Sports Chalet won't fill older Luxfer tanks

[scubapro5]

I am not sure if this was posted but Sports Chalet will no longer fill aluminum Luxfer tanks manufactured before may 1988 so if your tank is older then that date they will not fill it even if the vip and hydro is current.

 

[PhotoTJ]

Almost all of those are coming back from hydro condemed, but if it's still in hydro and passes viz, we will still give you a good fill at Aloha Dive.

 

[Peter McGuinness]

Almost all of those are coming back from hydro condemed

This is not true; there are not large numbers of these tanks coming back condemned, there are large numbers of them coming back certified good! There are more than 25 million of those tanks out there, the vast majority of which are perfectly sound.

This latest controversy about older 6351 alloy tanks has nothing to do with coming back from hydro, condemned or not. It has to do with a San Diego dive shop owner who had a fill station employee discover a crack in the neck of an old tank and then arbitrarily decided not to fill any of those tanks, ever again, whether or not they had passed hydro, vis, eddy current checks, or whatever. Just to round out his good deed for the year, he then mailed all the other dive shop owners in the area and persuaded them to join him in the ban.

No matter that the tanks can be certified safe.
No matter that the dive shop in question has been certifying them safe (but has now decided not to honor its word).
No matter that the failure rate for 6351 alloy tanks is lower than that for steel tanks.

Fortunately, there are LDS operators who are prepared to offer a testing service that they will later honor, and it is still possible to get these perfectly good tanks filled at reputable dive centers.

Now, I am not saying that anyone should be expected to fill an unsafe tank, or that there have been no problems with 6351 alloy tanks in the past, but it is unreasonable to certify a tank as safe on one day, only to turn around and declare it unsafe the next. Either the original testing was inadequate, in which case the test fee was stolen, or it was good and the tank is safe. In which case the shop owner should honor it or give a refund.

The act of persuading all the local shops to join in the ban can only be interpreted as a bid to avoid losing business, or even worse, to enforce condemnation of large numbers of tanks which would have to be replaced. Using a safety scare to drum up extra business is reprehensible to say the least.

PhotoTJ, you will be safe filling these tanks only as long as the owner can demonstrate that it has been eddy current checked at a certified testing center within the last year. If not, you will be at risk, since vis and hydro will not catch the problem. Owners can minimise the likelihood of cracking by storing the tank depressurised (at 500psi, rather than 3000psi).

There is lots of info on the topic at the luxfer website.

Peter