The fundamental issues of extending the period between repairs for glass-melting tank furnaces are analyzed. Based on data obtained in studying refractory brickwork after the furnace has been stopped for a cold repair and analyzing the specifics of corrosion of refractories in various structural elements, technical solutions are proposed and implemented enabling one to extend the tank furnace campaign to 7 -8 years.The overhaul period for a glass-melting tank furnace depends on many factors: properties of refractory materials, primarily their heat and corrosion resistance in the melt and in the aggressive gaseous atmosphere saturated with aggressive volatile glass and batch components and fuel combustion products, as well as service condition of brickwork elements (cooling, insulation), glass melting parameters (temperature level, specific glass melt output, type of fuel) and furnace design specifics.The significant service properties of refractories determined under laboratory conditions cannot provide a sufficiently accurate estimate of the furnace campaign duration. They can be used for comparison of various materials and preliminary estimate of their suitability for specific service conditions. Consequently, objective data on efficient and rational application of refractory materials can be obtained only by a systematic study of their behavior in various structural elements of brickwork. A generalized analysis of such data may identify the ultimate service capacities of traditional refractories and suggest effective solutions regarding an upgrade of the furnace design, improvement of the service condition of brickwork elements, or replacing a refractory by another more resistant one, in order to extend as much as possible the furnace campaign.The database obtained at the Salavatsteklo JSC during the past 30 years from numerous inspections of brickwork of glass-melting tank furnaces for sheet and container glass and impure sodium disilicate after the furnaces were stopped for a cold repair or reconstruction during the last 309 years indicates that the service life of a furnace is usually limited not by the general unsatisfactory state of the whole brickwork but by the destruction (frequently an emergency destruction) of a limited number of structural elements in the melting tank and the gas space of the melting zone with maximal temperatures.Such elements primarily include: -the upper part of the melting tank walls; -burners and walls of the flame space; -roofs and dividing walls of regenerator chambers and regenerator checkerwork;-to a lesser extent the main roof and the bottom of the melting tank in the same zones.Its should be noted that up to 1990s when a campaign usually lasted 3 -4 years, the limiting element was usually the upper part of the melting tank walls. In recent years when the campaign of the tank furnaces at the company has been extended to 7 -8 years, the elements limiting the furnace campaign are more often the upper structure elements (burners, flame space walls, certain parts of regenerato...