Is this rust acceptable for a residential propane tank?

[Edrrt]

1962 tank. Ground had made contact with the underside and corrosion occured in one spot. One of my friends that works in the propane industry says that the walls on these old tanks is 3/8 to 1/2 an inch thick and that it's probably still better than a modern thinner propane tank.

His advice is to paint it and keep using it.

It needs to be revalved anyway if it's going to continue to be used so that's going to be several hundred dollars anyway which could go towards a new tank.

Is continuing to use this really a consideration?

My initial reaction was no but I guess if these old tanks are really that thick and ridiculously overbuilt maybe it's not such a big deal considering propane is under low pressure and stored primarily in a liquid state.

My propane company has been filling this thing without any concerns.

Does anyone have experience with this?

I would say that in spots the tank has been corroded through the depth of a penny?

 

[Tarquin]

I would not take the propane company filling up the tank as validation that the tank is safe. When we bought our house, the tank was rusted, surrounded by vegetation, had a corroded shut off valve that couldn’t be hand turned, and the company filled it up on our closing day (we didn’t request it, previous owner must have had auto-delivery). I smelled propane after we moved in and they ended up replacing the tank after I had them come out and look at it.

Just looking at that tank, please replace it for piece of mind!