saf_25
Contributor
It's steel, not AL.RichLockyer:
Sport Chalet....
- Thread starter SoCalAJ
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RichLockyer
Guest
Fair enough.saf_25:
Xanthro:
I've worked in a few real dive shops, and I've seen a number of aluminum tanks that needed tumbling. Seawater makes a mess of the insides of AL tanks, and it's not really sapphire-hard corrosion, its softer flakey, bubbly stuff because moisture mixes with the aluminum oxide and produces aluminum hydroxide which is more tenacious and needs to be tumbled out.
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.......sorry, my computer did something strange
JDog
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Since we are on the subject of short fills. I have a question. Why don't they slide your tank in some sort of water tank, in order to keep the tank cool? I thought I saw this done in Hawaii 8 years ago, wouldn't this help keep everyone from getting a short airfill? Last week I waited for my tank to be filled (@ Sport Chalet), and when he handed it to me it felt very hot, I don't know how hot but when I picked it up it did startle me. It wasn't warm it was hot. I ended up with just under 2800 after it cooled off (will temp. make THAT much of a difference?), it wasn't a big deal this past weekend, because I ended my dive with 1500 but what if we were doing a deeper longer dive somewhere, I would have felt a little bad about getting a short fill.
RichLockyer
Guest
It is debatable whether or not the water bath makes a difference. At worst, it makes no difference, and provides a too-easy way for water to get into the tank during the fill.
Of course, that is simply a matter of care. If the employee is dropping the whip into the water or onto a wet floor, or dunking the valve BEFORE applying the whip, as an employer, he would not be working for me for very long. As a customer, he would not be be filling my tanks again.
Regardless of the water bath, if your tanks were HOT, they were filled too quickly. Again, the temperature rise may or may not decrease the life of the tank. At best, you ended up with a short fill, which is a disservice to you, the customer. At worst, the tank will be compromised through repeated hot fills. Reality is somewhere in between.
Hot/short fills are one reason I quit going to SC. Lack of nitrox is another, but I DID get fills there... out of my 3 tanks, only 2 were prepped for nitrox. The third was filled at SC, until I got tired of hot tanks and short fills. I now get nitrox in all three, from the same not-so-local DS, even for 30ft dives.
I really do get tired of statements like "Oh, just learn to breath better, here's how". Some of us DO have good breathing rates, but like to maximise our time in the water. We're spending thousands of dollars and hours of time so we can DIVE... not to take boat rides and lounge on deck. When my buddy has a 3000psi fill and I show up with a tank at 2600, that means that the dive is going to be called 10-15 minutes early on a shallow dive. That's significant. Calling 5 minutes early on a deeper dive is significant.
Of course, that is simply a matter of care. If the employee is dropping the whip into the water or onto a wet floor, or dunking the valve BEFORE applying the whip, as an employer, he would not be working for me for very long. As a customer, he would not be be filling my tanks again.
Regardless of the water bath, if your tanks were HOT, they were filled too quickly. Again, the temperature rise may or may not decrease the life of the tank. At best, you ended up with a short fill, which is a disservice to you, the customer. At worst, the tank will be compromised through repeated hot fills. Reality is somewhere in between.
Hot/short fills are one reason I quit going to SC. Lack of nitrox is another, but I DID get fills there... out of my 3 tanks, only 2 were prepped for nitrox. The third was filled at SC, until I got tired of hot tanks and short fills. I now get nitrox in all three, from the same not-so-local DS, even for 30ft dives.
I really do get tired of statements like "Oh, just learn to breath better, here's how". Some of us DO have good breathing rates, but like to maximise our time in the water. We're spending thousands of dollars and hours of time so we can DIVE... not to take boat rides and lounge on deck. When my buddy has a 3000psi fill and I show up with a tank at 2600, that means that the dive is going to be called 10-15 minutes early on a shallow dive. That's significant. Calling 5 minutes early on a deeper dive is significant.
