Do new tanks need Hydrostatic testing?

[nereas]

Thanks, everyone, for the terrific responses to my question. I think the salesman at Gander was rather misinformed. He made another interesting recommendation to me- he suggested that I might consider purchasing a "rebreather" instead of a tank and showed me the little 3 cu ft spare air rig he had in the display case. I told him that I thought this was an emergency air supply that could be used in lieu of an octopus rig and he gave me a blank stare. I moved on to the firearms department at this point...

I really doubted him on the hydro issue but wanted to know for sure. Gander offers air fills and "VIP" fills at the store, but he said that I would have to take the tank to a local dive shop to get the inspection done before Gander could fill it. By the way, Gander offers free air fills for a year if you buy one of their tanks. I hope the technician filling the tanks knows more about what they are doing than the salesman did!

Thanks again for clearing this up for me.

Best regards,

Geoffrey

It sounds like that store does not routinely do vis inspections themselves, and therefore they have no vis stickers. So then you will indeed need to go to another store, and get your vis sticker there. You can bet that the other, new store WILL charge you for a vis, since they are actually having to do one, since you did not buy the tank at their (the latter) store. And they are going to make you wait in line a long time, because you are not doing them any favours by buying gear someplace else and then bringing it to them to "work on."

I suggest you find yourself a better store to buy tanks at. Someplace that at least has their own vis stickers.

And, as was said by All4Scuba5, be careful about where you get your fills, free or not.

Ultimately, what you want to find is a great scuba store, with a great service department, and a great fill station. Anything less, even if they give you free whatever, is a liability.

 

[Buoyant1]

If you plan on getting fills there, check his setup first before you end up poisoned.

yeah...I was thinking the same thing..."We can fill your tires OR your scuba tank!"

Sorry...I would NOT consider purchasing a rebreather off of anyone but a QUALIFIED person that actually uses them! (our local Dive Rite rep Pete comes to mind) Oy...what a scary situation!