Shout out to Andy Humphrey, the owner of Stewart Systems. Back in 2008, I chose their EkoClean, EkoEtch, and EkoPrime products for cleaning and priming my RV-7A parts and have been very pleased with it -- particularly the easy clean-up (water!). It applies beautifully when I set up the spray gun correctly and don't get trigger happy and grossly overapply it.
Well, a combination of ordering too much and a multi-year suspension of building left me with unopened 6-year-old containers of this stuff (one each). I decided to drop Stewart Systems a line to see if there was any reason I couldn't still use it for corrosion protection on internal parts away from solvents.
Andy replied immediately and said the EkoClean and EkoEtch should be fine, and -- despite having only a 1-year stated shelf-life/warranty -- the old EkoPrime is probably OK too (for nonvisible, unpainted surfaces anyway) as long as it has never froze, I stirred it especially well, and I tested it first and didn't see any problems.
But then he went further and really shocked me: he offered to replace my EkoPrime free of charge! He said he wouldn't mind having my 6-year-old product so he could evaluate for himself how well it has aged. I shipped him my old can, and he shipped me a brand new can -- FedEx with a "freeze indicator" (negative result) and a big warming pouch (to keep it from freezing during shipment) that was still warm to the touch when I opened the box!
Now don't y'all go sending all your old unused product to him for free replacement, but this was such unexpected and "above and beyond" customer service that I had to give him a kudos here. The previous owners (the Stewarts) were equally helpful and friendly to me years ago when I first purchased their products and was clueless as to how to use a spray gun.
Well, a combination of ordering too much and a multi-year suspension of building left me with unopened 6-year-old containers of this stuff (one each). I decided to drop Stewart Systems a line to see if there was any reason I couldn't still use it for corrosion protection on internal parts away from solvents.
Andy replied immediately and said the EkoClean and EkoEtch should be fine, and -- despite having only a 1-year stated shelf-life/warranty -- the old EkoPrime is probably OK too (for nonvisible, unpainted surfaces anyway) as long as it has never froze, I stirred it especially well, and I tested it first and didn't see any problems.
But then he went further and really shocked me: he offered to replace my EkoPrime free of charge! He said he wouldn't mind having my 6-year-old product so he could evaluate for himself how well it has aged. I shipped him my old can, and he shipped me a brand new can -- FedEx with a "freeze indicator" (negative result) and a big warming pouch (to keep it from freezing during shipment) that was still warm to the touch when I opened the box!
Now don't y'all go sending all your old unused product to him for free replacement, but this was such unexpected and "above and beyond" customer service that I had to give him a kudos here. The previous owners (the Stewarts) were equally helpful and friendly to me years ago when I first purchased their products and was clueless as to how to use a spray gun.