Never had one leak down like that. All I do is turn off the main valve on top the bottle each time after using.
Is this the SAME bottle each time ? In other words, when I run out, I simply swap bottles at the gas supply place.....do they re-fill the same one for you and hand it back ? I'd think the odds of getting two different bottles that leak down are pretty low.
I even have a spare bottle in the shop I bought in case I run out, don't have to stop in the middle of something and run to town and it has never leaked down either. My guess it goes couple years between exchanges.
IF this happened to you with different bottles, I'd switch places I bought gas if you can....we have 3 different places here to choose from, not counting way overpriced Tractor Supply.
Yeah so there is actually a lot more to this story than my original post. I actually got quite screwed in this bottle deal. I bought a 180 CuFt (I believe this was the size) 75/25 bottle and a 80 CuFt Acetylene bottle, both out of date, from my neighbor for $150. I think that was a pretty good price.
I got to know the delivery guy for the mom and pop LWS from my regular job where I used to supervise the shipping and receiving department and I used to exchange bottles for our laboratory with him a couple times a week. We became pretty good friends and he told me he occasionally opened the store and ran it on Saturday’s and that he would waive the hydrostatic testing charge on the out of date bottles and give them to me for their discounted rate that they give their account customers.
The first time I went in there he went back on his word and charge me for the hydrostatic testing on one of the bottles, for some reason he thought the other was in date (I’m confident it wasn’t) and didn’t charge me for it. So that was the first bad deal. He exchanged my out of date bottles for the ones I have now because they are in date and we’re full. He did give me the discount on the shielding gas only. Did save me about $20 there. Then screwed me because he gave me a 150
CuFt bottle. I don’t know the exact sizes but there is no doubt that the bottle he gave me was shorter, but just as big around, and because I was so new to it, I didn’t realize it at the time. The way I realized it was that when I strapped it to the cart I have to hold the bottles, I noticed it was shorter on the cart than the bottle I gave him. I looked a picture I took of the bottle I gave him and sure enough they are the same diameter but the one I was given I’d like 6” shorter.
Now when I got this bottle exchanged I didn’t have my MIG unit yet. Only the flux core machine I had before by the time I bought my gauge and my MIG machine I plugged my gauge in after sitting about 2 or 3 months it was only sitting at 300PSI. Where I read it was supposed to beat something like 2200 PSI. At this point I had changed jobs at my work to a different department and went to night shift so I no longer saw him. I caught him on the way in one day and told him the bottle he gave me had a leak. I told him the first time I plugged my gauge into the bottle it only read 300PSI. His response was “that is impossible”. He told me to come in that Saturday because he was running the store and he would refill me. When I got there he was giving me the run around the felt like he was being dishonest with his boss trying to help me out.
I told him I didn’t ask for any of his favors, I just had questions about the bottles I bought and he offered to help me out. The I ended up with a raw deal of having a smaller bottle than the one I originally brought him, and the gas I paid for leaked out of the bottle before I even got to use it. He reluctantly refilled my bottle for free. But only to 1700 or 1800PSI. I used about 50PSI worth that day and got really busy with school for months and didn’t touch it. During winter break I opened up the tank and had literally 0PSI in it.
I left guy as friends, but I’m definitely ready to take my business to Praxair. They are closer and cheaper anyway. Of course through my job I had a bad experience with these guys giving us a leaky liquid Co2 tank that they wouldn’t replace with out charging us first too. Seems like gas suppliers is one business where it’s ok to screw the customer.
