oxygen and acetalene tanks

[Cord]

The one problem with exchanging tanks are the ownership stamps on the neck. If you buy a brand new tank the neck should be clean. When you exchange that tank you now have a neck that says the cylinder belongs to somebody else. The cylinder that you own is now in somebody else's possession and the one in your possession could be considered stolen. Oh, sure you didn't steal it... but can you prove this? It's kinda like two kids fighting over a baseball glove on the field. If the glove had somebody's name on it who would you believe?

I own my own cylinder and every time I fill them I'm having to get them hydrotested. It would appear hydrotesting is based upon a date and not the number of fills that occur over that period of time.

 

[ultrarunner]

Hydro is date specific...

I have seen Oxygen Cylinders in use with dates starting back in the 1920's...

Last year... had one with the first date of 1939 by Linde and had the **** ******** stamp in two places.

Who knows on home many German U-Boats or installations this cylinder has seen around the world?

It takes longer but I have my cylinder refilled... it is tagged plus has my name stenciled on it... my welding supply has a one week turn around to get the same cylinder back.

On my small tanks I just top them off when I get my big tank back...

At work I go through about 50 large Oxygen in a month and maybe 6 Nitrogen and 4 Nitrous...

It is one of the first things I check each morning and the LAST thing I check when I leave for the day...

Due to the volume I never pay rent or for hydro testing...

The small E-tanks may be around for years as they are mostly backup...

 

[drizler]

The one problem with exchanging tanks are the ownership stamps on the neck. If you buy a brand new tank the neck should be clean. When you exchange that tank you now have a neck that says the cylinder belongs to somebody else. The cylinder that you own is now in somebody else's possession and the one in your possession could be considered stolen. Oh, sure you didn't steal it... but can you prove this? It's kinda like two kids fighting over a baseball glove on the field. If the glove had somebody's name on it who would you believe?

I own my own cylinder and every time I fill them I'm having to get them hydrotested. It would appear hydrotesting is based upon a date and not the number of fills that occur over that period of time.

How many years you hoping between fills? It seems to me unless it's a whole lot then they are putting it to you. I'd definitely look into that required testing .

 

[ultrarunner]

Generally every 5 years for Hydro... unless coded for 10 year test

Here is useful link to decode cylinder stampings

http://www.usamma.army.mil/assets/docs/Oxygen Cylinder Markings.pdf

And here is a more detailed link than most will ever need

Cylinder Maintenance and Testing reuirements, for high and low pressure service cylinders. Code of Federal Regulations 49, Part 173.34. Department of Transportation. Cylinder and Valve requirements for maintenance.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I deal with Pacific Welding on my owner cylinder refills. It is done on an exchange basis so no waiting. I have never had to pay for a retesting. That cost is an overhead cost to PW spread and over their gas pricing. maybe it is time for re-evaluation of where you are buying your gases. Of course folks in a small rural area may only have one source. I have at least 4 for competition, always a factor.

Ron

 

[sam5570]

Well went by TS today they wanted $789.00 for me to purchase 2 tanks and when I bring them back exchange for around $100.00. I will keep searching

 

[dragoneggs]

I deal with Pacific Welding on my owner cylinder refills. It is done on an exchange basis so no waiting. I have never had to pay for a retesting. That cost is an overhead cost to PW spread and over their gas pricing. maybe it is time for re-evaluation of where you are buying your gases. Of course folks in a small rural area may only have one source. I have at least 4 for competition, always a factor.

Ron

Same boat as you Ron... I assume you frequent the Bremerton store vs. Tacoma?

 

[ultrarunner]

Pacific Oxygen was my go to decades... they had their own gas plant, hydro, welding supply and multiple locations.

It was a family business that closed up and liquidated when the Grandson retired... also did a lot of defense work.

It was nice having a neighbor that was gas plant superintendent ;-)

I was able to put together several sets of tanks ranging from backpack to full size and he told me what to look for when buying used...

Also setup me to cascade from the big tank Oxygen to fill my small ones.

The backpack set was very practical when I would go to ancient wrecking yards in search of restoration auto parts...

 

[muddstopper]

I remember my first set of tanks. I dragged the out of the woods where they had been laying for years. I was in high school and my shop teacher let me swap them for some of the full school bottles. Several years later, the local welding supply went out of business. I was stuck with two bottles I couldnt get filled. The new suppler wanted money for testing. Somehow I ended up buying new bottles, probably around $200 way back then. Any way, after having the new bottles exchanged a few times, I loaded one of my old bottles up and took it to be tested and filled, guy loading bottles just loaded a full bottle back on my truck. I figured I would get a bill, but never did. Later, I took the old acet bottle and same deal, guy on the dock just loaded a full bottle on the truck. Again, no bill. So I had two sets of bottles. Several years later, I bought a small set of bottles and torches at an estate sale. Took the bottles to be filled and again they just swapped bottles. Later, I took my extra oxy bottles and traded them for argon and argon/co2. I asked one of the guys that worked there, about bringing in bottles that had come from another welding supply, he said they didnt care, they had bought out several other suppliers and they had bottles from several different companies and they had no way of tracing every bottle that came in. As long as your bottle isnt out of date, they just accepted it. I didnt ask what if the bottle was out of date. I do know if you dont swap a empty for a full bottle, you will get charged rental. I found that out when I had a lot of cutting to do and figured I would run out of gas before I finished, I ran to the suppler and picked up a full bottle but didnt exchange one for it. Next month I got a bill for one month rental.

 

[jaxs]

Look's like it depend's on where you are located but I suspect it is changing as we speak. Praxair and Airgas have bought out most everyting around Dallas and they treat customers any way they like. No tradeing tanks with anyone else's name on it. No tradeing tanks with expired hydro. No tradeing any tanks unless you say pretty please, pay double and kiss their at$$. They bought and closed dozens of places over the last few years. While this was unfolding, Praxair pulled a good one on customers at Tractor Supply, big box stores and other vendors. Customer take's in his slick neck but get's one with Praxair's name on it. Customer tries trading at Airgas and they refuse because of name on neck. Well ok,customer return's and trades tanks where he go it to begin with,,,,,,,,,,UNTIL,,,,,,,Praxair decide's to stop doing business with vendors and deal's strictly out of their stores. An outfit by the name of Thoroughbred pick's up Tractor Supply and some of the other vendors and refuse tanks with others name on them. As it stand's now,if you have a tank without a receipt you have scrap metal unless you drive out 50 miles to a backwoods welding supply. The reason you can't weld with propane isn't because of heat,propane doesn't produce shielding gas like acetylene does.