My understanding of the situation was that most places require a tank to be re-02 cleaned at hydro time. That being my expectation I stopped in an Austin area shop the other day to get my Nitrox tanks visualed and they said that if I wanted to keep using them for Nitrox they would have to be 02 cleaned again, and that this was required at every visual inspection. They also wanted $75/tank for said cleaning in addition to the $20/tank for the visual. Probably would have charged me for a Nitrox fill on top of that the way the conversation was going.....
So I left and tried another shop just up the street and they agreed with me that as long as a tank hasn't been used with non hyperfiltered air it only needed to be 02 cleaned at hydro time. So in the end for 2 tanks I am paying $45 compared to the other shop that wanted to charge me $190+
I understand that this issue isn't an exact science, and I can see how requiring yearly cleaning would be beneficial to the shop employees safety if they don't trust their customers to not fill their nitrox tanks full of dirty air, but my understanding was that the common practice is that of the later shop and not the one that wants a yearly O2 cleaning. So, does anyone know of any other shops requiring the yearly cleaning or are most being a little more reasonable about it?
At the first shop I was also told that since my tanks were steel they would be full of rust so they would definitely need to be O2 cleaned..... I know for a fact that they aren't full of rust and besides it is my understanding that a light coat of surface rust is perfectly acceptable in a steel tank even when used for pure O2 service....
~Jess
So I left and tried another shop just up the street and they agreed with me that as long as a tank hasn't been used with non hyperfiltered air it only needed to be 02 cleaned at hydro time. So in the end for 2 tanks I am paying $45 compared to the other shop that wanted to charge me $190+
I understand that this issue isn't an exact science, and I can see how requiring yearly cleaning would be beneficial to the shop employees safety if they don't trust their customers to not fill their nitrox tanks full of dirty air, but my understanding was that the common practice is that of the later shop and not the one that wants a yearly O2 cleaning. So, does anyone know of any other shops requiring the yearly cleaning or are most being a little more reasonable about it?
At the first shop I was also told that since my tanks were steel they would be full of rust so they would definitely need to be O2 cleaned..... I know for a fact that they aren't full of rust and besides it is my understanding that a light coat of surface rust is perfectly acceptable in a steel tank even when used for pure O2 service....
~Jess