the wrapping off of it for the refill company (I think it was Rino). After running it empty, I had it refilled many, many times.

[Alpine]

Originally Posted by notanlines

Alpine, let's look at this in a more reasonable way. I priced two tanks on Ebay at $165.00. You get 144 months of use before recertification so in your case they 'cheated' you out of 5.5% of the use. In real money that is $9.17. How about Acme Tank Company send you a check for $9.17? How about Acme Tank Company destroy all unsold manufactured tanks at the end of every month? How about Acme Tank Company air freight your freshly manufactured tanks on the date the paint dries?
The very day you bought your RV you failed to look at the build date on your tires nor the build date on your LP tanks, yet you consider 8 months as 'bad behavior.' Would you have the RV dealer install hot, fresh Uniroyals right off the assembly line the day you sign the papers? I believe in a world of real problems, you have brought up a situation that simply cannot be resolved in a reasonable manner.
Yes, I may have gotten carried away just a smidgen, but read your post closely and see the triviality of it.

"Triviality" Is that what it has come to... if one questions the common sense of getting what you pay for? Where does is end? At what dollar amount is it too much? When do you say "enough?" At what percentage do you draw the line? Are you ok with paying 5.5% extra on all your purchases?

[notanlines]

Jeff, I see where you're coming from, seriously, but you don't offer a solution of any sort. Looking at this from all sides we have to be able to shore up a solution such as the Acme Tank Company destroying all old stock after one week,,,one month,,,when? And then how does the RV dealer handle this? Or should the tank company only manufacture a tank when one is ordered? What would you have Tractor Supply do with their six month old tanks that haven't sold? I'm sticking with my word 'trivial' but I appreciate the civil response. Not all members can agree to disagree.

[jasin1]

one way it could be done is to let all tanks have up to one year shelf life before the seller has to recertify if not sold..if it sells in that first year then the authorized seller stamps it with a new “in service” date based on date of sale which starts the 5 year mandate.

Hvac equipment has a warranty of 5 or 10 years based on when startup is complete..equipment may have been purchased by me and installed in a custom home in January but not started till November of that year…that’s when the warranty would begin. then just to be sneaky if the new owner doesn’t register their name online with the manufacturer within either 60 or 90 days …the warranty would be 5 years instead of 10… because they know the average person will forget and the company saves millions of dollars that way.
( i always remind people of this)

expensive fireboy co detectors for boats go into “end of life” mode at 4 years 11 months and stop working at 5 years…i purchased one that was close to a year old from West Marine once before i realized my error

but almost eveything is sold by rotating stock..the new milk is in the back of the refrigerator at the supermarket..a business would be closed down if they had to only sell products made the day before

[NH_Bulldog]

I think it’s a great conversation and enjoy reading the different viewpoints. I think it can be a slippery slope; we accept this today and tomorrow it’s something else. I do not have a solution (well maybe I do, read about it below), but I don’t think the situation is any different now than it ever has been.

I am a glass half full kind of guy, so my viewpoint is that the tank price is based on this known factor and there is nothing written anywhere that promises that the 10 years starts on the date of purchase rather than date of manufacture (I like Jasin1’s idea).

Not trying to throw gas on the fire, but here is an example; People buy eggs at the grocery. By law, eggs have an expiration date no more than 30 days after it is placed in the carton. But, the law also says that an egg producer can hold an egg for up to 30 days before it is placed in a carton. That means your ”fresh” egg can already have reached it’s half-life before it even gets to the dairy case at the store. Then, by the time you actually buy the carton of eggs and take them home, it is likely that only 20% of the egg’s useful life remains. A few years ago I started keeping chickens and my eggs are about as fresh as fresh can be. So maybe that’s the solution to our propane tank issue; manufacture our own!

[rhagfo]

Originally Posted by chuckster57

5,7, or 12 yrs.

https://www.ferrellgas.com/tank-talk...at-to-do-next/

I thought it was 10. Looks like we both learned something new.

I did see what was required for the extended times of 7 and 12 years. I know 5 years is simple visual inspection. Does 12 years require hydro testing?

[chuckster57]

https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phms...pane_en_v3.pdf

https://thecampingnerd.com/propane-t...on-inspection/

Hope this helps.

[JRTJH]

Be careful what you ask for !!!!!

Hostess Bakery closed all their "day old bread stores" during COVID. Now bread stays on the shelf in the grocery store 2 days longer, the loaf used to be 24 ounces, now it's 20 ounces and the price went from $1.29 to $1.59.... The "excuse" I heard was increased costs of supplies, delivery expenses and lack of having a means to recoup losses on "older bread"....

I'd just ask, "Is the demand for fresh propane tanks with a full 10 years before expiration worth the increased costs for Mansfield or other tank producers to incorporate their added expenses to the current cost?" Remember, we already know that they are a "profit driven company" and any increased costs to them WILL be passed on to the consumer, not absorbed by the company as a "profit loss"...

For me, the answer is, "I'd prefer to lose 6 months on a $79 tank rather than pay $139 for a tank that I'll only lose 2 months on..... YMMV

[sourdough]

I think it's unrealistic to expect a product to be in your hands promptly after manufacture when they have go through the supply chain then finally end up on the shelf for sale somewhere. After it arrives, depending on the product, it may sit there for months or maybe years. Maybe food cooked to order or bread (maybe) but LP tanks? I don't think anyone would/could justify the doubling (or more) of costs so that the product was rotated out every time it got to be a month old....on LP tanks? Losing 8 mos. means you go back to the LP store and have them recertified (not a lot to it) 8 mos. sooner is all.

Now, I was having a discussion with a person at Simple Tire the other day about the "freshness" of their tires telling him I would want "fresh" tires if I ordered. Their policy? A tire is considered "fresh" if it's within 4 YEARS of the manufacture date on the side....4 YEARS - and they had no idea what kind of dates a person would get. I told him I got rid of them when they reached that old and he told me all their tires were in climate controlled warehouses and would be just like new.....OK. There's a bit of perspective.

[Kirk's Keystone Outback.]

There are a couple components in my line of work where there is a shelf life limit from manufacture date and a life limit once the component is placed into service. I wish this were the case for Propane Tanks. But I would think that once the tank is pressurized for purchase, the clock would probably begin, and not a second sooner, IMO.

[dutchmensport]

Ha! Ha! I was manufactured (born) on a fine Saturday in April many years ago. My parents told me I was stowed away in an incubator for 2 weeks before they could bring me home. I think I should get a refund too, or else .... um ... extend my life 2 more weeks when my "expiration" date arrives!

[fjr vfr]

It's unrealistic to expect all things we purchase to be sold to us on the day it's manufactured.
If I were that concerned, I'd have put a note to the seller saying I would not accept any tank older than say, one month. When I bought my last set of trailer tires and also truck tires, I asked my tire guy to make sure they had a recent build date. He had no issue complying with my request. I would bet the tank people would have work with you if you had asked.
Things like that you have to be proactive. Once you own it, it's a little late to complain.