Explain to me why you own your own tank(s)

[Tracy]

Hello
Personal tanks have two real advantages to me.
First they can travel. No need to rent for an entire weekend to get in a vacation dive.
Second is comfort / familiarity. Know what you dive, dive what you know.

So far this summer I have been to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan twice for diving trips. The nearest possiblity of air fills is an hour and a half away. It's very nice to throw a half dozen steel 72's (cheep locally, $55-$100 plus roughly $50 for hydro/vis) in and worry about fills after you're home.

Personally I haven't gotten into Nitrox.(shallow water, short dives) This keeps upkeep and refills to a lower cost.
I am getting ready for my Nitrox class, now I have a dilemma of what will end up Nitrox cleaned...

I am pretty familiar with diving in the UP. Where are you diving that the closest fills are 90 minutes out? There are a few fill stations scattered around the UP. Maybe deep in the porkies could be 90 minutes. Fortune pond is the only dive spot I can think of that would be 90 minutes to fills.

 

[8mb]

I am pretty familiar with diving in the UP. Where are you diving that the closest fills are 90 minutes out? There are a few fill stations scattered around the UP. Maybe deep in the porkies could be 90 minutes. Fortune pond is the only dive spot I can think of that would be 90 minutes to fills.

Grand Marais

 

[Tracy]

Grand Marais

There are two fill stations in Paradise. I think that is about an hour from Grand Marais.

 

[Belzelbub]

I was going to get wild and buy 4 tanks but I think I’ll buy two for now and then get nitrox. Or I guess I can buy 4 and resell them when I get nitrox. Alls I know is, if I’m driving there, I’m not renting tanks.

Why would you need to resell them when you get Nitrox? You don't need brand new tanks for Nx. At most, you may need a tumble and O2 cleaning. If you are buying new, it's probably OK to go from there. The VIP sticker should reference the cleaning status. Generally you'll see 2 or 3 options. Air Only, Nitrox Clean, or O2 Clean. I'm not sure if Nitrox Clean is actually legit, though. It's intended to be used only for banked Nx. So maybe they swap out the O-rings for Viton, but that's probably it.

O2 clean is needed for tanks that may be filled by partial pressure. My tanks are all O2 cleaned. Most often, they are filled from banked Nx, but sometimes I'm away from home and the shop may use partial pressure.

I can still fill with air, but it should be O2 compatible air. If the shop does Nx fills, their compressor air is probably fine.

 

[8mb]

There are two fill stations in Paradise. I think that is about an hour from Grand Marais.

There are two fill stations in Paradise. I think that is about an hour from Grand Marais.

Thank you for the intel!

It’s 90 min and I’m only going up for two days this time but I’m happy to know there are options

 

[gregbenson314]

I live in Scotland, where club diving is a lot more common than an "LDS".


I don't have anywhere that rents tanks a reasonable distance away. I haven't checked but it'd probably be about a 4 hour drive each way?

So cylinder ownership is an absolute must for me. No cylinders = no local diving.

However, I am in a local dive club which has our own compressor and nitrox blending system, so can get fills whenever I want. Most club members have a key and are trained on compressor use, so if me and a dive buddy want to e.g. go for a night dive one night after work, I can literally fill my cylinders myself and then head straight to the dive site.

 

[8mb]

Why would you need to resell them when you get Nitrox? You don't need brand new tanks for Nx. At most, you may need a tumble and O2 cleaning. If you are buying new, it's probably OK to go from there. The VIP sticker should reference the cleaning status. Generally you'll see 2 or 3 options. Air Only, Nitrox Clean, or O2 Clean. I'm not sure if Nitrox Clean is actually legit, though. It's intended to be used only for banked Nx. So maybe they swap out the O-rings for Viton, but that's probably it.

O2 clean is needed for tanks that may be filled by partial pressure. My tanks are all O2 cleaned. Most often, they are filled from banked Nx, but sometimes I'm away from home and the shop may use partial pressure.

I can still fill with air, but it should be O2 compatible air. If the shop does Nx fills, their compressor air is probably fine.

That’s really good to know, I thought the nitrox tanks were smaller and specific to nitrox. Even easier then

 

[Belzelbub]

That’s really good to know, I thought the nitrox tanks were smaller and specific to nitrox. Even easier then

Nope. Not in the US anyway. I think France may specify a different valve, but the tanks themselves are the same.

What you often see is the tank wrapped with a green/yellow Nitrox sticker. That is useless and means nothing. A couple of my tanks (bought used) had that sticker, but I peeled it off. The VIP sticker is where the shop will identify O2 clean status. No one has ever refused to fill my tanks because they didn't have that Nitrox band. In my area, I think it's less than 10% of tanks I see have that band.

 

[grantmac]

I need another steel 72 for a breeding pair. Maybe I can get some extras then!

That's how I ended up with 5....so far

 

[thomschoon]

That's how I ended up with 5....so far

You have to be careful, I left 3 100’s in the garage and they invited some 120’s over for a party and now I have 19’s & 40’s lounging around like lost puppies, along with a rather strange al80, which kind of wrecked the neighborhood.