Argon cylinder that won't be filled again

[Jim Timber]

I've got a 250cf that I've considered trading up too. I don't use that much gas, but I don't like having to swap them out more than I have to and I like the bulk pricing better on the big suckers. Just tapped out the 330 again tonight. Time to clean the floor so I can get to the back to swap the reg over.

I've got the 330, 250, and a 125 of straight argon. Then I've got some others for MIG gas (150's of c25 and 98/2), and an O/A rig as well but those are smaller tanks. I'll inherit my dad's O/A stuff someday, and he's got a 250 O2 and #4 acetylene, so I've never had the urge to go bigger with mine. Plus I only use the rosebud for the most part and every blue moon the cutting head.

Welding kit is almost as bad as machine tools. Just watch the money vanish for the first few years, then you wonder where your empty space went.

 

[Jorville]

Jim Timber, when you got rid of Oxygen Service did you have to sell the tanks back to Oxygen Service or were you able to exchange them where you buy gas now and let them swap cylinders with oxygen service?

 

[Jim Timber]

I swapped out with Metro and he dealt with them for me.

When you own title to a tank, that usually just means you own "a" tank and they'll rotate it through inventory as needed. I could see where some smaller outfits might make you own your actual tank, and I have a tank that I put a new valve in that I keep and retrieve when it's full (my 98/2 bottle), but that's my choice and I could just swap it if I wanted.

The issue with switching vendors and proving you own the tank is that if they try to exchange it back and it was a rental that's unpaid (stolen) then the new shop vendor is now out a tank, which in turn means you gave him a stolen one and he's going to go after you for his new loss. So when you buy them off CL (where several of mine have come from) make sure you get a DL number on the bill of sale or you might end up losing it when you go to fill up.

Hydrostatic testing is like $12 too, so don't let anyone blow smoke and claim its more. Metro doesn't charge me it at all - he considers it a cost of doing business if you're a regular customer.

 

[Jorville]

Jim Timber, I have the same exchange arrangement as you, I have paper on my O/A tanks and the large argon from Oxygen Service. When that large argon empty's out I should try and swap it. From what I have gathered it is cheaper, or a better deal to have the larger tank exchanged. Thanks for the info.

 

[dstig1]

Mississippi welder supply will take owned tanks, but they will only take yours, fill it and return it. They won't swap out for an owned tank. The bummer with that is that they send it to the central plant which is down in Winona, I think, so it could take a week or two turn around. Not really viable unless it is a backup tank. I do have one owned tank that I got off CL with helium in it that I want to convert to Argon one of these days. They also told me they didn't need much in the way of documentation, mostly just my word that it was purchased by me...which is good as i never got any documentation from the seller.

 

[buickanddeere]

Local gas dealer had an oxygen bottle on the rack that looked a little odd . It had passed scads of pressure tests . They logo was a strange set of four boxes together . Looking closer they seen two sides of each box was hand stamped and the rest was factory stamped. The bottle had been manufactured in **** Germany.

 

[houser52]

Back in the 80s when I was working for a soft drink company, our vending repairman used a small cylinder of CO2 to blow out refrigeration condensers. It was always kept in an approved rack in his service van but since it was used just for this purpose, it was never inspected.

Late one summer day when returning from a service call the little tank exploded in the back of his van. Even though it was in it's rack the explosion and pressure blew both back doors off the van and bulged the top and sides of the van to where it looked like a blown up balloon. The van was completely totaled but the guy was unhurt. I had always wondered how he would have fared if his driver side window had been partially open.

When the police investigated the scene, they found the cylinder about 60 feet away from the van in a weed field. It looked like the rupture had occurred where the inside of the cylinder had rusted. It had also opened up completely and was almost flat.

 

[Jim Timber]

^^^ Yep. High pressure gas, even "only 125psi" isn't to be messed with. There's a lot of stored energy in those vessels.

 

[DXN1EL]

Like the guy that post once about the air compressor that explode and destroyed the cab of his pick up truck.

 

[davesl708]

An 80cft scuba tank filled to 3000 psi stores 1,000,000lbs kinetic energy. Nothing to sneeze about.