Hot dip vs cold spray and epoxied value

[Eric Sedletzky]

That one hole at the bottom of the skin tight boots used on OMS Faber tanks isn't for draining water, it's an air hole so the boot will slide on. Those glove boots being that they were a full contact snug fit were never designed to drain like the veined boots that have ribs inside. Drilling a million holes in the bottom won't cure it, it will just rust wherever there's no hole, like on the sides.
I cut the one boot down on my LP 85 on the sides to only about 2" tall so I can slide it off easily to rinse it. I only use the boot as a tank stand.
That tank is 7.01" diameter so kind of an oddball. I can't find a draining boot to use on it.
What about bedliner? Anybody try that?

 

[Ares1590]

I'm a huge fan of hot-dip-galvanized tanks. I'm a pretty big *opponent* of painted tanks, *especially* steel tanks.

However, the Faber epoxy tanks aren't really "painted". You can read about it in more detail, but it's a galvanized/epoxy/clearcoat process. It's *very* durable.

Objectively, the tanks are probably more attractive than galvanized, and I haven't seen any evidence that they are less durable. Now, I'm a cave and Great Lakes shipwreck diver -- that's all fresh water. I don't have personal experience with extended saltwater exposure on those tanks. But if it were a problem, I think we would have heard about it by now...

Also, while I'm a very big fan of galvanized, I'm also cheap. So I will -- and have -- paid a premium for galvanized tanks. But not *that* much of a premium. I think I paid 10-15% more (like $50) last time I bought new tanks. There's no way I would personally pay a 30% premium for galvanized.

And if you're not able to buy new galvanized, I would suggest you try to find used tanks, galvanized or epoxy. In which case you'll pay even less for those epoxy tanks.

Unfortunately, you picked the hardest tanks to find on the used market: LP85's. (Well, LP50's are probably harder to find, but most people don't have a use for those tanks anyway.) So you're probably stuck buying them new unless you want to wait a while -- possibly a long while.

But the short answer to your question: HDG is probably slightly more durable than epoxy, and has a longer track record. However, the track record for epoxy is decently long and certainly plenty good enough. So those slight advantages would not, in my opinion, deserve more than a minor increase in price, and I would not hesitate to buy epoxy tanks because of quality or durability issues.

This was a fantastic write up and exactly the information I was looking for. Thanks very much for your time and for your thorough explanation!

 

[Scared Silly]

For damage to occur, you have to break the paint layer, the epoxy layer and the spray zinc layer. This is hard to achieve, but I'm always amazed by how "inventive" my customers have been in breaking their gear... Crucially, they seemed to have a harder time damaging their hot-dipped cylinders.

"Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool"

"If you make something idiot-proof, someone will just make a better idiot."

Don't tell your customer the above.

 

[runsongas]

@Eric Sedletzky 7" ID thick wall pvc pipe. cut to length and dremel a few drainage ribs

 

[Belzelbub]

With the discontinuation of faber hot dip tanks, they are becoming very hard if not impossible to come by (especially where I live where scuba and steel tanks are not common), I am curious if they are worth the price bump over spray galvanized and painted steel tanks.

I don't see HDG tanks getting cheaper any time soon. Currently all my steel tanks are HDG. Got most of them used, and got a ridiculous deal on a couple of them.

I've also previously owned a pair of painted steel fabers. I got rid of them because I wanted to go to a single diameter. The paint they used was pretty robust. Apart from the paint removed during the hydro stamping, there was no other missing paint. They were cared for, but weren't babied. If you are OK with doing a little bit of TLC, I wouldn't worry too much about painted tanks.