Chinese Tanks

[Random Dude]

Hi all, came across some very cheap 6061 Chinese scuba tanks with cheap shipping.

Went through the reviews of customers who bought the tanks, and the general consensus among them seems to be that the tank is of at least decent quality.

Wanna know if you guys have had any experiences with Chinese manufactured tanks, and whether you guys would recommend this purchase.

The specific tank that I am referring is in the link below

限时抢购 12升潜水气瓶 12L铝合金气瓶 高压潜水瓶 潜水氧气瓶-淘宝网

I know that there is generally a stigma against items made in China.
However, I am of the mind that chinese products = subpar quality might not hold true for long given the fact that their manufacturing process and technology has improved substantially in the past few years.
Recent purchases of China-made accessories have been of surprisingly good quality as well.

Looking forward to your opinions!

 

[RainPilot]

The issue you may have is getting someone to fill tanks that THEY do not trust. i would suggest talking to your dive shops or better yet, those doing hydro etc on a lot of tanks. They should be able to give you some insight into the feasibility of using these tanks.

For me the major obstacle to buying tanks like these is not that they are made in China. It is that I have no idea of the QC process in use. For example, I know that many OEM manufacturers make batches larger than that required for their name-brand client. They assume that some units will fail the inspection, that is part of the process.

Let's say they make 150 units for a 100 unit order. 120 pass muster, 20 are pretty good and 10 are marginal at best.

They send the 100 to the brand, now they want to sell the remainder. Some companies will clearly mark the A, B and C quality items and price accordingly, some will only sell the 20 "good" ones and others will sell all of them at the same price with no differentiation.

This makes it REALLY hard for me as the consumer to know exactly what i am getting, without some inside knowledge of the process used by the manufacturer. I am ok with taking a chance with cheap USB drives but I won't use for critical applications. I am less enthusiastic about the highly pressurised metal bomb-in-waiting on my back.

 

[runsongas]

nooooope

not dot approved and the price isn't even significantly cheaper than a luxfer al80

if it was a HDG 3aa lp85 or sp hp100 with dot approval at that price, i might consider it

 

[RainPilot]

nooooope

not dot approved and the price isn't even significantly cheaper than a luxfer al80

if it was a HDG 3aa lp85 or sp hp100 with dot approval at that price, i might consider it

The OP is in Malaysia, DOT means nothing outside the US practically.

 

[runsongas]

having tanks that are dot/tc/as/bs/ce approved means you can at least be assured they are designed and tested to a certain standard

also, the wp and tp look suspiciously like 20.0/30.0 from the pictures and not 200/300. not much of a tank if it only holds up to 20 bar or 300 psi during normal use.

 

[Diving Dubai]

having tanks that are dot/tc/as/bs/ce approved means you can at least be assured they are designed and tested to a certain standard

also, the wp and tp look suspiciously like 20.0/30.0 from the pictures and not 200/300. not much of a tank if it only holds up to 20 bar or 300 psi during normal use.

Well not so much. Anyone can stamp an approval standard onto a tank.

What protects you, is using a manufacturer that can be accountable to the prevailing law if one fails. I.e stamping a DOT approval on a cylinder which on inspection isn't to standards.

This which Chinese is where it gets difficult. If you are buying directly then you have no real protections try taking a Chinese manufacturer to court in the US)

All that said teh manufacture of tanks isn't rocket science, its simply extrusion. The Chinese are likely to have more up to date tooling than their western counterparts.

The issue is and always has been the quality of the raw material stock. Historically this has been suspect, but it has got a lot better. I have used Chinese manufacturers for engineered parts, and their quality has been top, often better than western companies. The issue is trust. I still use use more rigorous methods to test new components than I would say a western company, even though the western product is most likely to be lower quality.

Prejudice against Chinese parts is a hard habit to break

 

[runsongas]

Well not so much. Anyone can stamp an approval standard onto a tank.

except it isn't valid without being an approved cylinder manufacturer with phmsa. a fake dot stamp would be no different than fake logos on a knockoff handbag.

 

[lowviz]

...//... I know that there is generally a stigma against items made in China.
However, I am of the mind that chinese products = subpar quality might not hold true for long given the fact that their manufacturing process and technology has improved substantially in the past few years. ...//...

China is, as I see it, is eminently capable of manufacturing top quality products. Has been for years. The problem, as I see it, is quality fade. It is pervasive. Everything starts out peaches and then rots to maximize profit.

China Manufacturing and How to Prevent Quality Problems | China Law Blog

I'll continue to buy from stable manufacturers, thank you.

 

[Billy Northrup]

No way, like truck stop sushi.

 

[StefinSB]

China is, as I see it, is eminently capable of manufacturing top quality products. Has been for years. The problem, as I see it, is quality fade. It is pervasive. Everything starts out peaches and then rots to maximize profit.

China Manufacturing and How to Prevent Quality Problems | China Law Blog

I'll continue to buy from stable manufacturers, thank you.

^this. Short answer is, no I wouldn’t buy those tanks.