Finally Ditching the Oxy-Acetylene Tank Rental

[Big Barn]

My mother used to refer to some people as “slow”. I realize now it was probably a sideways reference to ME.

I’ve been renting my oxygen and acetylene bottles from the same LWS since I was 15. (I’m 67 now). I’m too embarrassed to tell you how much the current annual fee is.



So today I found these three acetylene and one oxygen tank on our local equivalent of Craigslist for $100.

A new local LWS opened in my area recently and they confirmed there would be no hydro checks or problems exchanging tanks with them.



The two smaller acetylene tanks are full as is the oxygen. The seller was less than a mile from my house. Now I can ditch the rental tanks and my mom can stop shaking her head in dismay...

 

[dragoneggs]

Hey better late than never! Nice find... now you can shake your head about how you went so long but smile that you are 'getting with it'. I went through this exercise a few years ago with my 500gal propane tank rental. Finally wised up and purchased my own. Now I am not a slave to the rental company as no else would fill it if it was leased. Now I shop for LP and what a difference (on top of no annual fee!). :drink:

 

[Oldpath05]

My oxy/acet tanks rental is up this summer, after 25 years of $125.00/3yr still dont know if this time will be the last but the rental place sold out to a new dealer so I'll have to see what the price difference will be first. I did manage to buy the welding gas tank this past March @$300.00 as a posed to renting it $75.00/year, when I first rented the tank, it was $50.00/yr.

 

[Tractor Seabee]

I watch the auction close to me for such things. When tanks are on the block they inform bidders the tanks may be leased, so buyer beware. If the lot has accessories they state you are buying the accessories. I buy them up and trade off at the WS and sell on CL as full with the reciept proving not leased. My WS says only the large size tanks are leased any more and they will take on exchange any small tanks. Last one was with a bunch of accessories, bought the lot for $50 (not much action) sold the guages and torch as is for $25 and the tanks for $300. One acetylene tank new is over $300.

Ron

 

[jaxs]

It's becoming increasingly difficult by the day for hobbyists to have owned tanks filled around Dallas Tx. Airgas and Praxair bought out the small supply places(closed most of them) and use every excuse imaginable not to fill tanks. Neighbor bought a tank off Craigslist that was 2 years out of hydro and was told by Airgas they were probably rusted out inside and wouldn't exchange it nor send it for hydro. Two different people told me they exchanged tanks at Airgas and were given tanks with out of business names on neck. When those were brought in for exchange they were told tanks were at one time rentals and couldn't be exchanged as owner tanks. I have small bottles I no longer need for plumbing and air conditioning that I can not get them to take as trade in on larger bottles. Large propane companies won't work on owned tanks and will not sell gauges,regulators and valves over the counter.

 

[ch47dpilot]

You can actually order them filled on Amazon, 125ft Argon/CO2 is $300 free shipping. I think the oxygen and acetylene are empty.

 

[mrmikey]

I’m too embarrassed to tell you how much the current annual fee is.

If it's anything like here in NS, the local Linde dealer charges $100 year per tank. Mind you when you first sign up as a new customer its the same price for 3 years. So much for loyalty incentives..........M

 

[Fuddy1952]

My mother used to refer to some people as “slow”. I realize now it was probably a sideways reference to ME.

I’ve been renting my oxygen and acetylene bottles from the same LWS since I was 15. (I’m 67 now). I’m too embarrassed to tell you how much the current annual fee is.

View attachment 557730

So today I found these three acetylene and one oxygen tank on our local equivalent of Craigslist for $100.

A new local LWS opened in my area recently and they confirmed there would be no hydro checks or problems exchanging tanks with them.

View attachment 557729

The two smaller acetylene tanks are full as is the oxygen. The seller was less than a mile from my house. Now I can ditch the rental tanks and my mom can stop shaking her head in dismay...

Our local supplier I remember having to pay initially a rental fee for two large tanks, like the larger one in picture. Then each time I got them refilled they "gave" me smaller ones! I don't do all that much welding, but need to get the tanks filled soon. I never did figure out how that works with tank rental but looks like I got gypped.
I've never paid a yearly fee though.

