worthington cylinder life

Please school me about how the Dot-Sp 14157. What I am interested in knowing is if worthington is out of business and they do not apply to renew their special permit, does this mean that the cylinders I own will no longer be able to have the hydro's renewed?

Lol. we "hydro" our tanks in cave country with each fill.


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NightForce:

Please school me about how the Dot-Sp 14157. What I am interested in knowing is if worthington is out of business and they do not apply to renew their special permit, does this mean that the cylinders I own will no longer be able to have the hydro's renewed?

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Leadking brought Worthington steel cylinders to the market before he sold out to XS scuba. His answer is in this thread. http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tanks-valves-bands/482052-end-worthington-steel-cylinders.html I trust his knowledge.

Are you asking this because of the 'old' aluminum cylinder condemn policy of some dive shops ? This is a controversial issue. I found a shop that didn't buy into the hype; my 1974 aluminum 50's passed hydro testing.

I am asking this after reading the thread that wookie has linked. I do not know the rules regarding the special permit that wookie speaks of. After reading wookies responded to the linked thread it makes me think that it will not be legal to hydrostatic test a Worthington tank if Worthington does not have a current DOT SP -14157 in place. This does not make sense to me which is why I am asking.

Worthington is not out of business. They sold off the tooling to make scuba cylinders to Norris. Worthington did say they would maintain the exemption.

Because I do not know how the exemption works I still would like to know if Worthington does not renew does that mean that the tanks currently in circulation will no longer be allowed to have the hydrostatic testing completed? Does this mean any hydro inspections expiring after Worthingtons expemtion expires will be the last time the tank can be certified? Should I hydro my tanks this year?

NightForce:

Because I do not know how the exemption works I still would like to know if Worthington does not renew does that mean that the tanks currently in circulation will no longer be allowed to have the hydrostatic testing completed? Does this mean any hydro inspections expiring after Worthingtons expemtion expires will be the last time the tank can be certified? Should I hydro my tanks this year?

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If a special permit expires (which I do not think will happen with the Worthington's) the cylinders are not permitted to be used. They are required to be put out of service hydro or not. I would just trust that the permit will be renewed and get them hydro-ed when required at the 5 year mark.

NightForce:

Because I do not know how the exemption works I still would like to know if Worthington does not renew does that mean that the tanks currently in circulation will no longer be allowed to have the hydrostatic testing completed? Does this mean any hydro inspections expiring after Worthingtons expemtion expires will be the last time the tank can be certified? Should I hydro my tanks this year?

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The answer to your question is that if Worthington chooses not to renew the Exemption, your cylinder will no longer be able to be hydro'd after February of 2015 when the Exemption runs out. You may choose to hydro your cylinder early as in January of 15 to get 5 more years of life out of it.

With that said, Worthington makes and made a number of cylinders under an exemption that they no longer make. They do maintain the exemption paperwork current on all of these cylinders so that they are able to remain in service. There is no reason to suspect that Worthington would allow the exemption on this particular cylinder to lapse, as it would make for a bunch of really mad customers.

If you want to be absolutely sure you get 5 more years out of your cylinder, hydro it in January. I have a large number of them in 100 and 120 cubic feet. I will not be hydroing them early.

---------- Post added May 16th, 2014 at 08:41 AM ----------

underH2Oman:

If a special permit expires (which I do not think will happen with the Worthington's) the cylinders are not permitted to be used. They are required to be put out of service hydro or not. I would just trust that the permit will be renewed and get them hydro-ed when required at the 5 year mark.

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What Dean said is technically correct, the cylinder is unable to be filled at expiration of the exemption. I'm sure you could find a shop that would fill it anyway if the hydro hasn't expired.

Does anybody know the current status of the exemption on the PST tanks as well? since i think it expires 2015 as well?