Annual Cost of owning scuba tanks

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

Can anyone tell me the annual cost of owning tanks? Inspections, visuals and yada yada yada?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Depends on location. And what your shop wants to charge. And if you are an instructor who sends them business. I pay around 7 bucks per tank for visual and air fill at the time of visual. Less if I am there to take the valves off and re install them. Normal cost is 10 - 15 in this area. Hydro is an extra 15. But that's only every five years. I am taking 9 tanks for vis this week. I am thinking this is the last year for that. Going to get my inspector cert and just do them myself. Then the price is whatever the stickers cost and neck o rings.

 

[rhwestfall]

money pit....

Visual here is $20 (fill included) - grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

I've got 11 tanks and 3 ponies.....

8 being dropped for visuals today - ouch!

But, two of us did 2 1+ hour dives Saturday (4 tanks), and no hurried pace to get them back if they were rentals. And usually, there are others ready to go at a moments notice (two are full right now).....

Can't remember what a Hydro is (but it includes a visual and a fill)......

I'm about ready to take the class too. Jim, you forgot the cost of the tools (tank inspection light, maybe smething else...)

 

[mathauck0814]

~$250 to take the PSI Cylinder Inspection course. ~$50 to print out 100 Visual Inspection stickers. Still have to take them in for Hydro every 5 years... of course you have some equipment costs as well. And obviously if you need to fix any problems you detect... but then, you'd have to do that either way.

 

[drbill]

Here in my backyard the annual visual is $15 and the hydro at the end of five years generally costs me about $35, so about $22 per year. Now actually FILLING The tank each year... yikes!

 

[Superlyte27]

We charge 40$ for Hydro & VIP... So here's the math.

Once a year, VIP for $15

4 years at $15 = 60
1 year at $40 for Hydro and VIP = 40
Tax on $100 = $107

$107 / 5 years = $21.40 / year.
Multiply that times the 30+ Tanks I have, and I'm glad I don't pay for Vip's & Hydros.

 

[TravisD]

I think I paid $125 for the year for free air and viz for the wife and I (they also run the quarry, so the make it back I'm sure).
$40 for Hydros?

The big benefit for us is that we don't have to make an hour round trip each time we want to dive - only when we actually need fills. If we wake up and the weather is crappy, we can skip without burning tank rentals. I don't need to figure out how to to get back to the shop on Monday just to return tanks.

I'm pretty sure that I could sell them for right about what I paid for them new if I had to (and might, since I really want to step up to bigger tanks from the HP80's that we bought initially). Because of this, I really don't factor in depreciation to the cost of ownership.

 

[rhwestfall]

Its certainly less painful if you have them scattered throughout the year, and a rotation of hydros too. i have the regret of starting back up after a long time away from diving, and now all my hydros are the same month in the same year......

 

[Superlyte27]

Its certainly less painful if you have them scattered throughout the year, and a rotation of hydros too. i have the regret of starting back up after a long time away from diving, and now all my hydros are the same month in the same year......

The problem with that is, you find yourself travelling four hours for an awesome dive. You make that awesome dive and go to the LDS to get fills, only to discover you're out of hydro on one of the tanks and didn't catch it, or your VIP is up. Now you're paying some unknown store some stupid amount of money as they rape you to get your hydro current.

I'd rather have them all due on the same month and be done with it.

 

[rhwestfall]

Agree, but we have this thing called winter here (not like you southerners).... not much diving, so, over those 7 months rofl3, there is time to get things proper..