Is rust inside a steel tank normal?

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What kind of oil do they use? I'm always careful not to introduce anything into my tanks that might not be good to breathe. Oil does not sound good.
I believe it is a vegetable based oil.
 
Oil in a Nitrox cleaned tank is a VERY BAD IDEA. Oxygen clean means no oils at all.

Read/reread my original post. (post #7, 2nd paragraph)

-Z
 
I wouldn’t want any oil in my tanks even if they didn’t need to be O2 clean. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing.

I just had a tank hydro’d. There was a little oxide staining, so what? I ran my special home made whip down the tank, did the bottom with my special home made bottom brush, blew it out with my special home made long blowers, and off we go.
 
I wouldn’t want any oil in my tanks even if they didn’t need to be O2 clean. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing.

How many tanks have you had tested in Europe? Belgium in particular? If the answer is "none" then that is probably why you have never heard of it. The US is not corner of the entire dive market/industry. There are lots of things here that are different from the US such as tank valves typically don't have burst disks; many divers will dive with 2 1st stages with a 2nd stage on each (no octo) even on single tank recreational setups, some places like many in Germany require, for recreational diving/non-overhead, redundant air source, as well as redundant breathing apparatus (e.g., twin tanks and 2 1st stages), much higher expectation that one will have diving insurance than in the US, visual inspection of the tank at the halfway point between hydrostatic testing (2.5 years) instead of every year. These are routine/common place on this side of the pond as compared to my experience as a diver in the US (moved overseas in 2010).

-Z
 
I wouldn’t want any oil in my tanks even if they didn’t need to be O2 clean. That’s the first I’ve ever heard of such a thing.

I just had a tank hydro’d. There was a little oxide staining, so what? I ran my special home made whip down the tank, did the bottom with my special home made bottom brush, blew it out with my special home made long blowers, and off we go.

In addition to what you wrote I also use my special home made long vacuum attachment before blowing out with clean (scuba tank) air.

I even have doubts about using a so-called rust inhibitor.
 
How many tanks have you had tested in Europe? Belgium in particular? If the answer is "none" then that is probably why you have never heard of it. The US is not corner of the entire dive market/industry. There are lots of things here that are different from the US such as tank valves typically don't have burst disks; many divers will dive with 2 1st stages with a 2nd stage on each (no octo) even on single tank recreational setups, some places like many in Germany require, for recreational diving/non-overhead, redundant air source, as well as redundant breathing apparatus (e.g., twin tanks and 2 1st stages), much higher expectation that one will have diving insurance than in the US, visual inspection of the tank at the halfway point between hydrostatic testing (2.5 years) instead of every year. These are routine/common place on this side of the pond as compared to my experience as a diver in the US (moved overseas in 2010).

-Z

And having 300bar tanks. and small (4 litres) twinns. And metric system...
 
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I believe it is a vegetable based oil.
French ( EU ) does not approved oil inside scuba tanks, whatever oil you put, is not safe for breathing. Vegetable oil can be safe for food industry, but not breathing at pressure.Flash rust is not a problem for visual inspectors.
 
You do not need a lot of humidity in order to get rust in a steel tank.
 
French ( EU ) does not approved oil inside scuba tanks, whatever oil you put, is not safe for breathing. Vegetable oil can be safe for food industry, but not breathing at pressure.Flash rust is not a problem for visual inspectors.

The standard hdyrostatic test for a SCUBA cylinder in Belgium that is only filled with air (21% O2) is conducted using oil unless it is specified to use water. I have confirmed this with Apragaz in Bruxelles. My understanding is that each EU country can set its own regulations more stringent than general EU laws which is why our neighbors to the west (France) might only use water to conduct the hydrostatic test.

Here is some info I have found on testing in Belgium:

La ré-épreuve optique:
  • doit être effectuée tous les 30 mois selon la réglementation belge
  • ré-épreuve hydraulique obligatoire si les 30 mois sont dépassés
  • la date de référence est la date de fabrication.
  • poinçonnage « RR + date »

La ré-épreuve hydraulique:
  • être effectuée tous les 5 ans selon la réglementation belge
  • la date de référence est la date de fabrication.
  • poinçonnage « R + date
  • Les bouteilles air sont ré-éprouvées à l'huile
  • Les bouteilles Nitrox sont ré-éprouvées à l'eau
  • Les bouteilles d'oxygénothérapie et de Paintball/airsoft ne doivent pas passer par la ré-épreuve optique à condition d'être estampillées pour leur utilisation

Cheers,
-Z
 

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