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Johnoly
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We all have been down that 'slippery slope' >>How many tanks to own ? I keep 4 in constant rotation and my LDS is 30 mins away. But I own 10 tanks in total. More tanks is less driving to the LDS.
Others here own WAY MORE personal tanks and can post their tank farm pictures.
(These four going down for VIP and fills)
OP
RobPNW
Contributor
The industrial source doesn't do tank fills. You have to buy their tank.
OP
RobPNW
Contributor
Not sure I agree with this as a general statement. A source can say they have breathing air with contamination below maximum allowable levels. But at 5 ATMs of pressure, those same contamination levels would be 5 times higher, and may no longer be within tolerance. That's what I meant by SCUBA quality air. Effectively, whatever air they have would have to have contamination that's <20% maximum allowable levels if going to maximum recreational depths.
I used to use the local fire extinguisher store who also filled tanks for fire departments. Might check around.
Erik
Erik
The breathing air cylinders available from industrial gas suppliers are often Grade D as that is the OSHA required standard for work at atmospheric pressures. SCUBA is typically Grade E at a minimum.
You can get Grade D & E air and pre-blended Nitrox from Airgas or Linde, but you're not going to like the price - typically more than $0.50 / cu ft, and you'd want a booster to get it out of the cylinder and into your dive cylinder. Tack on the cylinder rental, hazmat fees, etc. and you'll quickly be at $1.00 a cubic foot.
You can get Grade D & E air and pre-blended Nitrox from Airgas or Linde, but you're not going to like the price - typically more than $0.50 / cu ft, and you'd want a booster to get it out of the cylinder and into your dive cylinder. Tack on the cylinder rental, hazmat fees, etc. and you'll quickly be at $1.00 a cubic foot.
Please explain: They require you to purchase their tank? Or will they also do a long-term rental--say, a year-long contract--and you pay an additional fee each time you drive it over to them for a fill (or each time you call them to have them both pick it up from you and drop off a full one)?
If the latter, then a couple of large rental tanks can serve as a mini cascade system that will provide "many" fills of a LP scuba cylinder (say, an old-school 2,250 psig PST 72). All you would need to make this work is a fill whip. (The large tanks don't actually need to be connected together.) And, maybe a two-hand cart (a.k.a., a "hand truck") to facilitate moving these cylinders from your car/truck to your garage and to the business. You'll probably need to have only one of these large cylinders refilled at a time.
rx7diver
I have 3 local Fire departments that are willing to fill tanks. It's nice to have a backup. Offering food got my foot in the door.
I used to work at a lab that did air testing for fire departments, oil field safety companies, scuba shops, etc. The only difference in standards (in Canada) was that scuba air could only have 3 ppm of CO present. Everyone else was allowed 5ppm. That 2ppm difference isn't going to make a difference at 5 atm.
You can rent cylinders from Airgas, but the retail rate if you don't get a good sales rep is $1.24 per cylinder per day + $25 per invoice hazmat fee. Without a booster the cylinders will quickly be worthless for fills as they're only filled to 2400 psi to begin with.
Really the solution for OP is not to rent cylinders, but to buy a compressor.
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