Chinese SCUBA Tanks

[iain/hsm]

A client has purchased a new cylinder made in China, make that I have not seen before.
Trying to unravel the markings and this is what I have established so far.
Would someone help decipher the missing bits.
Secondly I am uncertain of the match between ISO7866 and GB/T11640, any thoughts.

1. No such company exists (Although to be fair you may have a typo error in the spelling)

2. GB/T11640 is a purely Chinese in country standard and has absolutely no relation to GB Great Britain
somewhat akin to the Chinese using there own version of the CE mark that stands for China Export again total lies and misleading.

3. Weight wall and volume specified is about the same as the quality brands as you would expect from a Chinese copy product.

4. The 20 year life expectancy stamp is a cause of concern unless its a fibre wrap cylinder in which case the GB/T11640 is total BS

5. Also even if you accept the Chinese in country standard of GB 11640 standard and that's a big if the date of manufacture stamp March 2021

6. Now for the kicker GB/T11640 needs to have a date attached for example GB/T11640-2021 is the latest standard however the previous standard expired in March 2021

7. My suspicion is that the supplier duped this idiot by off loading a cylinder that was made to an already expired standard.

8. And for good measure even our American cousins who are notorious for accepting crap from China allowed a similar sounding company manufacturing DOT 3AL cylinders into USA until 20th June 2021

But I have a solution individuals importing cylinders from China need a good kicking in the head and after that being tied stark naked by rope by their crown jewels onto said cylinder while being filled for it's first fill and every other fill thereafter for the next 25 years. With the addition of a couple of dozen cave fills thrown in for good measure. Just a mild placid British point of view you understand.

 

[iain/hsm]

I'm Donald Trump and I endorse this message

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

6351 is still technically allowed under the DOT standard too. Much to my personal disappointment. I'm sure someone parroting the PSI line about how only 8 of those cylinders have exploded or whatever. They have been repeating that exact same statistic for nearly 20 years now :/

That could still be a viable statistic since so many of them have been decommissioned and taken out of service.

 

[TomCross]

1. No such company exists (Although to be fair you may have a typo error in the spelling)

2. GB/T11640 is a purely Chinese in country standard and has absolutely no relation to GB Great Britain
somewhat akin to the Chinese using there own version of the CE mark that stands for China Export again total lies and misleading.

3. Weight wall and volume specified is about the same as the quality brands as you would expect from a Chinese copy product.

4. The 20 year life expectancy stamp is a cause of concern unless its a fibre wrap cylinder in which case the GB/T11640 is total BS

5. Also even if you accept the Chinese in country standard of GB 11640 standard and that's a big if the date of manufacture stamp March 2021

6. Now for the kicker GB/T11640 needs to have a date attached for example GB/T11640-2021 is the latest standard however the previous standard expired in March 2021

7. My suspicion is that the supplier duped this idiot by off loading a cylinder that was made to an already expired standard.

8. And for good measure even our American cousins who are notorious for accepting crap from China allowed a similar sounding company manufacturing DOT 3AL cylinders into USA until 20th June 2021

But I have a solution individuals importing cylinders from China need a good kicking in the head and after that being tied stark naked by rope by their crown jewels onto said cylinder while being filled for it's first fill and every other fill thereafter for the next 25 years. With the addition of a couple of dozen cave fills thrown in for good measure. Just a mild placid British point of view you understand.

Hi, OOps typo in the first part of the name. The company does exist

[td]

198宁波中洲集团有限公司TS2210722-2020 ZZ​

[/td]​

[td]

198 Ningbo Zhongzhou Group Co., Ltd.TS2210722-2020 ZZ​

[/td]​

 

[happy-diver]

Just a mild placid British point of view you understand.

Always placid but never flaccid!

 

[TomCross]

The OP is in South Africa so I have no idea about the hydro requirements or on the ground expectations there (if any)

Hi,
In South Africa SCUBA cylinders require visual inspection every 2 years and hydrostatic inspection every 4 years. All inspections done by registered and certified inspectors/inspection stations. Aluminium cylinders also require a thread inspection (lights and mirrors) and in certain instances an eddy current inspection ( e.g. example aluminium alloy 6351). ps. USA people please forgive the "Brit" spelling.

 

[iain/hsm]

Hi,
In South Africa SCUBA cylinders require visual inspection every 2 years and hydrostatic inspection every 4 years. All inspections done by registered and certified inspectors/inspection stations. Aluminium cylinders also require a thread inspection (lights and mirrors) and in certain instances an eddy current inspection ( e.g. example aluminium alloy 6351). ps. USA people please forgive the "Brit" spelling.

None of which is any good to you as your cylinder in question was originally manufactured to a Chinese sub standard and not one that is recognised by the South African Government or any other governing body for that matter.

Specifically in your case the South African National Standard SANS 10019:2023 applies to all scuba cylinders in South Africa.

Now the original cylinder importer/owner has two choices move to Ghana Zimbabwe Somalia Cameroon etc or dangle the cylinder outside the house as a fancy expensive wind chime.

Enclosed below are two web sites to download a copy of SANS 10019:2023 for reference.
Also an older copy of the South African Health and Safety regulations for pressure vessels showing a list of approved standard suppliers from pretty much everyone around the world with the exception of China.

Loading…

www.sagas.co.za

Loading…

www.gov.za

Not what you expected I know. But we must do our best to exclude the ignorant and idiots. Failing that bring more rope.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Chinese metallurgy and high pressure vessels shouldn't even be included in the same sentence.
There's no way I'm trusting anything Chinese with scuba tanks given their fraudulent track record and constant lies about their metal alloys. They don't have to answer to anyone and can pass on whatever they want. None of their stuff is verified. user beware!

 

[USdiver1]

Really, that’s always the problem buying things made in China (and elsewhere, including the US), but at least with a US company there is hopefully somebody doing quality assurance of the items that has a little more, shall we say, legally enforceable liability and therefore lower tolerance for fraudulent parts.

Not if Elon Musk and DT get their way and eliminate the Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Say bye-bye to product safety.

 

[Scared Silly]

None of which is any good to you as your cylinder in question was originally manufactured to a Chinese sub standard and not one that is recognised by the South African Government or any other governing body for that matter.

Specifically in your case the South African National Standard SANS 10019:2023 applies to all scuba cylinders in South Africa.

...

Enclosed below are two web sites to download a copy of SANS 10019:2023 for reference.
Also an older copy of the South African Health and Safety regulations for pressure vessels showing a list of approved standard suppliers from pretty much everyone around the world with the exception of China.

Loading…

www.sagas.co.za

Loading…

www.gov.za

One can ignore the Chinese standard but the cylinder is also marked ISO 7866. That standard is recognized by SANS. In fact, SANS 7866 and ISO 7866 are interchangeable.

Not saying I would own and dive such a cylinder but it is going to be really interesting when one is traveling and the dive center has a shinny new fleet of such cylinders. Years ago I did an inspection of the fill station and found a couple AL6351 cylinders that I knew had not been eddy current tested. I politely asked the dive center to set those cylinders aside and not use them while we were diving. They did.