Actual shelf-life of reducer?

[Scott Gardner]

I read in one of the other topics that reducer should be used within a few weeks of first being opened. I buy the reducer I use by the quart. Problem is, that's enough to make 1.5 gallons of sprayable clear, which means that one quart of reducer is probably about a year's worth, considering that this is just a hobby for me. Add to this the fact that it's not the same temperature year-round, so I actually have several quarts of different reducers on my shelf. </cr>
I don't want to waste a lot of reducer if it truly does go bad in a month, but I also don't want to take the price hit of buying reducer a few ounces at a time whenever I'm ready to do a job.</cr>
So my question is, how long have you been able to keep the same reducer on the shelf before it goes bad, and how can I tell when it actually does go bad?</cr>
Thanks,</cr>
Scott

 

[rex]

Plain ol' reducer will last quite a while as long as you recap it tightly.I think you misunderstood the post.The main jist of it was hardners have the short shelf life.The reducer EZRIDER talked about was PPG's reactive reducer for DBU basecoat,it has hardner in it but I don't think that was clarified in the post.Hardners go bad fairly quickly but normal reducers will last you quite a while,just don't leave the cap off long because they can suck up moisture if left open long enough.