Advice please - first (used) steel tank

[tbone1004]

Tom, if I'd known you were interested I'd of picked them up for you last month when I grabbed a bunch of other stuff for people and brought some to the Midwest Conference.. I think the other single tank was a Sherwood 100, i forget. I didnt need the 112 but I grabbed the steel 45s, the Worthington 100s, and some other stuff for friends.

only tanks I'm currently curious about are Faber LP50's for CCR though it's unlikely I'll bite on them since I have 45's.
I currently have
3x pairs of LP72's
1x pair of lp125's
1x pair of lp85's
1x pair of lp45's
1x pair of hp120's

1x al13
1x al30
5x al40
14x al80

I don't need anymore! or at least that is what I keep telling myself

 

[2airishuman]

How to treat and paint (what product/s) that area to do it right and protect the tank, yet not loose the all important #s?

Spray paint, any kind. Mask off the area you don't want to paint. All my cylinders are older and have several/many hydro stamps, so I paint the most recent one a contrasting color so that it's easy to find.

 

[2airishuman]

What method (wire brush, scotch brite / sand paper / motorized ... dremel

Use whatever you have, any of those will work. I typically use a handheld air-powered die grinder with a wire brush wheel for areas like that. Wear eye protection, those wires can end up flying quite a distance and are sharp

 

[2airishuman]

3.) Is the missing plus stamp at the 08/17 hydro date an indication that it lost the plus rating and is now not plus rated anymore?

4.) If yes, does that / could that mean trouble?

I am not aware of any shops in the Midwest that will routinely provide "cave fills" (deliberate overfills). Most shops here will fill to the authorized pressure and if there's no + that means they will only fill to 2400 PSI. The absence of the + probably means that the hydro shop that did the work didn't know what the procedure is for determining whether a + rating is appropriate. This is common at shops that are mainly fire protection equipment shops since fire extinguishers never need a + and there are very few steel SCBA cylinders still in service. You may be able to get fills to 2640 without the + but I wouldn't count on getting a 2640 fill every time. You can have the cylinder hydroed again at a place that will test for the + rating if you want. Cylinders that pass hydro almost always (99%+) pass the + if the hydro shop knows the procedure and the REE.

 

[tbone1004]

or buy your own compressor and don't worry about it

 

[Schwob]

or buy your own compressor and don't worry about it

Well, if you say so...
I wish I had the diving time available to dive more and to justify it ... and the van or trailer to put it in (what good is it at the house unless the house moves closer to diving...)
Some day...
Got to smarten up a bunch more first on the whole topic of compressor, filters, (diy what's possible) and mixing and...
In short, I am not ready for that...
Of course if there locally was a right sized compressor at the right price I might have to re-think fast...

 

[Schwob]

@2airishuman : Thanks.

@Jack Hammer : (&/or all)
Might you by chance know of any Chicagoland hydro places that might deal with folks like me directly (not coming with a truck or trailer full of tanks) w/o going through am LDS? (or is that a PM kind of question?)

How about VIS, is that always through an LDS or do some of the actual hydro places also do the VIS?
If they do, just as VIS or only in conjunction when they also do hydro anyway?

And:
Is it correct that a VIS is actually not needed in the year a new hydro was given --- or am I mis-remembering or thinking wishfully or not bowing to "in theory yes, but in practice to actually get a fill it's different ..." - or?

 

[tbone1004]

@Schwob vis is still required by most all shops in the year of hydro, especially if they are PP blending.

if you end up driving down to florida and want a right priced compressor that is portable, let me know, have one I'm trying to get rid of on the cheap to make room in my garage

 

[2airishuman]

With one or a handful of cylinders you're better off going through a dive shop. Times when I've had e.g. 10 cylinders that need hydro at once then I take them to a hydro place myself. A few hydro places will give you a viz sticker at the time of hydro while most do not. You will need one to get fills.

 

[Schwob]

With one or a handful of cylinders you're better off going through a dive shop. Times when I've had e.g. 10 cylinders that need hydro at once then I take them to a hydro place myself. A few hydro places will give you a viz sticker at the time of hydro while most do not. You will need one to get fills.

Got it. thanks.