Leased vs owned tanks - how to tell?

[ultrarunner]

My neighbor and good friend was plant operations manager for Pacific Oxygen in Oakland... sadly, both are now gone.

A couple times a year they would round-up stray cylinders and they always were interested in getting them back... they made all the money from selling the contents even though they had their own shop to hydro, paint and recondition cylinders.

He showed me a portable magnaflux that could take areas of cylinders where the markings had been ground off and make them readable.

As a kid, I was always coming across odd cylinders and taking them in to get checked out... came across a batch of old large CO2 fire extinguishers that were going to scrap and was able to convert them to Oxygen and sell them to guys wanting small Oxy-Acetylene set-ups.

The smaller plants keep getting swallowed by the big guys and market share continues to become more concentrated.

 

[Raspy]

I used to be able to get bottles free from a large gas company near here. We did a lot of work for them and they would just give us full bottles whenever we asked.

We would always ask for bottles stamped "SOLD". The idea was that we could keep them and exchange them at some other supplier if needed. But, if I remember correctly, they still had to be within the required hydro-test period. The sold stamp meant that they were privately owned and could be exchanged or filled.

 

[Western]

I leased bottles about 20 years ago, then ended up buying a couple from a retired welder, also bought one with my wire welder. Only trouble I have ever had in Texas or Colorado was the "stamped tested dates". Think I've spent maybe $15 over 20 years for pressure testing and re-stamping.

I rarely get the same bottles back, usually it's the Oxygen I get back.

 

[wvpolekat]

We would always ask for bottles stamped "SOLD". The idea was that we could keep them and exchange them at some other supplier if needed. But, if I remember correctly, they still had to be within the required hydro-test period. The sold stamp meant that they were privately owned and could be exchanged or filled.

What is to stop someone from stamping a stolen tank as "SOLD"?

 

[Raspy]

What is to stop someone from stamping a stolen tank as "SOLD"?

Nothing that I know of, but the word "SOLD" seemed to be enough. I've wondered the same thing.

 

[Jstpssng]

I leased bottles about 20 years ago, then ended up buying a couple from a retired welder, also bought one with my wire welder. Only trouble I have ever had in Texas or Colorado was the "stamped tested dates". Think I've spent maybe $15 over 20 years for pressure testing and re-stamping.

I rarely get the same bottles back, usually it's the Oxygen I get back.

That's one advantage of swapping your owned tanks, you always get a current tank.

 

[ultrarunner]

The ones I see have the company name cast into the collar... not stamped

 

[horse2292]

I have always been lucky I guess when it comes to this. My brother inlaw had a large 225 bottle that was empty and he didn't even have a welder. Someone gave it to him. He gave it to me. I was going to cut it up for a project I was going to do. But I decided to take it to the local welding supply to see if they would fill it. Guy looked it over and it was stamped 87 i believe. He said no problem. We will have to send it off to get it checked and that will cost $16. We will re stamp it and then fill it for $34. He said a new tank that size was $330 and used around $150. My other tanks were supposed to be rented but were never written up properly. Never got a bill. Just always traded them in.