What to do with 2 steel tanks?

[willgr1]

Hey all!

So i acquired two Sherwood steel HP 100 tanks a few weeks ago from a family friend. The original hydro date is in 1993. Both these tanks need hydro and viz. one has a din valve, but i'll need a yoke plug, and the other has no valve and will need one. Also, i would like one cleaned for nitrox.

here's the issue. i talked to the owner of the dive shop i always use (got my advanced cert. there, regs cleaned not long ago, and discussed doing rescue and divemaster through them) and he told me to trash the tanks and by new ones for the following reason: it would cost as much to get them ready as it would to buy two new aluminum tanks, no one uses steel anymore, and the tank would be impossible to clean for nitrox because they wouldn't be able to get the scubber in to clean it.

To start, i knew it wouldn't be cheap to get them prepped, but i've never heard of steel tanks not being used anymore and them not being able to be nitrox cleaned! I went across the street to another dive shop, and spoke to some employees there and they basically said look inside for rust, look for pitting on the outside. If none can be see bring them in and they'll look at them and if they seem ok they can take care of me. They even said they even quoted me a little less than my normal shop.

So with that being said, what do you guys (and gals) think? Was the original shop blowing smoke up my butt? or should my tanks be worth using?

 

[Ann Marie]

Heck, all I own are steels cylinders.

Steel cylinders CAN be cleaned for enriched air, or better yet find a dive shop that banks their air and you won't need to have them cleaned.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Get your steel cylinders checked by a different shop than you first spoke of. You will probably need to buy one or perhaps two valves if you want to use the cylinders with yoke regulators. I do not know if the DIN valve on one of your cylinders is actually the type that can accept the insert for use with yoke regulators or not.

You will need a hydro, possibly tumbling to remove interior rust, and an O2 cleaning for partial pressure blending of NITROX. You will need one new valve clean for Oxygen Service and you will need the old valve serviced if it will otherwise meet your needs.

Steel cylinders are generally assumed to be a more desirable cylinder over aluminum for back gas use. They tend to have better buoyancy characteristics and allow you to remove some weight from your belt.

The shop person who advised you that the steel cylinders are in so many ways bad is just plain wrong!

Mark Vlahos

 

[Scared Silly]

Smoke on the water. The second shop gave good advise. Have the shop give an initial vis, if there are no glaring problems, take them in for a hydro, then if they pass, a final vis. Even if there is some rust, cylinders can be tumbled to remove it. Pits are a problem though.

As for valves, these are HP cylinders (3500psi) with a 7/8"-14 UNF-2B opening. The valves for these cylinders can not accept a plug and can only be used as DIN. In fact the reg will need to be 7 thread DIN (aka 300 bar). The valves you are thinking of are the 5 thread (200 bar) version.

 

[RonFrank]

I completely agree with your dive shop, they are worthless. That said, I'll be happy to pay shipping costs if you want to send this worthless steel junk to Colorado! :blinking::blinking:

Seriously, your dive shop sounds like they are doing all they can to sell you two new tanks. Bad dive shop!

You should consider another dive shop for two reasons. A) They are putting their sales in front of their customers needs by LYING to them, or B) they are clueless. Not sure which is worst.

Take one tank in for hydro. If it passes, do the other. If it fails, than junk the tanks. It is that simple.

Most dive shops don't do their own hydro's, so you may want to talk to the hydro facility, and discuss this directly with them. They may want you to visually check for rust before bringing in the tank, or they may tell you just to bring it in, and they will clean it if necessary for a charge that will likely be much less than the LDS.

You can also clean them yourself, and you may want to clean them yourself especially if they are empty. I've never cleaned a tank, but have buddies that have the tumblers, and would likely do it for dinner. Most LDS's should charge in the $30~$50 range to do a Nitrox clean.

You can clean tanks with simple green, and marbles. Since I have not done this, maybe someone who does will post more info.

A hydro is about $20, and a hydro + VIS should not run much over $30, and generally includes a fill.

Two AL80's at most local LDS's are going to run close to $400. I've never heard of anyone getting charged over $300 to clean, hydro, and vis two tanks?? I think one local LDS wanted $100 to do nitrox clean on two AL100's, and I felt that was a bit steep as they were in Hydro/Vis.

Two HP100 tanks are going to run at in the $500 range, so do NOT junk these tanks without first doing some homework which is what you are doing here! They may well have rust that render these tanks worthless, but check it out.

 

[willgr1]

yup, that's about what i was thought. It's odd you (scared silly) mentioned they not being compatible with a plug, as the guy that gave me the tanks told me he had a plug he was going to send me. either way, i'll have the second shop i talked to give them a look over. they said they have some used valve that may work so i wouldn't have to buy a new one.

 

[Tigerman]

I have to say that I agree with the people saying the shop is infact blowing smoke up your ass, or possibly worse, have so much smoke in theirs they cant see out of their own head..
Steel tank is not "obsolete" and as RonFrank says, its not neccesarilly going to cost you a million bucks to have them operative either.
Oh, Did I mention I use a HP122 steel tank myself? (That can be fitted with a yoke inlay in my din valve. Something ill never do tho)

 

[Ocean Hunter]

Great Advice Ron and Mark

 

[JahJahwarrior]

Goodness, that shop was lying in a horrible manner!! Please, go to your regional area and warn other users to NOT EVER use that shop!!!!

It's already been covered, but...
1. Steels are preferred by most and are extremely popular. "no one uses steels anymore" is quite incorrect. Amazingly incorrect. An outright lie, that alone would have me on the phone to dive buddies to spread the word to keep customers out of that shop!
2. Hydro and vip should run you $60 for both tanks, all said and done. If they have rust, then you are looking at more like $100 all said and done, maybe $120, depends on the shop really. But that's total. You cannot buy a new aluminum for that cost!! Your shop owner was LYING to you!
3. The valve opening isn't that much different between tanks, if he cannot get water, simple green and marbles through it to prep it for eanX, he's an idiot and I wouldn't trust him with changing lightbulbs!!
4. It is a different valve opening, and you cannot use yoke regulators with these tanks. If you need to use yoke regs, then get these prepped, get valves, then sell them and buy yourself some LP steel tanks

Seriously, if a shop owner lied to melike that, I would get on every internet forum (The Deco Stop, ScubaToys Diving Forum, Home, and here) that I frequent and warn people to avoid that shop. It should be criminal to make up BS like that! Freedom of speech is one thing, defrauding a customer is another! Granted, I don't think this was technically fraud, but if he used lies as a basis to get you to buy a product, it looks worse and worse in my book. Perhaps someone who knows this stuff can chime in and tell us if there are legal ramifications for a business owner who lies to sell product?

 

[Thalassamania]

I completely agree with your dive shop, they are worthless. That said, I'll be happy to pay shipping costs if you want to send this worthless steel junk to Colorado! :blinking::blinking:

Damn, you beat me to it.