 

[WranglerX]

My Local AIRGAS has been miserable to deal with, on flip side PRAXAIR guys do everything possible to do good business with me.... I bring in my "owned" tanks and almost before I can finish paying for gas at counter (customer owned tanks) gas dock person had empty tanks out of my truck and replaced with filled tanks... Never a question on ownership or hydrostatic test...

Have had my oxy/acet tanks for at least 30 years and my C25 for 5 years, all "purchased"...Don't even know If I have paperwork any more...

Your results will vary by location....

Dale

 

[jaxs]

My Local AIRGAS has been miserable to deal with, on flip side PRAXAIR guys do everything possible to do good business with me.... I bring in my "owned" tanks and almost before I can finish paying for gas at counter (customer owned tanks) gas dock person had empty tanks out of my truck and replaced with filled tanks... Never a question on ownership or hydrostatic test...

Have had my oxy/acet tanks for at least 30 years and my C25 for 5 years, all "purchased"...Don't even know If I have paperwork any more...

Your results will vary by location....

Dale

I'm curious to know if there is any competition in the vicinity.

 

[radios1]

I had an odd problem with a supplier, I had bought a K size, 250 cu ft. oxygen cylinder from lake welding supply it was a UN/ISO cylinder, and my local company refused to fill it, saying, if it don't have the DOT 3 stamp, it can't travel on the roads, and I even showed them a printout of the DOT regulations stating it IS valid, and arguably better than DOT 3 tanks.. they said anyone can print that up!.. this all was after I told lake welding supply, which called up their main office!.. I did manage to buy a DOT 3 K size oxygen, and a WTL 390 cu ft. Acetylene DOT 8 tank for $60 each, and both are customer owned, sold by the air force as surplus.. Airgas where I am supposedly will fill them.. even the UN/ISO tanks.. editraxair is the one that fills the Acetylene tanks.. it's dangerous.. Airgas exchanges those for a filled tank from Praxair.. Be careful not to buy a tank with a company name stamped on the top, it's a leased tank, and they would want them back!.. the manufacturers name will be stamped on the tank, that's different.. I forgot to mention, an Acetylene tank that's too small will cause Acetone to enter your regulators and hoses... not good!.. you can only draw 1/7 of the cylinder volume per minute..

 

[BukitCase]

"an Acetylene tank that's too small will cause Acetone to enter your regulators and hoses... not good!.. you can only draw 1/7 of the cylinder volume per minute"

Good that you brought this up - but actually, there's newer info -

Fuel your safety knowledge - The Fabricator

That's the reason I keep the LARGEST available Acetylene - it's just big enough to run the SMALLEST rosebud tip Victor had at the time WITHOUT "early withdrawal" :laughing: (And there's NO WAY I wanna mess with manifolding multiple acetylene tanks, much LESS having an acetylene generator at home )

I "did the math" on tank rentals back in 1978 when we bought the place we're in now (I'm not always that careful ) - and bought my tanks - same LWS is still there, I've still never paid anything but purchase on any MORE tanks (and refill costs of course) - in 40 years I probably saved at LEAST $8k over renting (sure wish I knew where it went )

Finally got around to putting a twin-hose reel on my set a few months ago (talk about bein' a "slow learner" )


"Convincing" the curl cylinder on the Case was the first time in quite a while I'd even cracked the O/A tanks, but it's good to know they're sittin' there for FREE unless I actually USE 'em - it's too bad not everyone has that option... Steve

 

[radios1]

"an Acetylene tank that's too small will cause Acetone to enter your regulators and hoses... not good!.. you can only draw 1/7 of the cylinder volume per minute"

Good that you brought this up - but actually, there's newer info -

Fuel your safety knowledge - The Fabricator

That's the reason I keep the LARGEST available Acetylene - it's just big enough to run the SMALLEST rosebud tip Victor had at the time WITHOUT "early withdrawal" :laughing: (And there's NO WAY I wanna mess with manifolding multiple acetylene tanks, much LESS having an acetylene generator at home )

I "did the math" on tank rentals back in 1978 when we bought the place we're in now (I'm not always that careful ) - and bought my tanks - same LWS is still there, I've still never paid anything but purchase on any MORE tanks (and refill costs of course) - in 40 years I probably saved at LEAST $8k over renting (sure wish I knew where it went )

