What to look for in a new SCUBA tank?

[stakanak]

Where are you going to get the air fills?

 

[KZT]

Where are you going to get the air fills?

That was my thought reading this thread. Yeah, I can see it would be great to own your own tank(s), especially if you are 1.5 hours away from a shop. But...

...you still have to have them filled! You can't take them down to your local gas station and fill them from the tire compressor. You still have to go to a shop SOMEWHERE to have them filled. So it seems to me that it's a bit of false-economy to disregard the 1.5 hour drive to the shop if you were to own your tank. You still have to have it filled so the drive is still part of the cost of using it.

Point being, that being a constant, it still comes down to the rental cost vs. purchase cost as the drive to the shop is still there either way.

The only 2 real advantages to owning I can see is that you only need to make one trip to the shop - to get it filled. And second, you can get it filled on some other day than your dive day because you won't be worried about getting it and returning it to limit rental fees. That is, you can have it filled on Monday, go diving on Saturday, and then have it filled again sometime later. If you rent, on the other hand, you have to make two trips - one to get the tank, one to return it, both on the same day or the next day (assuming you're only diving one day). Whereas with owning you can spread the trips out to your convenience.

My .02 worth...

-G

 

[ScoobaDood]

I see these in Sport Chalet quite often for $139.99 tank in hand no shipping. I'm not going to say its a bad deal, but it doesn't seem like an amazing deal either.

Thanks, I'll check on the stickers. Isn't $139 a pretty good price for a tank? I haven't seen it less anywhere else, but maybe our market is just high?

 

[halocline]

Getting back to your original question, $140 for a new AL80 at a walk-in dive shop in a rural area is not a bad price. My LDS charges $235 for a new AL80, but they're in fantasy land.

Buying LP72s is a nice idea, they're more fun to dive with (IMO) than AL80s and they're usually much cheaper. If you want to buy those, check with your local hydro tester; it'll be a fire extinguisher place. Just find out if he's familiar with them, maybe he evens knows about some in your area. Find out about tumbling the tank, as it's not uncommon for older steel tanks to have a little rust inside.

As far as fills go, you have a fire station around, I guess. In a rural area with a small volunteer fire department, you might be able to get occasional fills there once you get to know them a little. They all have breathing air compressors.

 

[paperdesk]

Great links Elmer. As far as the issue of filling the tank goes, my local dive club has a compressor I can use for free local fills!

I'm checking around for any local used tanks as suggested. Hope something comes up!

Ted

 

[Jax]

I really appreciate the insightful replies! I love the idea of LP72's. I go pretty easy on my air, so a smaller tank would probably work out just fine for me, and at this point I really don't do enough local diving to make a large investment worth it (unfortunately). I wish I lived closer to the ocean, then I'd be tempted to do a lot more diving!

Amphiprion, first of all, great choice on a user name! Love it. Yes, I checked around, but so far I haven't found a lot of used gear. The one shop that did have a used AL80 wanted $140 for it which didn't seem like a steal somehow . . .

Great links Elmer. As far as the issue of filling the tank goes, my local dive club has a compressor I can use for free local fills!

I'm checking around for any local used tanks as suggested. Hope something comes up!

Ted

Check out this link, and educated yourself on tanks before you buy ANYTHING. http://www.tdl.divebiz.net/pub/tanks.html

I wanted something comparable to the AL80 in weight, shorter in height, and more air. The Worthington X7-100 steel tank and the PST E7-100 were my match, but people on the board brought up a lot of info of how PST was in transition and might not be supported. So, I have the Worthingtons.

Think about what you want and where you want to go. The steels are twice as much as the AL . . . but will last forever with care. At least you know how your own tanks have been treated.

 

[paperdesk]

Very interesting link Jax. I'm going through that info now.

 

[paperdesk]

So, looking around on Craigslist, I found this. I called up the guy and asked about the SCUBA equipment, and he really didn't seem to know much about it. All he could say is that the tanks were "standard size" and were probably from the 60's. I guess he figured it was of more interest to collectors. Any chance this would be worth looking into? Would the healthways reg worth anything to a collector?

 

[elmer fudd]

Sent you a PM about those tanks.

 

[amcordon]

As far as fills go, you have a fire station around, I guess. In a rural area with a small volunteer fire department, you might be able to get occasional fills there once you get to know them a little. They all have breathing air compressors.

As someone who works for two fire departments. You are half right. We do have breathing air compressors. We DO NOT have the right fittings to fill SCUBA tanks. Not trying to attack just educate. Firefighting SCBA bottles have what could be considered a reverse DIN style fitting, threads on the outside (think the male side of the conector). I think it would be impressive to find someone come up with the right amount of adapters to make that work. LOL.