Little known fact: if you look on the collar of the propane cylinders, if they are newer, you will see verbiage that says "Must be requalified after 10 years" or "twelve years" depending on when the cylinder was made, and the federal laws in play at the time.
Most propane fillers do not know about this, however, if you run into someone that does, the cylinder will have to be requalified before it can be filled. Now, the Federal law requires this, but no one EVER checks to see if you are in compliance, since the cylinder cannot be FILLED until it is recertified, but if it is filled and goes out of certification, it can still be used until empty. All you have to say is that it was filled before it went out of certification and you paid cash. Yeah, it's a lie, and some people lie, especially to the government, but make no mistake. I would never encourage anyone to lie.
So, the reason why they need to be requalified is for insurance purposes. If you have a propane event, and your coach burns down or you get injured or worse, the insurance company will look at the date on the cylinder. If it is not current, or is out of date, they can deny your claim based on the issue that the cylinder may have had a problem that would have been detected if it was recertified. Get it?
So, here's the thing. There is a number called a "Re-Tester's Identification Number (RIN number) On a compressed gas cylinder, it will appear between the month and year of the retest date. THIS NUMBER IS NOT REQUIRED ON PROPANE CYLINDERS. This means YOU can retest your own cylinders!!!
All you need is steel stamps for the month and year of the retest. Don't wait until you have an incident to do it, but when it's out of date. Stamp it into the collar of the propane cylinder right below or next to, or above the original date in the format of month (dash) year. These must be number stamps, and not a screwdriver tip for if you have a propane incident, the Insurance company investigator will pick up on it and declare it invalid. To do this, you will need to brace the inside of the collar by either holding it up and laying it on a table, or placing a wood block inside the collar cut so that it braces the inside of the collar. Using a steel hand mallet, holding the stamp with a gloved had, you'll have to strike it pretty hard. Or else, you can just pay the $20 bucks or so to have it professionally recertified.
Only, do yourself a favor. Conduct a thorough inspection of your propane cylinder. Inspect the welds, the base of the valve, and the valve itself. If you go to fill it and detect a leak at a seam, the cylinder is junk and cannot safely be filled. And please, do not put duct tape over a split or weld break. That's just dumb, but you'd be surprised what propane fillers see.
Threaded Mode
