O.K.
All's well that ends well.
I got the tank and it was already hydroed and good to go. Lots of confusion and misunderstanding, both on my part and theirs.
Today, I made a surprise visit to the hydotester's shop so I could help him search through his scrap pile for my tank, or come to some other agreement. He wasn't there, but his wife called him and he gave her the go-ahead to let me take a look-see. No go. Not a sight of my tank anywhere. I was starting to lose all hope of getting my tank back, thinking I'd have to next find out where he sends his scrap! The only glimmer of hope I had was that he had previously told me over the phone that the yellow paint on my tank was blistered. My tank was galvanized.
So, off to surprise visit number 2- the dive shop. I really didn't expect to get anything there but the original Voit J-valve which was on my tank when I took it in. We found the valve; Then, for kicks, I looked around for my tank, and there it was lying on the floor (no boot- remember?). The employee said, "These came in yesterday. (Then rolled the tank over) Yep. 3/07. All hydroed and ready to go." COOL!
We installed the valve, tightened the bonnet nut to stop a leak, paid the bill, and I was out the door with my newly hydroed (with +10% overfill stamp) vintage cylinder.
Huh?.....What's that?......What about the lining?!........Well...that was some of the confusion for which I was responsible. It turns out that the tank had no lining. I was under the impression that it was lined, but I guess it wasn't. So, when I dropped the cylinder off in January requesting that the liner be tumbled out, I was starting the confusion. Then, each time I called and described my tank as the one having the liner tumbled out, the hydro guy was confusing it with another, yellow painted, tank which he condemned and scrapped, I guess. Of course, it might have helped just a little if the shop employee could have written the cylinder's serial number on the paperwork! (See? The confusion was a group effort ;-))
Anyhow, I'm glad it is NOT lined, and I won't have to worry/deal with this in the future. But, "THANKYOU" to all who helped me on this. The CGA C-6 wording was a real eye opener, and I (and I'm sure many others) learned a lot from the posts. The information given will be used by someone down the road, I'm certain.
I also learned to never bother taking a 1/2" valved, lined tank to this hydro facility. He said that a 3/4" valve wouldn't be a problem, though. And kudos to him for being a rare bird who actually takes the time to do the +10% overfill calculations on these old "relics" at hydro. He's the only one I've heard of who still does that. Most people are under the mistaken notion that a cylinder cannot be re-plused after the first hydro, or that they cannot be plus rated if the REE number isn't stamped on the tank. So tell your hydro guys they're wrong! I always get a sideways glance when I take my 72s into a new shop for fills; They think I stamped the '+' in with a chisel. But I....I KNOW IT'S THE REAL DEAL, so I don't care what they think. "Fill 'er to 2475, please!"
