Deal on used aluminum tanks?

[rob from nova scotia]

I would say that it is a reasonable deal. The date is on the shoulder of the cylinder (something that is explained in the OW course). You are looking for the hydro date which should be should like 2*96, where the * is a symbol for the hydro shop.

I am rob from nova scotia, i am known as rob from nova scotia, the tanks are made by a certain manufacturer, they enbed the manufacture numbers on the neck which includes the manufacture date, THIS is the creation date, all other numbers mean pressure and serial, etc, etc, and must be clear on the creation date line, this line containes a number of when the tank was made, its digits only mean that the tank was created on that date, so the tank is therefore good for 5 years on its original hydro, (BIRTH) so lets be perfectly clear that new tanks are not hydro shop.....the next hydro will contain the numbers of the hydro shop ABOVE THE MANUFACTURES LINE..happy diving if anyone ever has any questions ask me

 

[rob from nova scotia]

There are NO DOT regulations on a cylinder based on date. The problem is with SLC, Sustained Load Cracking, in the necks of cylinders made out of 6351 alloy aluminum. Luxfer used this alloy up until 1987. A Luxfer from 1988 is fine. However, many shops are refusing to fill anything older than 90, because they don't want to be held liable if anything happens in our modern sue-happy world. Catalina never used the 6351 alloy. Also, there are no DOT regulations condemning these cylinders. There are, I believe, rules requiring them to undergo Eddy Current testing to check for SLC.

eddy current testing was only invented for 6051, not anything else, to detect slc, if your diveshop says it must be done, it must only be done on 6051 alloy and luxfer tanks only for that period keepm in mind that the newer tanks will give false reading, but dive shops like to charge....happy diving