Finally got around to putting a twin-hose reel on my set a few months ago (talk about bein' a "slow learner" )
View attachment 557813

"Convincing" the curl cylinder on the Case was the first time in quite a while I'd even cracked the O/A tanks, but it's good to know they're sittin' there for FREE unless I actually USE 'em - it's too bad not everyone has that option... Steve

I see you are using nylon straps to hold your cylinders in place, should the Acetylene cylinder heat up, it will melt those, and you'd have 2 cylinders possibly falling out of the cart, and having the valves knocked off.. not safe.. you should back that up with a metal chain so that can't happen.. "things" happen..

 

[Fuddy1952]

That's how I hold mine on also. Can the tank heat up that much? I didn't know...

I see you are using nylon straps to hold your cylinders in place, should the Acetylene cylinder heat up, it will melt those, and you'd have 2 cylinders possibly falling out of the cart, and having the valves knocked off.. not safe.. you should back that up with a metal chain so that can't happen.. "things" happen..

 

[radios1]

That's how I hold mine on also. Can the tank heat up that much? I didn't know...

Acetylene can be very nasty.. if it's dropped, it can explode, if it's subjected to the shock of a backfire, it can explode, in most cases, it gets very hot before it does that, and the recommended action is flooding it with water for a half hour to cool it down.. if you Google "Acetylene explosion" you'll see that it's not too uncommon for that to happen, even whole plants have been destroyed by not being careful enough.. an Acetylene tank is pressurized to 250 PSI.. well past the unstable pressure above 15 PSI.. it's the fill material that for the most part, keeps an explosion from happening, but too much of the gas exploding at once in the tank can cause a full tank explosion..

 

[BukitCase]

"I see you are using nylon straps to hold your cylinders in place"

Take a closer look - the chain is there (in ADDITION to the steel bottle clamp that cart came with), the straps are just 'cause I HATE things that rattle -

Also, the MAIN thing that keeps Acetylene from exploding at over 15psi is the Acetone - the "glorified porous concrete" fill in the tank is there to help slow acetone from escaping the tank - as I understand it, tanks are completely drained (including acetone) then a calculated amount of acetone added, THEN they're filled to pressure. You never know whether somebody followed the rules (or even knew about them) so that's the ONLY way of ensuring that a tank has enough acetone to keep it safe...

I agree about the backfires; it's kinda hard to see, but if you zoom in on that pic (click the + sign) that torch (and all my others) have check valves on 'em. Plus, that location is under the modular roof I built, and NEVER sees the sun...

Without the acetone, that same tank would get filled ONCE before the resulting explosion would make the news... Steve

 

[Fuddy1952]

Thanks. It's a wonder any of us survive stuff we do. I was telling someone about the garage here, all the cars inside and the largest propane furnace installed. That someone turned out was a retired fireman who said imagine all those cars, tanks full of gas, the fumes and running a furnace.
Just now I was fabricating something so I had to split copper pipe lengthwise so I used a table saw. Working great, copper shrapnel flying around...all I needed was a piece to hit my heart.

 

[radios1]

here's a place in Florida that will sell you any cylinders you want, at a very good price.. High Pressure Industrial Cylinders, Low Pressure Acetylene Cylinders, Low Pressure Propane Cylinders - Linden Welding & Safety Supply - Ohio

 

[Stimw]

I took MY medium tank of 75/25 in to get refilled and the counter guy could not find a full medium tank so he ask me how about if I give you a large one?
I ask will I still own it?
He showed me the "customer owned" ring on top!
I think he even gave me the gas at the medium price.
I have always owned my own tanks.
Another tip- if I come across an empty rental tank that was "borrowed/lost" I will return it and tell them where I found it.
If it is my supplier I have had them give me my fill for free.
Not my supplier I ask if there is any reward for returning and have been given $25. or store credit for supplies.

 

[Al 2]

Many reasons to get rid of your acetylene tanks and just use you BBQ propane tank. Very simple and it works. Just need to buy a proper tip. You can braze with it but I'm not sure about about welding with a steel rod. Some may not agree but search around. No end to the discussions
Al.