SC fills a niche most dedicated dive shops simply don't - namely longer hours and open on Sundays. Try to find an LDS on the westside that's open after 7:00 PM... forget about it. They're the 7-11 of dive shops... not always the best prices, best selection or friendliest folks (although the Marina team has been good to me), but they are local, available until 9:00 on week nights, available on Sundays and have bailed me out of more than one pre-trip emergency by simply being there.
Aside from that, I'll get fills from the Marina store on occasion but that's about it.
I go no issues with them. If I need gear, I go to eBay. If I need training, I go to a couple of other shops where I have friends. If I need something in a pinch, I go to SC.
K
Aside from that, I'll get fills from the Marina store on occasion but that's about it.
I go no issues with them. If I need gear, I go to eBay. If I need training, I go to a couple of other shops where I have friends. If I need something in a pinch, I go to SC.
K
RonDawg
Contributor
Mo2 is correct...while SC isn't the best dive shop in the world, it caters to a specific market...the recreational diver who isn't interested in DIR, isn't interested in Nitrox or TriMix or anything other than a canned version of the same air we breathe at the surface. Perhaps they are best suited to the "poodle-jacketed, split-fin and purge-valve mask wearing" diver that's treated with such contempt on this board. But like it or not, it's a market that's here to stay for the foreseeable future, and as competitive as the dive business is (from what everybody has said here) it would be foolish for SC or any other LDS to ignore that. SC just seems to cater to that market better than anybody else IMHO.
Convenience is SC's strongest suit; they have stores all over the state, and you can get that fill (short or not, hot or not) while your kids are buying their soccer outfits.
In this modern day where we're expected to multitask even during leisure time, some people simply don't have the time to drive to a dedicated LDS when SC is more than likely to fill that requirement to at least the moderate satisfaction of most of its customers. Why do most of us buy our food from the supermarket even though we can get better meat from a butcher, better bread from a bakery, and better produce from the weekly farmer's market in many SoCal cities? It's because we simply don't have the time to run around to all these places. It's why Vons and Ralphs and Albertsons have been fighting the introduction of Super WalMarts here; even if the supermarkets can compete on price, they can't compete on convenience.
Maybe I've just been lucky and have gotten good service and advice out of both La Canada and Burbank stores. I've only had one short (2800 psi) fill, and that was during OW. The rest of the time it's been dead on 3000 or even slightly over; once I even got 3200 out of them. I don't own tanks as of yet so they've always been rentals.
While I don't have a lot of dives, I have been to quite a few places in the short amount of time I've been diving. In terms of selection and quality of service, I would say SC is about in the middle. I've come across a couple of better LDS's, but I've also come across some pretty sad ones. I would say it's definitely a case of "Your Mileage May Vary."
Convenience is SC's strongest suit; they have stores all over the state, and you can get that fill (short or not, hot or not) while your kids are buying their soccer outfits.
In this modern day where we're expected to multitask even during leisure time, some people simply don't have the time to drive to a dedicated LDS when SC is more than likely to fill that requirement to at least the moderate satisfaction of most of its customers. Why do most of us buy our food from the supermarket even though we can get better meat from a butcher, better bread from a bakery, and better produce from the weekly farmer's market in many SoCal cities? It's because we simply don't have the time to run around to all these places. It's why Vons and Ralphs and Albertsons have been fighting the introduction of Super WalMarts here; even if the supermarkets can compete on price, they can't compete on convenience.
Maybe I've just been lucky and have gotten good service and advice out of both La Canada and Burbank stores. I've only had one short (2800 psi) fill, and that was during OW. The rest of the time it's been dead on 3000 or even slightly over; once I even got 3200 out of them. I don't own tanks as of yet so they've always been rentals.
While I don't have a lot of dives, I have been to quite a few places in the short amount of time I've been diving. In terms of selection and quality of service, I would say SC is about in the middle. I've come across a couple of better LDS's, but I've also come across some pretty sad ones. I would say it's definitely a case of "Your Mileage May Vary."
jetfixer
Contributor
JDog:
Jdog- here is a link to another thread on this subject. http://www.scubaboard.com/t72265-sport-chalet-filling.html
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