How to Get Your Old Propane Tank Re-Certified

Before we got married, my wife’s brothers and sister gave us a BBQ grill as a present. I also inherited two propane tanks from my dad. In doing some reading on re-filling propane tanks, it turns out that every tank has a date code on it.

For example, this is the tank that came with the grill:

We were married in July 2001 and the tank was made on January, 2001.

You can get your propane tank re-filled at many gas stations. But as a safety precaution tanks older than 12 years old are not supposed to be re-filled without being re-certified.

How do you do that?

Short answer: don’t worry about it. It’s not worth it. When your tank looks like this:

, (replace it.

You would need to find a special place, usually a local propane distributor, to get them to look at your gas tank, cross out the old code with a metal stamp, and then pound a new date code on the tank. Except this new code will be good for only 5 years, not 12.

So you have to calculate in the time in finding a place (not easy), driving to the place, pay them their fee, etc.

You could also buy a new propane tank Walmart will sell me one today for $49.99 delivered. That’s for an empty tank.

So what do people do? Simple. You take your empty tank to Walmart or a similar place that uses

. You exchange your old tank for one of their tanks. If the first tank they give you has an old date code, you ask to look for a newer one.

I exchanged two tanks in October 2020. It took a minute or two each time but I walked away with this tank:

That’s July, 2020. Meaning I can refill it without any problems until 2032.

Now, why would you want to refill your tank rather than exchange it? More on that later.