Best Bay Area Location for Hydro/Tumble?

[bdjaway]

I just re-acquired two steel tanks (65s) that I loaned to my sister two decades ago. They've been stored in her garage gathering dust for the past 15 years. I've looked them over -- inside and out -- and they look slightly rusty but structurally fine.

Any suggestions on where I could get these tumbled and hydro-ed for a reasonable price? My LDS wants $90 each :wacko: to check them out (pass or fail). I know that I can call around to Fire & Safety places that hydro extinguishers, but I'm hoping someone on this list has already done the legwork.

Thanks,
Brett

 

[Braunbehrens]

Ninety bucks? I'd like to know which store that is, my suggestion is ... RUN!

There are lots of great stores in the bay area, Any Water Sports, Steele's, etc.

I would call Steele's (in Berkeley) and ask them how much they want. I don't think they charge up that much.

If you want to take the hasssle on yourself, you can download a PDF of all the hydro facilities here;

http://hazmat.dot.gov/files/approvals/hydro/cyl_ca.pdf

You want class B (don't bother with the others).

It's a bit of work because you have to then use yellow pages to find the number, then call them to see if they do SCUBA.

I just did all this legwork, and found a place in Oakland. This may not be the cheapest (they charged me $20) but the facility is equipped to do a + rating.

I can't remember the name (duh) it's near the coliseum, you want to talk to Craig and the number is (510) 632-7747

 

[Rev. Blade]

Yes. I see it's an old link, but it had nearly the information I wanted. I couldn't get the .pdf page linked above to open for me, but this one opened for me. http://hazmat.dot.gov/sp_app/approvals/hydro/hydro_retesters.htm then when I went to the link for CA, my browser said I was at the page linked above... but it opened. (Perhaps it required a "cookie".)

Do you guys take your tanks directly to a testing facility, or bring them to your LDS?

 

[melfox26]

$90- :11:

As the above post stated, take your tanks to Frank at Any Water on Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. www.anywater.com


Mel

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

I'm one AWS's regulars, but Pacific Offshore Divers on Branham does the hydro inhouse.
Generally, in on Monday, back on Friday. And he had the adapter to do my rebreather
tanks which NOBODY else does.

 

[JustinW]

If I recall Simplex Grinnell has a hydro/tumble facility in livermore. Check the Hazmat list referenced earlier. Simplex Grinnell does all of my hydro and tumble stuff, I think a hydro is $20 and a tumble is around the same.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

Paul makes a good point about + ratings. If you have a tank that has a + rating,
make sure that the facility can and is willing to do the procedure for + rating. It's
possible to get a + back on a tank where the tester couldn't or wouldn't or didn't do the +
test, but it will be a bunch of chasing around. (BTW, PODI did a + on our Argon bottles.

And if you have Pressed Steel HP tanks (most any HP tank that's not a Faber),
there's a special test process for them. Make sure the facility knows that process and
does it. Otherwise it's highly likely you'll get them back with a hole drilled in the side.

 

[JustinW]

And if you have Pressed Steel HP tanks (most any HP tank that's not a Faber),
there's a special test process for them. Make sure the facility knows that process and
does it. Otherwise it's highly likely you'll get them back with a hole drilled in the side.

As i understand it, this should be so obvious as to not even need to be mentioned. You must be certified to perform these tests, you must reference tank numbers to know what the test pressures are and the exemption number on aforementioned tanks are the reference number in which to look up that data. If the hydro tester doesn't know that, they need to be reported to the DOT. I am curious if this is just talk, or if someone actually had that experience of a condemned tank because the hydro facility is in violation of procedure. These guys are held to a pretty high standard. My dive buddy does it for a living, that sort of disregard is nearly unimaginable.

 

[Chuck Tribolet]

As i understand it, this should be so obvious as to not even need to be mentioned. You must be certified to perform these tests, you must reference tank numbers to know what the test pressures are and the exemption number on aforementioned tanks are the reference number in which to look up that data. If the hydro tester doesn't know that, they need to be reported to the DOT. I am curious if this is just talk, or if someone actually had that experience of a condemned tank because the hydro facility is in violation of procedure. These guys are held to a pretty high standard. My dive buddy does it for a living, that sort of disregard is nearly unimaginable.

I've run across a couple of folks over the years that had this happen.

 

[JustinW]

I've run across a couple of folks over the years that had this happen.

Ok, thats what I was wondering. I hope those operators were reported to the DOT.