Ok everyone. I certainly generated much more feedback than I had anticipated. It's nice to see how active this website is. I'll have to become a regular now that I'm getting back into diving. Here's a new question - since I discovered that my tanks were made in '85 rather than '90, who among you would bother trying to get them tested for reuse? I'm guessing not many since most LDS won't fill them.
Dive tank permanent expiration?
- Thread starter mdeboard
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
chrpai
Contributor
Think you could (clear) pictures of your tank crown markings? I'm curious how you went from 91 to 85.
Rich Keller
Contributor
Hmm....do you "bother" getting your regs checked out? Cutting corners will get you hurt/killed. In the case of tanks, cutting corners will get the guy filling them hurt or killed. I also would like to know how you changed your mind on the date the tanks were manufactured, not that it really matters. I'm just curious, as a few posts before mine, about how we went from 90 to 85...
Good luck finding a shop that will fill a tank out of hydro. If you DO find such a shop I'd like to know who they are
. If they are whining about the 6351 thing then that's different. I'll fill 6351s if they are current. Of course, I haven't seen a 6351 come into the shop in many years. A lot of people think that they're made from some sort of demonic hell-metal. Not sure what their problem is...
DaleC
Contributor
You said a potential value of $600 (in FL) which leads me to believe they are steel? My two Voit tanks are stamped 1976 and I intend to use them for many years to come. If you abandoned those tanks without knowing the full details I would not applaud wisdom; I would tut tut uninformed decision making.
The argument that one is being reasonable by rejecting gear for safety sake with no recourse to standards is a slippery slope. Why not replace all your gear every ten years - you would be safer. five years? one? At what point do you stop relying on whimsy, rules of thumb, because bubba says so etc...
Someone earlier made an appeal to safety by suggesting a shop did what it did because there were kids near the fill station. It's a workplace. I should think keeping kids away would be the prudent move. It's funny how the mote in our eye can blind us to the elephant in the room.
The argument that one is being reasonable by rejecting gear for safety sake with no recourse to standards is a slippery slope. Why not replace all your gear every ten years - you would be safer. five years? one? At what point do you stop relying on whimsy, rules of thumb, because bubba says so etc...
Someone earlier made an appeal to safety by suggesting a shop did what it did because there were kids near the fill station. It's a workplace. I should think keeping kids away would be the prudent move. It's funny how the mote in our eye can blind us to the elephant in the room.
I think you misread the OP's intent. I read their post as "do you think I should bother to pay for the testing since no one will fill it and I won't be able to use it anyway" As in, they aren't planning on using the tank untested, they are thinking it may be better to buy a new tank. One that won't cause issues getting it filled.
Guys, the profit on a new scuba tank is the lowest profit margin anywhere in our store. I could sell literally anything in our store and make more money dollar for dollar. We don't disallow old tanks because we're trying to screw you. We don't allow pre-90 tanks because a friend of ours lost his dear employee to a rocket tank and we don't want it happening to our family, ourselves or you. Yes, we are well aware of EDDY testing and for a while, we did it, then we decided that even if we Eddy test today, the tank could develop cracks tomorrow or anytime before the next EDDY test.
We hate having to tell you that you need to spend more money. Especially on something as unexciting as a tank. But we are able to sleep at night not being in fear of our lives, your lives, or our jobs because we shouldn't have an explosion.
I'm sorry this is unpopular. But we made the decision and we're okay with it. I hope you are too.
---------- Post added July 16th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ----------
If they were made with the bad alloy, I wouldn't bother. If they are Catalina... I'd probably get the hydro'd and VIP's and get them filled wherever you could get them filled.
---------- Post added July 16th, 2013 at 11:01 AM ----------
Do these tanks have round bottoms or flat bottoms? If they have ROUND bottoms, they are steel tanks (almost certainly) and you need to keep them and have them tested or give them to me.
---------- Post added July 16th, 2013 at 11:02 AM ----------
Have you ever seen a 10yr old scuba diver? We do every week. Are we to tell them they are not welcome in our store because they are minors? That'll go over like a lead balloon.
prophet98g
Registered
Hmm....do you "bother" getting your regs checked out? Cutting corners will get you hurt/killed. In the case of tanks, cutting corners will get the guy filling them hurt or killed. I also would like to know how you changed your mind on the date the tanks were manufactured, not that it really matters. I'm just curious, as a few posts before mine, about how we went from 90 to 85...
Good luck finding a shop that will fill a tank out of hydro. If you DO find such a shop I'd like to know who they are
Wow, I am pretty sure he is asking if he shouldn't "bother" getting them tested and should just retire the tanks due to the possible problems of getting them filled. Not if tanks need to be hydro tested in general.
The Chairman
Chairman of the Board
Dude, it's far more fun for someone to call you ignorant and corrupt!
Unfortunately, some people take any disagreement as an offense to their honor. I agree with you that no shop wants to retire a tank for all the reasons you gave. Why would they risk a customer over a $5.00 profit? I think it's more along the lines that they don't want to risk their lives (or others) for a $5.00 air fill. What is a completely acceptable risk for some is a no-go for others. Just as anyone can call a dive, at any time and for any reason, shops are allowed to call a fill at any time and for any reason with no repercussions given.Similar threads
