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I'll take those baby doubles if you ever decide you don't want them!I can't decide between Steel 72s and AL80s. Then there are my AL53 baby doubles...
---------- Post Merged at 09:48 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 09:41 PM ----------
Well, considering I've had to explain tank markings to two of the shop employees, including one who is an instructor ( she couldn't find the hydro, didn't know which number was the born on date or the fill pressure number), I can believe it's a lack of understanding.The "unable to get a full 3442 psi fill" problem is most likely a compressor issue where the shop is either unable or unwilling to go all the way to 3400 psi. Sometimes it's a pressure problem and sometimes it's just a volume issue as they can't push the entire bank that high and they don't want to top the tanks off the compressor or off a high pressure bank.
I could buy that 20 years ago when 3500 psi tanks were fairly new and not all that common, but they and the 3442 psi special permit tanks have been mainstream for over a decade now. They need to get with the times, or find another line of work.
The not honoring the "+" rating is just plain fill station/tank monkey or shop manager ignorance about what a "+" rating means, what tanks qualify (many don't believe that tanks can be "+" rated on anything other than the initial hydro test), and what it means in terms of a fill. It suggests a very dogmatic "never, ever exceed the service pressure stamped on the shoulder" mentality.
Those are also the kinds of shops that never exceed 3000 psi in a hot AL 80 and then leave you with an AL 80 that is under filled to only 2800 psi when it cools to room temp.
I spend my money elsewhere.
Fortunately, it's close and gives free pro air fills ( husband), so it's worth the aggravation, unless we need a full tank, which isn't usually the case for our lake dives.
After we take some tech classes (hoping to do that this winter) and start working on some technical dives, we'll obviously need to find a shop that provides something other than air and also fills our tanks.