Steel 72 rejected by LDS

[Paladin]

There are shops that won't fill any tanks over 20 years old. There is one near me.
It's the use the lowest common denominator method to make a decision of what is or isn't safe to fill instead of actually knowing

If the shop I usually go to ever goes out of business, I may have to buy me a compressor of my own.

 

[Scuba_Jenny]

Similar story. I had a Luxfer 50 that the shop sold me used. They did 3 hydros on it over the years. When the last hydo went out they told me despite the fact they know me and the tank, they would no longer fill it.

 

[lowviz]

...............This is news to me. I've been diving 72s for longer than that guy has been alive and I've never heard of a properly maintained 72 failing...........................

There is a long-known, established, physical reason for this:

(reference below) Ferrous alloys and titanium alloys have a distinct limit, an amplitude below which there appears to be no number of cycles that will cause failure.

Aluminum does not offer this attribute:
Fatigue limit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In other words, no matter how small the repeated distortion, aluminum WILL (at some number of cycles) fail. Steel can be repeatedly stressed (filled to pressure) below its fatigue limit without failure. -remembered this from an old materials sci course. Your LDS got it bass ackwards...

 

[Double Diver]

Perhaps the LDS did get it as backwards, aluminum vs steel, or the under educated clerk remembered it wrong. I would get a letter from the Hydro guy stating that it passed a DOT sanctioned test and that it is safe to fill to 2250 and talk directly with the owner, you never know he might even than you for helping him keep old divers happy.

 

[oldsalt]

I had a bunch of aluminum 80's that the local dive shop refused to fill despite hydro's, VIP+, because they were over 20 years' old. They had no qualms about filling my 40-year old steel 72's. According to my research, the 80's were still safe so I gave them to a friend who fills his own tanks and bought some steel 100's. That shop closed and my current shop fills anything with appropriate inspections.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I just got 6 steel 72's filled today at my all time favorite LDS way up on the coast in Ft. Bragg, CA. (yes there are still some good ones).
They gladly filled every tank including a 1/2" valve 1959 that was in the bunch. All of them are in great shape with current hydros and VIP's.

However, today was the very first time I have ever been asked for a C-card before they would fill my tanks.
That kind of knocked me off balanced but I gladly showed it.

That guy that wouldn't fill your 72 is an absolute and complete idiot and shouldn't be allowed to work in a dive shop.

 

[duckbill]

Yeah, like my LDS once telling me that my 1/2" necked cylinder was "condemned" (LOL!) because a minimum of three threads have to be showing when the valve is seated
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/tanks-valves-bands/229916-1-2-valve-condemned.html

Never got any resolution on that, so I bought a compressor.

 

[Fish&beer]

That guy that wouldn't fill your 72 is an absolute and complete idiot and shouldn't be allowed to work in a dive shop.

My thoughts exactly!

 

[Thalassamania]

We should open a thread that lists these shops so that we can avoid them.

 

[Rich Keller]

Today, I went to a dive shop close to me (not the one I usually go to) to get my two Catalina 80s (1991 and 2010) and one of my steel 72s filled. The guy at the shop had no problem filling my AL80s but refused to fill my 1976 Healthways steel 72. He said it is too old and that his shop's policy is to not fill 72s. Period. He tried to tell me that 72s have a tendency to fail at the threads so he won't fill them. To his credit, he gave me the fills in my 80s on the house to compensate for the inconvenience.

This is news to me. I've been diving 72s for longer than that guy has been alive and I've never heard of a properly maintained 72 failing.

This the first shop that has ever refused to fill a 72 for me.

Have any of you guys ever run into a shop that won't fill a 72?

The LDS can not over rule the DOT on weather a tank is safe to use or not. Contact the DOT and relate your story to them.