I will add the Air Force uses those CO2 cylinders in life preservers. They are inspected and wieghed every 180 days because they do leak down.

Big Dog wrote:


How long can these AFFF systems go before they start to gel.
1 season, 2 seasons, more, less???????
I don't want to NEED it and have little to no pressure coming out because I let it turn to gel. This is the first I've heard of the gel thing and glad you said something on here otherwise I'd never known about it. Thanks.

Mine has a two year inspection date on it.

The Spa e-mail I got suggested a two year life, as well, to replace the fluid. A two year inspection would not imply a replacement of the fluid, to me. Herein is the problem. I "inspected" my system regularly to make sure the pressure was in the "green" since my system was pressurized unlike those that use a CO2 cartridge.

Big Dog

Big Dog wrote:


I have the CO2 cartridge system. Are you saying that......
pressurized ones are a 2 year life and non-pressureized ones (CO2) is longer?
or both are a 2 year life?

Big Dog does not have that answer. Spa e-mailed me that their system should have the fluid replaced every two years or so.

The other systems, with the CO2 cartridge, may be different so it would be prudent to contact the manufacturer and ask with a direct question. Those systems are much less expensive to refresh than my old system is. Also, it sounds like the CO2 cartridge needs to be checked every six months or so and that requires an accurate scale to weigh them. A kitchen food scale should do the trick.

I did not go find my original information on my Spa systems so I can not say, for sure, that it gave that two year replacement information but I do not recall ever seeing or hearing it before but it is hard to believe that it was not in there somewhere and I just missed it. It is a very important piece of information that does not seem to be widely known.

Let us all know what your manufacturer says about the frequency of replacement of the fluid.

Big Dog