Buying used tanks old tanks and paint ball tanks
- Thread starter shogan
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That is the impression that I get from many parts of the country, but I guess I am very lucky in that respect. I have several shops that are very good.
The owners and employees are fairly knowledgeable and with a couple of exceptions they will actually admit when they don't know something.
Some of the shops will actually call me if they think I can help them with technical or sometimes historical information. Occasionally they ask me if I would rebuild a vintage regulator for some of their customers.
Tanks do not have a set shelf life. If taken care of they will last a long time. I have tanks from the 60's and 70's that still past hydro/vis every time. The whole not filling older tanks thing is a bunch of crap. Out of the millions of tanks produced with the alloy I have only heard of 13 failures and all of these were attributed to inadequate visual inspections.
Montana Diver
Contributor
+1
Another problem is tanks that were overfilled and used for longer or deeper dives. A competent VIP will sort out most problems. It appears that the tank has been painted....makes me wonder if someone was trying to hide something. VIP checks the tank for damage, squareness of the sides and thread or neck problems. Find a great tech and have him look. I have seen tanks pass hydro and then fail VIP.
I assume it has a DOT stamp.
T. Bix
Contributor
Some of my tanks are from the 70's as well and I know the exact history of each of them. They have been owned since new by myself or a member of my family. The thing about used tanks with unknown history is just that, the history is unknown! We were diving down in Florida's cave country before any of this "old tanks blow up and hurt peolple" stuff began. Way back then the dive shop at Ginnie offered us "cave fills" for our Aluminum 80s. The shop at Ginnie may not admit to this now but many shops in the area still offer "cave fills" which seems to me to have been at least part of the cause of the original problem. I may not be a metalurgist but if you induce additional stress to any metal structure (routinely filling them to 4/3's of their designed operating pressure) it seems to me that you will compromise the modulus of elasticity of that structure.
I'm not saying....... I'm just saying!
halocline
Contributor
What do you mean, "squareness of the sides"?
halocline
Contributor
Around here it's a free-for-all. There are some really nice people who are helpful, others.....but mostly I was thinking of the hydro shop I encountered.
BTW, I saw a very nice pair of double steel tanks, fabers, at a different hydro place recently. They looked to be about the size of LP85s, and the guy said he could not hydro them because he didn't have an adapter to fit them. He said the owner brought them to the U.S. from Europe. There was no DOT stamp on them, it was kind of dark and I did not have my glasses, so I couldn't read the numbers clearly. They were definitely tanks I'd want if they could get hydro'ed in the U.S. I'm going to go back and the numbers off and post here. Any ideas?
Is there enough here to figure out what it is. I can see it's aluminum Catalina mfg but thats about all I can tell. Paints not looking to good on it. And it appears to have been last hydroed in 2002. I'm suppose to meet him this weekend if I can determine it's post 1990.
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Here is what I found from Catalina
Note: The current serial number prefix system was implemented in 1993. Cylinders manufactured prior to September 1993 did not have serial number prefixes specific to the different cylinder types. The serial number prefixes of these cylinders began with "A" through "D".
The serial number is AS85445 so this would make it a 1993 or newer.
So would you buy it for $25
Note: The current serial number prefix system was implemented in 1993. Cylinders manufactured prior to September 1993 did not have serial number prefixes specific to the different cylinder types. The serial number prefixes of these cylinders began with "A" through "D".
The serial number is AS85445 so this would make it a 1993 or newer.
So would you buy it for $25
R
redacted
Guest
Catalina never used the problem aluminum so it should have no issue with Sustained Load Cracking like older Luxfers. But I have seen some dive op that just refuse to fill any Aluminum tank born before 1990. Those shops will check the original hydro date, not the s/n. Paint is just for looks on an aluminum tank so that is not a problem. $25 is a good price, but youi may want to talk to your shop(s) first and see if they have any filling issues.
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