Dive tank permanent expiration?

[Rich Keller]

He has them. My next class is tomorrow night. If he tells me they are "expired" I will, of course, take them back. I'll be curious to see whether or not they are the 6351 cylinders. I don't think that he's trying to pull a fast one on me. He seems extremely competent and claims to have been an instructor for many years. Anyway, I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt, and besides, this open-water course comes with complimentary reg, BCD and tank. I just had my own gear that I prefer to use if possible. I received a junior certification 20+ years ago, and have many dozens of dives under my belt, but when my best friend decided to get certified I thought it'd be a enjoyable and wise to take the open-water course with him as a good, thorough refresher.

Thanks to everyone for your responses!

If they are 6351 alloy tanks they can still be used if they have been eddy tested. Even if your instructor is as experienced as he says you should know that he makes far more money selling gear then he dose teaching. Just out of curiosity next time you go to class look at the dates of the tanks they are providing.

---------- Post added July 13th, 2013 at 07:45 AM ----------

Can't say I've ever asked a hydro facility to fill my tank. I don't know that they do and if they did, I don't know that I'd want to breath it.

Personally I take my freshly hydro'd tanks to a friend that does VIPs. He then puts a couple hundred PSI in it for me and I take it in for a fill.

I have gotten fills from hydro facilities all over the country when I am working in remote areas where there are no dive shops, that is how I came to start using them in the first place. They can fill your tanks with air every bit as good as your LDS but they do not do nitrox. The LDS will tell you that these places are only good for fire extinguishers but they do not tell you that they take your tanks there to be inspected. I would put more faith in a DOT regulated facility then a LDS that makes up its own rules based on how they feel and what will help them sell more equipment. To be fair most LDS will fill properly tested tanks but the ones that do not give the rest of the industry a bad name.

 

[chrpai]

Trust me, I skip the LDS also. Just none of the hydro facilities I've been to offered air fills. Interesting.

 

[Peter69_56]

Trust me, I skip the LDS also. Just none of the hydro facilities I've been to offered air fills. Interesting.

In OZ the people who do the hydro sometimes are the LDS who also does the fill, just depends on if they have bothered to get certified, or if they simply send their cylinders to another LDS for the yearly hydro and vis.

 

[mdeboard]

Thanks Doc. I feel the same way about the internet - it can bring the worst out in otherwise nice people. As it turns out, I missed an older and smaller 1985 stamp on my tanks, which was pointed out to me by my instructor last night. Based on this new info and posts that I've read hear, I'm going to write them off. It hurts to lose two tanks that in today's dollars would be worth $600+, but I personally know of a situation where a bad cylinder jettisoned through the back wall of a dive shop, and they were lucky nobody got injured or killed, so I'll err on the side of caution.

 

[captain]

Trust me, I skip the LDS also. Just none of the hydro facilities I've been to offered air fills. Interesting.

If they do SCBA fills for firefighters they should be able to do scuba. It is possible they do not have s scuba valve filler adapter so say they can't do fills.

 

[Bob DBF]

Trust me, I skip the LDS also. Just none of the hydro facilities I've been to offered air fills. Interesting.

The hydro facility here used to do fills, but when the compressor needed a rebuild they stopped because there were 3 dive shops close doing fills and the larger local cities Fire Departments all have their own compressors and they didn't need it for their fire extinguisher business.

When I started diving, a local compressed gas ( O2, N2, CO2, acetylene, ect. ) also did HP air because they were the only ones in the HP business. As times changed they dropped air as well, for the same sort of reasons.

As Rich said, once you get out in rural areas, you will find these businesses still providing HP air because they have done it since the beginning and there is not enough demand to provide for competition.



Bob
-----------------------------------
"No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously" -Dave Barry

 

[Rich Keller]

Personally I take my freshly hydro'd tanks to a friend that does VIPs. He then puts a couple hundred PSI in it for me and I take it in for a fill.

Something about this statement was bothering me and I could not put my finger on it until this morning. Having a dive shop regularly over fill a tank and then at some point saying it is too old and prone to sustained load cracking just seems wrong to me when the shop itself may be creating the problem. Yet everyone is sure when one of these tanks blows that it is due to the age not the miss handling buy the LDS. Why? Because the guy at the LDS said so? Again I do not want to come off as bashing the LDS as most are doing the right things. My issue is with the few that are putting profit ahead of safety and doing what is right for the diver.

 

[chrpai]

Something about this statement was bothering me and I could not put my finger on it until this morning.

Your statement that every hydro facility in the country that handles SCUBA tanks will also provide air fills bothered me. I questioned this and then you assumed that I had no idea that I could skip the LDS to get a hydro. Now you are somehow conflating the fact that I have a friend who does my VIPs with dive shops over filling tanks. I have no idea how you are putting these together and saying that my statement bothers you.

I take my tanks to get hydrod. Then my friend VIPS them and puts a couple hundred PSI in them so that water can't get in them. Then I take the tank to the LDS for it's first proper fill. I don't see a thing that bothers me with this scenario.

 

[Rich Keller]

I take my tanks to get hydrod. Then my friend VIPS them and puts a couple hundred PSI in them so that water can't get in them. Then I take the tank to the LDS for it's first proper fill. I don't see a thing that bothers me with this scenario.

My mistake, I thought your original statement meant that your friend at the dive shop was going a couple of hundred pounds over the tank rating, not that there was a third party between the hydro facility and LDS.

 

[redacted]

Please lets not be so harsh. Remember tank will explode - and they do explode - when they are being filled. You the customer are not standing next to the tank, a shop employee is. They have the right to be as cautious as they want to be for THEIR safety. Up here in NY I know of one shop that also adheres to the 1990 rule. Again that is his choice and since his wife helps out in the shop and his children are always at the shop how do you think he would feel if his family were injured or killed for the price of a tank fill? Shop around but if no one wants to fill the tank then for all intents and purposes it is an expired tank. I love this sport but will not ask anyone to put themselves in harms way, not a student not a shop employee not anyone.

And meteors and airplane parts fall from the sky. There are many uncommon risks that we endure every day without undue mitigation.

Sure, the shop has a right to do pretty much what it wants but those that refuse to fill tanks for no good reason other than their age should find some other line of work, like open a fruit stand.