Convince me to get steel tanks

[El Orans]

(I have four steels and more to come...)

 

[Monkey_Gland]

Don't know if it will help. I've never dived Aluminium tanks (yes, that is how you spell it) apart from on vacations in Egypt. 12 and 15 litre steels are standard here (or 7's for doubles). Only issue is you can't get steel ones that look all stylish and brushed and look like they were made by Apple.

 

[SteveAD]

Even if your buddy stays an idiot and doesn't join you in the nitrox class, and insists on getting al 80s you should still get the stl 100s. What's the worst that happens when HE calls the dive (for either gas or NDL) you're still in good shape and you can bust his chops all afternoon for being such an air hog and cutting your dive short. There is no problem with ending a good dive with plenty of gas left in the tank, just as there is no problem if you get home from a night on the town with money left in your wallet, or finish a mission with excess ammo. It's when things run out early that problems start.

 

[1_T_Submariner]

This is just an opinion but, unless in cave country or other places that give good fills your HP100 will get 3000 psi in it. Which is about 88 cu/ft so you won't have that much of a differnence with your buddy anyway.

I dive with Steel X8-119s they are shorter and fatter than the X7 tanks which is good for me since I am only 5' 10". If I where going to Drop $350 a tank I think I would get the 119,120 or 130 tanks. I bought mine used off Scubaboard Classifieds for $300 for 2.

I also have a buddy that won't take the Nitrox class. I dive with others if doing dives where Nitrox makes sense.

I also dive AL80's and see a purpose for them. In the pool where I take my gear on and off a lot. In warm tropical places where I don't use much lead anyway.

 

[The Kraken]

GET STEEL TANKS ! ! ! ! ! ! !

There, did that convince ya?

the K

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I have a dozen tanks. All steel except for one al80 that is going to be used as a stage at some point.I have 2 HP80's and they suck. Worst money I ever spent because my instructor/shop owner said they were great and I did not know any better. My others are all LP. Much more versatile, easier to get full fills, and trim out well. I've got 2 sets of doubles lp72's and lp85's(my favorites), 2 lp72's, and two lp95's. The 95's will get doubled up as soon as I pick up a couple more 85's. I use an al80 only in the pool. My lp steels usually get filled to 3000+ and give enough gas for whatever I need to do.

 

[Sonic04GT]

Well my buddy just broke up with his girl (got the dear john letter) so he has much more money in reserve now. I got one at the beginning of the deployment so I've had that extra money for quite a while, leading to my complete dive kit minus tanks. Wow is it nice being single again. What is with women these days though? It's only a year. I think I convinced him to get HP100s though. Now I need to get him Nitrox certified.

Well I've been convinced to get steel obviously. Now I'm in a 100/119 dilemma with the Worthingtons I think I'll eventually order them off Leisure Pro since the deal is far more appealing with free shipping and no sales tax.

100 - $355 shipped
119 - $390 shipped

 

[siikik]

I'm with JimLap on this one... get LP cylinders. I got my Faber LP95s from a local shop for about $270 each and the shop has no trouble giving me 3000 or better when I ask for it... last fill was more than 3100 PSI so do the math compared to an HP100. In most cases, I get two good dives out of one cylinder of air or at the very least one extended dive... and my SAC sucks.

My impression is that it would be easy to blow NDL tables with these cylinders... I've thought about the 120 range, but so far, haven't found a need for that much air.


Oh, and to MonkeyGland... that's how you spell aluminum. Adding that extra "i" changes the pronunciation and adds a syllibal.


Ken

 

[USMCRet]

Have you considered the advantages of using a "low pressure" steel tank? I have a pair of low pressure steel 108's, working pressure 2400 psi, with a 10% overfill rating. To put all that into english, my steel tanks hold 108 cubic feet of air when filled to 2640 psi.

In my opinion, there are a couple of advantages to this.... first, just getting high pressure tanks filled to the proper pressure. I own a steel HP 130 cf tank, with a working pressure of 3442 psi. When I take my 130 to the Flower Gardens, I am lucky if I get a 3000 to 3100 psi fill (and I have had some fills that were 2800 psi after the tank cooled). That means I end up with about 113 to 117 cf of air in my 130 cf tank.

On the other hand, with my 108's, if they fill to 3000 psi, I end up with 122.7 cf of air in the tank. Now before anyone points this out for me, yes, I know that overfilling the tanks will shorten the overall life of the tank.... but I'm willing to accept a slightly shorter tank life for more air and a longer bottom time.


USMCRet

 

[elan]

Don't know if it will help. I've never dived Aluminium tanks (yes, that is how you spell it) apart from on vacations in Egypt. 12 and 15 litre steels are standard here (or 7's for doubles). Only issue is you can't get steel ones that look all stylish and brushed and look like they were made by Apple.

I wonder if we see an iTank anytime soon