Anyone know what brand and age this tank is?

[2airishuman]

HP 100 sounds the way I should be going then. I mostly do and will be doing shore dives, sometimes with decent surface swims to the site but not anything extreme.
Most people I go with are using AL80's so I thought like you said, it might just be a waste of air and weight to always lug around.
I'm 5'8" 170lbs so the 100 sounds a bit better of a choice for weight too.

HP100s are a better deal than AL80s in nearly every way except purchase price and are what I would suggest. They are 7.25" diameter while your HP119 is 8" so be aware that you will have to readjust cambands whenever you switch tanks. For most people this isn't a big deal.

A fact to be aware of is that, in my experience, most dive shops will short fill HP cylinders unless you insist that they fill them properly. Two reasons for this. First is that HP steels will warm up enough during the fill that they either have to be filled to a higher pressure to compensate for the temperature (perfectly legal and safe but most dive shops won't do it), or they have to be allowed to cool down for about an hour and then topped off. The second reason is that many shops run their air storage system at 3500 PSI, because some compressors wear more quickly at higher pressures and because some shops don't want to push their storage bottles beyond that point. If they do that, well, they can't give you a full 3442 PSI fill without starting the compressor, which they try to avoid.

When I pick up cylinders, I use a tank checker and check them, and ask for a top-off if they are below 3350. Any shop that provides fills will have a tank checker that you can borrow for the purpose.

 

[Marie13]

I don’t know about dive shops where the OP lives, but I have been told by a number of Chicago area “warm water” shops (aka don’t promote local diving at all) that they won’t push their compressors beyond 3K PSI to fill my HP tanks. A few shops will charge $2 more a tank to fill HP tanks.

 

[runsongas]

sounds like those shops need to modernize their compressor and bank system.

 

[W W Meixner]

I don’t know about dive shops where the OP lives, but I have been told by a number of Chicago area “warm water” shops (aka don’t promote local diving at all) that they won’t push their compressors beyond 3K PSI to fill my HP tanks. A few shops will charge $2 more a tank to fill HP tanks.

M...

First time I've ever heard of a surcharge for filling over 3000 PSI...

The safety valve on the compressor where I worked for seven years post retirement was set at 4500 PSI...we did lots of 4500 PSI K cylinder fills/marker cylinder fills for a local paintball operation...

Even most newer portables will fill to at least 4000 PSI...some higher...

We had days during high cylinder service periods...especially servicing fire dept. SCBA cylinders when the compressor was running from 7 AM until 6 PM with shutdowns only long enough to drain condensate and check oil level...

Even with a large cascade bank...and we had almost 50 cylinders between three banks...you can only fill a few cylinders...even if it's a full 4500 PSI bank...before you have to turn the compressor on...

Assuming you're avoiding the shops you have mentioned...and which ''warm water areas'' are they filling for in the Chicago area...assuming even your local spring fed quarries are cold in spring and fall...

W...

 

[runsongas]

probably just filling some al80s for pool classes before giving their students a referral to take to finish checkouts on vacation.

 

[Skoock]

Most of the shops around here (Vancouver) fill HP so it shouldn't be much of an issue. Ive been trying to find a physical size and capacity chart for steel cylinders, anyone know of one on hand?

 

[abnfrog]

a lot of shops charge extra for a higher pressure fill above 3 k its not that uncommon , all of mystorage bank is made up of 4500 psi cylinders

 

[runsongas]

@Skoock

Scuba cylinders