Buying used gear-tanks

[mike_s]

Thanks for the info. I was digging through classifieds looking for a punching bag, and came across quite a few scuba ads... it seems most cases are people who jump in gun-ho and then let every thing sit for several years. when they don't do it as much so they just want to sell it all off. What can I expect to pay for a visual and hydro? I know that hydro is a little pricy, so I'd try to make a buy pending visual inspection.

You never know what you are going to get in a used tank.

I've bought used tanks for cheap that were in vis and hydro and only a year old.


I've also bought tanks that needed hydro and vis. That has turned out with both good and not good experiences.

example 1: Local dive shop goes out of business and I buy some tanks in hydro, in vis, and almost new for 'really cheap'.

example 2: got a used AL80 off ebay for a decemt price. Person shipped it to me and it ends up being a steel 72 and they lied about the tank.. Of course he wouldn't return emails or calls after the sell. Had a friend who was looking for a S72 and traded it to him for a used AL80 he didn't want, which was out of hydro. had to get tank hydro'd and vis'd but otherwise is fine now.

example 3: Many years ago someone had in the paper two tanks for $50 bucks. sounds like a deal huh? They were both out of hydro and empty of air. I bought them both and got them hydro'd ($12 each), vis ($5 each), airfill ($4 each). A few weeks later I noticed one of the tanks was empty. I thought I must have left the valve slightly cracked. Refilled the tank ($4) and put it back in the closet only to find it empty 2 weeks later. Filled it again ($4) and went diving with it to find a trail of 'tiny bubbles' coming out of the valve. Leaky valve. Replacement $50 bucks + $3 airfill. A couple weeks later the other tank valve starts leaking. another $50 bucks and $4 airfill. The basis of this example is that for this price, it would have almost been cheaper to buy new tanks!

 

[Louma]

If you think you are going to do a lot of local diving, then buy your tanks. At $6.00 to $7.00/tank, it takes a lot of rentals to make up the cost of a tank. I did 10 years of 100 dives/year before I bought my tanks. Reason - I took a NITROX class and never could get NITROX rentals.

Now, instead of the take your chance buy off of ebay or the paper, (I have seen way too many examsples of - good price, pay for hydro, pay for viz, fix valve) why not buy from LP or ScubaToys. I've seen new AL80's for $129.00 new w/valve. I'm not sure if LP has a vis sticker on their tanks, but I'm pretty sure ScubaToys does. Just add air and go!

Just be real sure what you you buy used. Even I get sucked in. I just bought a reg. that I thought was a great price. It was used but I thought "what the heck how bad could it be?" Got it in the pool, I was breathing as much water as I was air, and all up and down the hose was streams of bubbles. I'm lucky it didn't explode. Tried to contact the person I bought it from, no dice. Now, I may get it fixed prob. about $50.00 to $75.00 or I might take it apart (always wanted to see the insides of a regulator). So, was it a good deal???. My advice, if you are going to buy from the internet or used, buy from someone you know or trust.

 

[captain]

Like most things, care is what will determine how long it lasts. I am still using the first steel tank I bought in 1957. Although it is a little inconvient I don't use boots on tanks. If you do remove them after every dive when rinsing the tank. I will not buy a steel tank that has a boot unless I can inspect what it looks like under the boot. If I am buying used equiptment from Ebay I try to buy only from fresh water areas of the country. Equiptment from Florida is usually the most used and abused. Some shops do not know or follow the correct procedure to hydro hot dipped galvanized steel tanks. Try to find an independent hydro facility, one that hydros all types of tanks not just dive tanks. The DOT has a list of facilities through out the country. Most safety and fire equiptment suppliers fall in this catagory. Learn as much as you can on how a hydro is done, and specal proceduries for the type of tank and be sure the test facility follows them. Some of the procedures come from the tank manufacture themselves and the hydro facility is not reqired to follow them. They are only required to follow the DOT mandated procedures but if they don't follow the manufactures procedures also there is a good chance they will fail the tank. Most properly cared for steel tanks will out live you and I.

 

[TSandM]

When I started diving, we pulled together five steel 72s from when my husband originally learned to dive -- manufactured in the late 60's, and not used for well over 20 years. Out of the five, two passed VIP, and they passed hydro, and they're back in use. We are even using the original valves on them.

On the other hand, I was given two Al80's which were IN hydro (out of vis), and had to replace or rebuild both of the valves (only to find that the only way I'd dive an Al80 here again is if I had no other choice at all).

Steel tanks are expensive, but there are enough divers in this area that it's not hard to find them for sale. If they're someplace where you can go and look at them, buying used is probably a great idea, especially for somebody on a student's budget.