27 points
before
you pay.
Found something on inspection you are unsure about? Describe it in the message field — a grader will tell you whether it matters.
This is the exact inspection our graders run, in the order they run it. Four to five minutes a unit. If you are in a hurry, the three that predict almost every expensive surprise are stress crazing at the lower bottle corners, the condition of the discharge boss sealing face, and whether the data plate is legible.
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Clarity and opacity | Look through the wall against daylight. A translucent bottle shows the liquid line; an opaque one has absorbed product or chalked from UV. | Opaque is cosmetic unless accompanied by chalking. Chalked plus brittle is near end of life. |
| Stress crazing, four lower corners | Torch at a low angle across the corner radius. Crazing looks like fine frost or a cobweb of hairlines. | Crazing at a corner is the classic precursor to a weep. Reject for anything you cannot lose. |
| Shoulder deformation | Sight along the top shoulder. It should be a smooth curve, not a bulge or a flat. | A bulge means it was overfilled and frozen, or heated under load. Permanent. |
| UV chalking | Rub a thumb across the sun-facing side. Chalking leaves white powder on your skin. | Chalked HDPE is embrittled. Fine for a planter, poor for a tank that will be moved. |
| Wall gouges and impact marks | Run a hand over the faces reachable through the cage. | A gouge deeper than about 20% of wall is a reject for pressure service. |
| Interior odour | Open the cap and smell. You are testing for solvent, fuel and anything sharp. | Solvent or fuel odour excludes food use permanently and suggests a wash will not fix it. |
| Interior residue | Torch through the 6-inch opening. Look at the bottom and the corner radii. | A heel of product makes this a waste shipment, not a container. Do not accept it. |
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Discharge boss face | Remove the valve and look at the flat sealing face with a torch. | Scoring or gouging means it will always weep and cannot be fixed with torque. Unrepairable. |
| Boss thread condition | Thread the valve on by hand, no tools. It should run freely for several turns. | Stripped or cross-threaded plastic is terminal for pressure service. |
| Valve seats and holds | Close the valve, pour a gallon in, watch the outlet for two minutes. | A weep at the gate means a $8–$34 valve. A weep at the boss means a new bottle. |
| Valve body and handle | Operate it fully twice. It should be a clean quarter turn. | Stiff or partial travel usually means grit in the seat. Cheap to replace. |
| Gasket present and sound | Look for the flat EPDM ring at the base of the thread. | Missing is normal on used stock and costs $3. Hardened or flattened is the same. |
| Thread type identified | Measure the OD across the male threads: ≈2.40 in = buttress, ≈2.36 in = S60x6. | Not a defect, but buy the right adapter before you need it. |
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Cap thread and seat | Thread the cap fully. It should seat flat without rocking. | A damaged cap thread is a $8 part; damaged bottle neck thread is not repairable. |
| Cap vent function | Check whether the cap has a vent and whether it is clear. | Non-vented cap on a gassing product will bulge the bottle. Buy a vented cap, $14. |
| Fill opening rim | Run a finger round the inside rim of the 6-inch opening. | Chips or cracks at the rim propagate. Reject for pressure service. |
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Weld integrity, eight points | Check the four base-frame corners and the four mid-height junctions. | A broken base-frame weld means the unit cannot be safely stacked or moved full. |
| Cage square, diagonals | Measure corner to corner both ways across the top frame. Should match within about half an inch. | Out of square chafes the bottle and will not accept a rebottle without jig work. |
| Lower horizontals straight | Sight along the bottom rails. These take forklift strikes. | A bent lower horizontal is the most common forklift damage. Jig-repairable or scrap. |
| Coating loss and corrosion | Look where the coating is broken, especially the base frame underside. | Surface rust is cosmetic. Perforation through the tube wall is terminal for the cage. |
| Cage-to-bottle fit | Push the bottle sideways. It should move very little inside the frame. | Excess movement means chafing, which produces a wear hole in a season. |
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Pallet material identified | Steel, composite, all-plastic or timber. Affects height, tare and fork entry. | Timber is excluded from food use and fails ISPM 15 without a stamp. |
| Deck integrity | Look for cracking in a composite or plastic deck, especially under the bottle corners. | A cracked deck will fail under a filled load. Base swap, $28 plus labour. |
| Base frame flat | Set it on level concrete and try to rock it. | A rocking base cannot be stacked and should not be loaded full. |
| Fork pockets | Check all four, and confirm whether entry is two-way or four-way. | Damaged pockets are a handling hazard. Two-way entry is a specification issue, not a defect. |
| Point | How to check | What a failure means |
|---|---|---|
| Data plate legible | Find it on the cage frame. Read the manufacturer, date code and UN marking. | Illegible or absent means technical grade at best, permanently. No food-grade path. |
| Prior contents documented | Ask for the record tied to this serial number, not a general statement. | No record means you are guessing. For food or potable use, walk away. |
What to bring
None of this is specialist. All of it is faster than regretting a purchase.
- A bright torch — the crazing check is impossible without one
- A tape measure for the cage diagonals
- Calipers or a ruler for the outlet thread OD
- A gallon of water for the valve test
- A phone for the data plate photograph
- Gloves — used cages have burrs
The fast three
- Lower corners, torch at a low angle. Crazing predicts a future weep.
- Discharge boss face, valve removed. Scoring is a present leak you cannot fix.
- Data plate. Legible or not decides whether the unit can ever be food grade.
Inspection questions
How long does this really take?
Four to five minutes a unit once you know what you are looking at, and perhaps fifteen the first few times. Our graders do 27 points in about four minutes. The slow ones are the crazing check and the cage diagonals; everything else is a glance.
Which three points matter most if I am in a hurry?
Stress crazing at the lower corners, the discharge boss sealing face, and the data plate. Those three predict almost every expensive surprise: the first predicts a future leak, the second predicts a present one you cannot fix, and the third decides whether the unit can ever be used for anything edible.
Can I reject a tote after delivery?
Under our terms you have five business days from delivery to inspect and reject anything that does not meet the purchased grade, with photographs and the serial detail. Properly rejected units are replaced or credited including return freight. Note visible freight damage on the delivery receipt before the driver leaves, though — once signed clean, a carrier claim is extremely hard.
Do you supply this as a printed sheet?
This page prints cleanly on two sides of A4 or letter. Use your browser's print function — the layout is built to reflow rather than to look like a web page on paper.
Found something odd?
Photograph it and describe it. A grader will tell you honestly whether it matters or whether it is cosmetic.