Sport Chalet filling

Hey everyone,
You may have noticed that Sport Chalet no longer uses a water filled station to fill tanks. Now they just hot fill cylinders with the guage adjusted right to 3000psi(example-for AL 80).
The fill takes about 10 minutes and when complete, the tank is VERY hot. Then after the tank has cooled, it is at 2650 psi or so.
What's up with this?
The manager says they made this decision to not fill the sumps with water because it causes splashing on the employee uniforms, and is not presentable to the customers.

I understand that Sport Chalet isn't really a dive shop,but merely a department store with a dive section, but its 1/4 mile from my house, and its open late.

Any thoughts? Is this bad for tanks? Maybe this should go to Whine and Cheeze.

Kyle

Well, they should at least let them cool and top them off.

Just ask for a top off when you go to pick them up.

whalerkyle:

Hey everyone,
You may have noticed that Sport Chalet no longer uses a water filled station to fill tanks. Now they just hot fill cylinders with the guage adjusted right to 3000psi(example-for AL 80).
The fill takes about 10 minutes and when complete, the tank is VERY hot. Then after the tank has cooled, it is at 2650 psi or so.
What's up with this?
The manager says they made this decision to not fill the sumps with water because it causes splashing on the employee uniforms, and is not presentable to the customers.

I understand that Sport Chalet isn't really a dive shop,but merely a department store with a dive section, but its 1/4 mile from my house, and its open late.

Any thoughts? Is this bad for tanks? Maybe this should go to Whine and Cheeze.

Kyle

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Hey Kyle,

The manager is wrong in what they told you. Sport Chalet dry fills based on a decision from their corportate office and some studies that suggests that wet filling does not improve upon the fill. I don't have the article infont of me, but I know for a fact that the Mission Viejo store has a copy, in the dive shop. Sport Chalet's SOPs state that a tank should be filled between 300-600 psi/minute. These are Sport Chalets decisions, not the staff's in the dive shop. Personally, I fill at a slower rate if possible. I know this as I work in the dive shop for fun at Sport Chalet.

I would be irritated, to say the least, if my tank was filled to only 2600 psi. I try to do my best to do a nice slow fill, but no matter how slow you fill a tank, there is going to be some heat caused by friction during filling (all those little molecules being jammed into a cylinder).

I will be in the Mission Viejo dive shop on Sunday from 3-8pm, bring in your two tanks, I'll fill 'em free, show you the article, and give you a comment card to complain to those that make the decisions.

Thanks for the detailed response Ann! How can I turn that down? I just may see you on Sunday, thanks again.

Kyle

Until recently I was used to going to the Chalet for fills, and having to stand around the store for about 20 minutes while they did a refill. I thought that was the norm. Then last weekend I stopped in to a place in Redondo for a fill, which they did in a water tank. Seems like in the time it took me to run out and move my car to a closer spot (maybe a couple of minutes) he said "Okay, you're all set", and it was filled to exactly 3000 psi.

Anyway, I wonder if the Chalet decided that if you can keep 'em wandering around the store for a while, they're bound to decide they need to buy something they hadn't planned on.

I don't care about hot fills, just fill mine to 3500psi..............w000t!!!!!!!!

Genious on the part of Sport Chalet. Like the milk in a grocery store all the way in the back.

whalerkyle:

Genious on the part of Sport Chalet. Like the milk in a grocery store all the way in the back.

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Ha! We are all the way in the back too!

Seriously, it is not only safer to fill a cylinder slowly but results in a better fill.

Jim, I can only guess that perhaps they overfilled your cylinder to compensate for the fast fill. I wouldn't recommend overfilling cylinders as it can cause the integrity of the tank to suffer.

mccabejc:

...Then last weekend I stopped in to a place in Redondo for a fill, which they did in a water tank. Seems like in the time it took me to run out and move my car to a closer spot (maybe a couple of minutes) he said "Okay, you're all set", and it was filled to exactly 3000 psi.
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Given the thikness of the tank wall (1/2 inch or s), the water does nothing to "cool" the air inside in the limited time it is in the water. another argument against the water in the tank is the whips fall into it and it is just a point to introduce a small amount of moisture into your tank. A proper tank fill will take about 20 minutes or so.

Did you check the pressure at the store and again at the beach?

If you get a fill in 2 or 3 minutes and it is 3000 PSI when you get to the beach, there can be only one explanation, a "hot" fill. Hot fill actually in my definition means, they over filled the tank in violation of federal statute so that when it cools it will be right. This of course shortens the life of the tank.

A good fill should take 20 minutes, they slowly fill the tank to 3000 PSI, let it set for a bit and then top it up.

At least that is what I have heard and read. I am sure some engineer type will chime in the the math etc of a 1/2 inch AL thinck wall ability to conduct heat and "cool" the air inside the tank and how long it would take to impact the air temp inside the tank.

Yes, keeping you in the store does generate more $$ for the store (Malibu Divers does dry fills too as do others). But 20 minutes is what it takes to give you a full fill with out over filling your tank to cool down to the full fill and shorting the life of your tank.
Just my $0.02

Ann Marie, that brings up another question I had:

I noticed that my rental tanks were always filled in the 2400-2800 psi range, and my new tanks get filled to 3000 or more. Is there a Chalet rule that says with new tanks you can fill it more than beat up old rental tanks? Of course this all could be coincidence, since I've only had my new tanks for a few weeks now.