Do you own your own tank just for home use? Cleaning and testing your gear?

[azstinger11]

If you own your own (only) Al 19 (say), not only will you be able to soak your regulator under pressure, but you will be able to travel with it should you decide one day that you want to dive with a pony bottle--which also provides the option of soaking your regulator under pressure in your hotel room!

Here in central MO, an hydro + visual + fill, required every five years, costs ~$50.

rx7diver

AL6 tanks do double duty as drysuit inflation bottles and reg soaking for us. But I do like your point about tanks with multiple uses.

 

[LFMarm]

I have an AL80 with O2 for rebreather sensors and an AL80 with air for everything else for testing before trips.

 

[Doc]

120cf with a “siamese” fill whip, to top these off…

Six 30cf cable tied to 1970’s type hard plastic “back plates”, for the kids in the pool

Three 6cf bottles for re-inflating Jeep tires after the dune weekend at Silver Lake Michigan

Why would you own a Glock 18 without also having a case o’ bullets? Same thing.

 

[DUnder]

Have 2 LP85, use them for diving and home use. Dive shops are few and far between. No tanks no diving

 

[happy-diver]

Hey I bolted a set of twins I wasn't using into the back of my ute, for security

can't steal em now

 

[Kimela]

We have tanks we bought when we first got certified - we thought we'd dive locally, but don't. I think I posted this stupid story recently, so I apologize if this is repetitive. I bought a Mares BC as a 'backup' and it felt great. I waited until after the return window was closed and THEN put it on a tank to see how it felt. I hate it. I don't just dislike it, I absolutely HATE it. If I had strapped it on a tank it would have saved me money. So, if you get tanks use them for all those little things that will help. Learn from my mistake!

 

[heatharnold]

I just picked up one off of Face Book Marketplace for $200. It had just been hydro tested and had a visual inspection. I'm getting back into diving after several years away from the sport. I went diving with my daughters on vacation a few weeks ago and fell in love again. I have purchased everything except weights. I can't imagine not owning a tank. I did when I started and kept it up for several years until I sold it. My friend still has it.

 

[spoolin01]

I find a pony bottle makes a better option for rinsing, but a spare tank around the garage is great for working on regs and as an alternative to a shop compressor, though air flow is limiting. Until I found a reliable 12V air pump that can do 3psi with good volume, I lugged around a small scuba tank to inflate my boat, and tires on occasion.

 

[ThatDogDontHunt]

I was curious if any of you own your own tank that you just keep at home solely for cleaning your gear when you get back from vacation and for testing before you go on vacation. In addition, having a tank would allow for more practice setting up your gear when you haven't been diving in a while. My diving generally consists of one or (hopefully) two weeklong dedicated scuba trips per year with my wife and we own our own gear. A week before the trip, each day as the trip approaches, my wife and I put on and take off our BCDs, put on our fins and remove them, and we start reviewing pre-dive checklists just so that we aren't totally brain dead on that first dive.

I'm asking because I've read advice that suggests rinsing your regulator while under pressure is safer in order to ensure water doesn't get in the first stage. Plus, while I get my gear inspected every year before we go on vacation (and I can verify performance at the shop before I go), maybe it would be nice to be able to hook up your regulator in the weeks before you leave just for a final sanity check.

I doubt I would every use the tank to actually dive with and think it would be around a $300 investment. Plus the cost of the fill but also I would probably need some sort of regular testing that a shop would require in order to do a fill?

Assuming I can afford the $300 initial purchase and some sort of occasional outlay for occasional testing, does it make sense? Or am I over thinking this?

Nope. I NOW utilize other peoples tanks to check our dive gear. I am a slime...

But I sweated this issue a decade ago.

We now mostly do LOBs. I check our gear at the start and end of each dive trip.

 

[lexvil]

I use an LP 95 for testing Regs in the shop, not inclined to dive that pig.

if I want to soak a reg I have pony’s for that or I just do the two step, soak the tightly capped first with the seconds (Zeagle F8’s now so same seat as Atomic) elevated, than switch positions and soak the seconds, hang to dry with the seconds lower to make sure they drain and dry properly.