Etiquette if the shop doesn't fill the tank completely

[spool]

Leave overnight or longer is the best solution. Then, be sure to check them before you leave and ask nicely if they're lowish.

Yeah try the no rush approach!

 

[spool]

You've gotten good advice here. Let me reiterate a few things and add a couple:

1. Drop it off one day, pick it up later.

2. Find a shop that will overfill slightly so when it cools it's at pressure. (My LDS does this routinely. They know how much to "overfill" any cylinder to it's at pressure when it cools.)

3. Insist they fill it to max rated pressure at least. (Though duly noted if it's a small outfit on an island they're not going to alter their set point just for you. A remote station I work out of has a cutoff at 2700, because they have some LP cylinders. That won't change.)

4. Ask for a "top off" if you realize it's low before you go diving. But make sure this is something they'll do free. (My LDS would, if you're a regular and it's just a bit off because it cooled.)

Understood!

As far as the remote station set to 2700, will they leave it in the machine for a while so it gets up to stable / cool tank 2700? Or does it hit 2700 once and then you get 2500 or less?

 

[Still Kicking]

Shop where i work absolutely will not let you leave tanks and come back later. With up to 100 tanks a day going through the shop it would be a nightmare to store them.

However, we encourage customers to hang out (shop maybe) while we fill, cool and top off to working pressure.

It costs nothing to fill tanks correctly; it will piss people off and cost business if you short fill.

I don't mind if customers ask to borrow a gauge and check the fills. We will gladly top them off if they are short (rare).

 

[Superlyte27]

Shop where i work absolutely will not let you leave tanks and come back later. With up to 100 tanks a day going through the shop it would be a nightmare to store them.

However, we encourage customers to hang out (shop maybe) while we fill, cool and top off to working pressure.

It costs nothing to fill tanks correctly; it will piss people off and cost business if you short fill.

Are shops not just filling to 3300-3400 and letting them cool to proper pressure? This isn’t rocket surgery.

For the record, if my shop short fills you. Please call me and let me know. I’ll make it right.

407-304-9288 Peter
Adventures Underwater

 

[Jcp2]

My favorite shop fills while I wait as I go at low times and has a cooling water bath. I routinely get 3600 in my HP100s and 2400 in my non plus rated LP72s. Now I try to go exclusively to them for fills and I get other stuff through them as well.

If you find a good reliable ship for fills, stick with them.

 

[tarponchik]

My favorite shop fills while I wait as I go at low times and has a cooling water bath. I routinely get 3600 in my HP100s and 2400 in my non plus rated LP72s. Now I try to go exclusively to them for fills and I get other stuff through them as well.

If you find a good reliable ship for fills, stick with them.

And my favorite shop fills the tanks submerged into water.

 

[TrimixToo]

For pony bottles, I breath them prior to every dive so overtime they need to be topped off. I use a transfill whip and top them from one of my larger cylinders as needed.

I think this can't be said often enough. A gas source you have not personally tested pre-dive can't be trusted. As I use the same number of breaths to test every reg, every time (3 full breaths is enough for me but perhaps not for you), a pony's supply gets depleted to a level that won't support its intended mission (get me out of light penetration, up, and do a safety stop for non-deco dives) after not too many interations.

The shop I used to use before I bought a compressor would top pony bottles for free. I thought that was a good policy.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Our local dive shop (Dive Now, Whangarei New Zealand) always checks the pressure when you come to pick up the tanks and "top them up" if not at rated pressure.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

This is probably a whole separate thread but 5 years for air? There seems to be varying opinion, some say 3 months, some say indefinite almost it seems.

Five years between hydros. Unless there is an emergency, you shouldn't need to use the tank.

 

[Tracy]

This is probably a whole separate thread but 5 years for air? There seems to be varying opinion, some say 3 months, some say indefinite almost it seems.

The air isn't going anywhere if you aren't using it. Unless you got a bad fill, it will be fine. And if you got a bad fill, it doesn't really matter when you breathe it, it will still be bad.