Buy or Lease ?

[deans]

I just ordered a new set of torchs, mainly for brazing on auto body repair, "hobby" and do not know if I should buy tanks or lease. I have figured that I will use oxygen twice as fast as acetylene and wonder if someone could steer me in the right direction. Always amazed at the experience and expertise on this board. Thanks , deans

 

[smstonypoint]

From an economic perspective, the answer depends on the cash flows of leasing versus buying. Can you give us some numbers?


Steve

PS. I know less than nothing about welding, but I know some things about finance.

 

[wushaw]

Buy once, lease every year. I bought myself.

 

[gauthier]

You can only buy up to a certain size cylinder,least thats what the welding supply places tell me,unless you are going to be doing alot of brazing,just go buy the biggest tanks that they will sell you,[forget the size,just get the biggest ones,don't waste money on any smaller unless you have plans to carry them or something]

 

[Hooked_on_HP]

I would buy and save your receipt for the tanks. For home use I wouldn't get verry big tanks unless you plan on doing alot of cutting. The average do it yourselfer wont use that much oxy or acetylene heating bolts and bending metal.
Bill

 

[gauthier]

It don't spoil.

 

[yomax4]

I used to work at a Welding Supply Distrib. The long term leases usually have a maintenence fee that took care of Hydrotest every 5 years, paint and Valves over the course of a lifetime lease. The fee was about $40.00 per Tank every 5 years. I think this is common. If you buy the tanks for say $400.00 and can exchange them even up every time with no fee ever, I would buy them. You can also sell them when you want to and get your Money Back. The larger the cyllinder the more gas you get for your money. You will have more trouble moving them around but with the right cart, No biggie.

 

[wroughtn_harv]

It depends upon the volume. If you're using a ton of gas then it's cheaper to lease because you don't have to put up all that money up front. Plus your supplier will work with you where there is really no difference in the cost of the gas and you don't have to figure in the cost of the tanks. Volume always make a difference, the more you buy the less it will cost you per unit.

I own my tanks. I have two large acetylene tanks, two large oxygen, one large 75/25, one small 75/35, and one small pure argon. The first tanks were purchased in the seventies and the others came along over time. I don't have a receipt on any of them. I bought the first big oxy/acetylene rig. The other tanks were picked up here and there. All of them were offers by clients to get rid of tanks sitting around so I took them. Most of those tanks were lease tanks and just put back into the system. But every now and then there would be an owner tank in the bunch and I would get it.

Companies have moved towards selling only the smaller tanks these days. I had to change from a national gas supplier when they stopped honoring owner tanks on the larger units and refused to sell them anymore. I was working out of town and needed to change out the tanks so I stopped at a local supplier to do so. He couldn't change them out because I had lease tanks. I went all the way back to my supplier and they almost couldn't find me any owner tanks in their possession. I changed suppliers and haven't had any problems since.

If you're not going to be using much volume then I'd recommend buying the small/middle sized tanks. You can change them out just about anywhere, some of the box stores even. If you're going into business and planning on some volume then I recommend developing a relationship with a supplier. There's quite a range on the pricing. A relationship will mean your price will go down per unit as your volume increases. It's a competitive business and I've found them more than willing to work with you.