What to do with 2 steel tanks?

[RonFrank]

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!!!!

The owner may not have been lying about the tanks being bad, old steel tanks can go bad.

My biggest problem is that he did not even take a peak inside before telling him they were bad, and then did lye about the cost of cleaning, hydro, vis if that is all they needed.

He's not even a very good liar! An accomplished Liar would take a peak inside, pronounce them bad, sell him new tanks, and then clean them up and sell the SS tanks for a 10,000% profit!

No wonder some dive shops go out of business, they even suck at Lying!

 

[willgr1]

yeah, i'll be keeping the tanks....until proven useless.

they guy that gave them to me said he has them configured for doubles, hence the one not having a valve and most recent hydro was 2002 so i know they haven't been sitting empty for 15 years.

 

[Scared Silly]

If the cylinders do pass hydro and vis and you still want to have a relationship with the first shop I would take them in sometime for a fill and just politely let them know that you got a second opinion on the cylinders and it cost you XX to bring them up to standards for usage. And then let them know that is what they are filling.

 

[spectrum]

The one possible point of concern is the neck style of the cylinder. At that age I think there is a good chance that you have the Pressed Steel 3500 PSI model with the 7/8 fine thread neck. These can be a PITA if tumbling or if any significant internal attention is required. It's not impossible but it's not fun either. I'm also not sure how readily available valves of that thread are. If they are in fact 3500 PSI cylinders then they really should not get the convertible valve (if they were ever even made with that thread) sine they are true HP cylinders and should only be in a DIN configuration.

The rest of the nonsense about steel cylinder being not desirable is hogwash. Overall I find it hard to believe that this shop was thinking of your best interests.

Pete

 

[willgr1]

thanks for the input, the tanks are 3500 psi. i'll have them looked at sometime next week.

 

[marchand]

If he has them configured for doubles then each tank should have a valve and there should be a crossbar also, or in other words a complete manifold. Actually, if the tanks have the 7/8" neck I would be happy to trade you some genesis valves for it. Also, if they do have the 7/8" neck there is no way (that I know of) to connect a yoke reg to the tanks because valves made for the 7/8" tank neck were only made in 300 BAR DIN (again, to the best of my knowledge) and this type of valve will not take the insert.

 

[spectrum]

thanks for the input, the tanks are 3500 psi. i'll have them looked at sometime next week.

Can you find the PST logo in the stamping?

 

[willgr1]

yes, they are stamped PST

the manifold was removed and he only had one single tank valve on hand. I do believe they are 300 bar. i'm going to look into a din conversion on my abyss 22, but that will have to wait until after my cavern diving cert. trip to florida in May.

oh, does the spending ever stop (rhetorical question, i do know the answer, lol).

 

[spectrum]

oh, does the spending ever stop (rhetorical question, i do know the answer, lol).

Actually if you come to a steady state it slows dramatically to maintenance and an occasional upgrade or addition.

It sounds like you have technical aspirations which is hopeless.

Pete

 

[ronbeau]

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 scrubber 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?

You might want to reconsider whether you really want to take your Divemaster training from this shop.

They are either lying or clueless. If they are lying to you can you trust them to give you thorough and honest Divemaster training. If they are clueless you certainly don't want them giving you Divemaster training.

Either way it sounds like you should find another shop for both your training and equipment needs.