Call me crazy, but I discard mine after the expiration date. They're so
cheap--why take chances?

"Brad Heuver" wrote in message
...
While filling my 5 gal portable air tank I noticed that the tank has
stamped in it "Discard after 2000" or something like that. I guess I
always knew it was there, its just that for some reason I chose to
start thinking about how long one should really last. It does have
the standard overpressure pop-off valve, which I have manually pulled
to release, but I've never intentionally tried to overpressurize the
tank to check to see if the valve works as intended. The tank has not
seen a lot of usage, and I've never known water to collect in the
bottom of it. I've also never tried to remove the valve to look at
the inside of it either.
So, how long do you keep your spare air tank around? I assume
that rust is the reason that the tanks have a discard date, is that
correct? How likely is the tank to go boom, vs show a sign of a leak
if it was to rust out?
Brad

Brad Heuver