For what it's worth:
I own my tanks for oxygen, acetylene & argon/co2 . . . for the same
reason as Miller; I didn't want to pay rent forever - especially
since my gas use is small. I recently exchanged a tank and the man
on the dock noted an expired date stamp. He did not charge me for a
hydrostatic test however, when I pointed out that it was actually
"his" tank that he'd exchanged with me before (2 years ago!) To
prevent this type of encounter, I suggest that you always inspect the
date on the exchanged tanks to make sure you get a relatively "fresh"
one. In the past, I've "traded-up" to a larger tank by just paying
the price difference - in that case, I received a full term tank in
exchange for my near expiration one. . . the dock man pointed out I
was getting a "bargain" because of this. Moral: I'm gonna be real
careful checking dates from now on.
Tony
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