6 for 100$

[JGBrown]

I had an offer for 6 tanks for 100$
The good:
-They are exactly the same as what I learned on
-my buddy dives them.
-They would let me do multiple dives in between fills, such as diving where it is not practical to go the LDS a couple times in a day.

The bad:
-The positive buoyancy
-My buddy has years more experience and ends with 50% when I end with 500, so I'm always cutting the dive short by quite a bit.

The ugly:
-2 have J valves
-They haven't been hydro'd since '96.


Is it worth it, it currently costs me 10$ a tank to dive, and the lds charges 200 for a single used AL80.
If all else fails and they are not passable, I'll probably set them up as an on-board air system for my jeep.

 

[SparticleBrane]

What tanks are they?
If nothing else, you might be able to buy them and then sell them for a slight profit and buy a better set of tanks if these aren't what you really want.

 

[David P]

now given you're talking that funny money that smells like maple syrup...valves cost what ~$30 Hydro we'll go expensive and call it $30, so 6X30+2X30=$240+initial $100=$340 for 6 tanks. $200 seems pretty expensive for an aluminum 80... maybe the shipping? Id go for it, sell 2 and keep the other 4 for free basically

 

[JGBrown]

They are your basic rental type beaten AL80.
Are older AL tanks still serviceable? I recall a mention on here of some hydro facilities refusing tanks pre 1990.
One of the joys of living north of the border, higher prices

It is only rather high until you consider that steel tanks start at 399.
and that a mares regulator is just over double the cost from scubatoys including shipping and tax.

 

[jbd]

Look at the tank markings and figure out when they were manufactured as well as who manufactured them. If they are pre mid 1988 Luxfer's then you need to make a decision. Most of those tanks are OK and will pass a hydro including an eddy current test. Some of those will fail these tests. Even if they pass the tests there are dive shops that will refuse to fill these tanks. Ask your dive shop about thier policy regarding these tanks.

 

[herman]

It's a good deal in any case. The scrap value on al tanks is pretty high. I would get them, keep any that were worth keeping and salvage the rest.

 

[diver 85]

If they are Al. pre '89(forget the month of '88 ???Aug), the tanks alone are worth about $13 each(@ your local scrap yard) in alot of ares of the US......So, your buddy is selling them to you for what they are about worth.......Sounds like you can get your money back @ the rate you've quoted ie sell the tanks alone & keep some of the valves...btw, you can figure on a tank costing an additional $10+/yr when they need hydro'ing & Vis.'s every so often......

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Luxfer stopped producing 6351-T6 alloy AL 80's in May of 1988, (different sized tanks were switched to 6061 during different months during 1988) so a June 88 date or later on an AL 80 would be the newer 6061-T6 alloy that does not require eddy current/visual plus inpsections - not that all shops that do visual inspections know this.

Catalina NEVER made tanks from 6351-T6 alloy so if it is a Catalina, it is a 6061-T6 alloy tank. And again many shops are clueless on that point and I have paid for more than one totally uneeded visual plus inspection on a Catalina pony bottle I own.

Walter Kidde made AL80's until around 1990-91 and ALL of their tanks were 6351-T6 alloy. Walter Kidde tanks are a bit heavier than other AL80's, demonstrate less expansion during hydro testing and were in my opinion the best AL80's available at the time.

The 6351-T6 alloy sustained load crack issue is massively over stated. There has never been a properly inspected 6351-T6 tank that has failed in service since the adoption of the current test protocols several years ago with literally millions of them in service inlcuding medical O2 and CO2 cylinders. The current visual plus protcols (which are actually done more frequently on scuba tanks than required by Luxfer or the DOT) ensure than any tanks that are developing cracks are inspected and removed from service long before the crack can develop to the point where failure could occur.

But despite the facts, some shops will not fill any tank made from 6351-T6 alloy despite current testing and what is worse, I am hearing that some shops are refusing to fill any AL tank more than 15 years old. Not to get into the old and tired "shop's have a right to be safe and make up their own (totally arbitary and useless) rules" argument again, but these unreasonable filling practices smell a whole lot like shops trying to increase their tank sales.

If you are always at 500 psi when your buddy has half a tank left, buy all 6 tanks and solve the valve problem by getting 3 manifolds and then use them as three sets of doubles.