Refinish used tank

[cburgert]

I was at my LDS today , they were having a flea market and I wound up buying a used aluminum tank. It's in good shape and just had the hydro done in November. It has the NITROX sticker on it, but I'm not NITROX certified yet. Tank also has a few minor scrapes. Do dive shops mind if a tank is stripped and repainted? Also what paint is good for an aluminum tank for salt water and fresh water?

 

[PfcAJ]

Best move is to just strip it and go with the bare aluminum.

 

[3D diver]

Do NOT use heat lamp cured epoxy!!!!

There was a big uproar, a while back, because folks were painting aluminum tanks with auto epoxy and curing it with heat lamps. The heat altered the temper of the aluminum and some exploded when filled!!!!

For a while dive shops were turning away repainted tanks because of this. I'm not sure if this is still the practice...but...

I gotta agree with PfcAj here.

 

[herman]

Just leave it as is and have it filled with air....or 21% nitrox if you prefer.
But if you just have to do something, chemical strip it to bare metal and leave it that way.

 

[Taronmyheel]

I would just leave it as is.

 

[cburgert]

Yeah, I just found an earlier thread with the same question. I'll leave it as is.

 

[JamesBon92007]

I was at my LDS today , they were having a flea market and I wound up buying a used aluminum tank. It's in good shape and just had the hydro done in November. It has the NITROX sticker on it, but I'm not NITROX certified yet. Tank also has a few minor scrapes. Do dive shops mind if a tank is stripped and repainted? Also what paint is good for an aluminum tank for salt water and fresh water?

I'm surprised that nobody has yet asked: Who is the manufacturer and what is the original hydro date?

Like 3D said, yes, it can be a problem if it looks like it's been repainted. I had a steel tank that I painted (brushed on marine paint) and even though it wasn't aluminum every time I got it filled I had to explain exactly how I painted it and that I was fully aware of the heat-dried paint problems. Apparently I did too good of a job with the brush

 

[PfcAJ]

Here's what Luxfer has to say about powder coating their aluminum cylinders:

Paint removal and repainting of Luxfer all-metal and composite cylinders made from 6061 aluminum alloy (L6X®)

 

[dhaines429]

I chemically stripped my aluminum 30 and repainted it with a two part urethane spray bomb. Its a bit of work but the finished product looked great and I then had the vis done no problem at all.