How much should an airfill be?

[triplecove]

Well it seems there are 2 schools of thought here, 1 from the people that have had their own compressor/fill their own tanks and 1 from the people that either own their own a LDS or have a vested interest in one (instructors, employees etc.) It seems that if you make money from filling tanks or you get your tanks filled for free that it is just stupid for a rec diver to have their own compressor no matter what the cost per fill. ($20 per fill give me a break! I'll bet there is no competition anywhere near that shop.) I put more weight behind the few opinions of people that actually are currently using a compressor for personal use that have put up real numbers and research to back it up.
I think if next season I can find a shop close enough that offers reasonble fill cards I will go that route but if not I will take my 100 or more fills per year right into my own garage. And maybe even get more dives in because of it.

 

[spectrum]

Here's another angle on savings.....

I know in my case if I could turn my cylinders around when I come home and have them dive ready in hours I could probably slash the 14 or so active cylinders we have in half. That would save some on VIPs. At that point I would have no issue doing my own informal VIP on cylinders never taken to a dive shop. Since we do some regional travel I would probably want some to have commercial stickers.

Add the time and expense of shuttling them to and from the shop and even with a decent logistical situation it adds up.

Pete

 

[triplecove]

Thats a good point I wouldnt need 10 cyl I could cut down to 4 and save another $150+ per year on hydros + vip's and sell the extra cyls to help fund the compressor purchase. (Not that they are worth a whole lot)

 

[616fun]

Thats a good point I wouldnt need 10 cyl I could cut down to 4 and save another $150+ per year on hydros + vip's and sell the extra cyls to help fund the compressor purchase. (Not that they are worth a whole lot)

Or take a visual inspection course and VIP your own cylinders. Take your cylinders to the local hydro center (in Indianapolis it's Koorsen) and save a few bucks that the shops charge for the luxury of doing your leg work.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

We charge $20 U.S. to fill a cylinder. It doesn't matter if it is an 80 cuft. SCUBA tank or a 2 cuft. tank for a back country avalanche float bag.

Holy crap!!!! Is that air marketed by ScubaPro? $20 a fill would seriously cut into my diving. Now I figure it costs around $20 a week to do two dives on a weekend day, $10 for two gas fills and $10 for fuel amusing we are carpooling and splitting the cost with the other person. There is no way I could swing $50 a day to dive.

 

[beaverdivers]

There is no way I could swing $50 a day to dive.

Are you sure your a Tech diver?

I believe for true Tech divers, $50 is a drop in the bucket.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Are you sure your a Tech diver?

I believe for true Tech divers, $50 is a drop in the bucket.

I don't know? Are you really a shop owner? I would think a business man would know that the economy in this country has not been kind to us lately. I did not know There was a certain price on the Tech diver term, yes it is expensive to a point and no I don't do tech dives every week now they are down to only a few a year(Yes we do practice and keep up on our skills) Would I like to do more? Yes! But seeing my pay has dropped quite a bit in the past couple of years and now our health insurance in within $20 of our mortgage (take a guess at which one is higher) things are pretty tight these days in the Morency household. But I guess you know what a real tech diver is now that you sell "real TEK gear, SP X-TEK ".

 

[616fun]

Are you sure your a Tech diver?

I believe for true Tech divers, $50 is a drop in the bucket.

As a tech diver I will tell you that we are tight wads and spend money where it's needed. $20 air fills isn't justified. I wouldn't pay $20 for air. You would justify a compressor in my garage.

 

[spectrum]

Or take a visual inspection course and VIP your own cylinders. Take your cylinders to the local hydro center (in Indianapolis it's Koorsen) and save a few bucks that the shops charge for the luxury of doing your leg work.

I know locally non commercial VIP stickers are not terribly welcome. The expressed concern is the lack of liability coverage backing the inspection. I'm sure protecting the revenue stream is part of it too. I've seen resistance when others have been travelling regionally looking for fils in unfamilar places.

For the hassles involved so far I have been letting the LDS have the business and me keep my time.

They do hydro onsite and while there may be an opportinty to save a little elsewhere there's not enough left on the table to bother for the interval involved.

 

[beaverdivers]

You would justify a compressor in my garage.

My guess is when you do the math, you will be paying more than $20 if you truly figure in all your expenses by having your own compressor.

I just had someone drive an hour to fill their 2 cuft. cylinder. They were very happy that we were able to provide the service.

Should we lose money on fills?