Made to Canadian and US standards. Aluminum tank. 3000 PSI max. 80 cubic feet volume.
Serial number. Manufactured by Luxfer in May 1988.
I'm assuming you're going to use this for diving and not paintball. General wisdom is don't buy aluminum tanks that are more than ten years old for diving. This one is more than 20 years old. Some dive shops won't fill aluminum tanks that are more than ten years old even if the hydro is current. We have friends who possess their own compressor and they fill/use tanks as old as the one you're looking at buying. The liveaboard dive boats they go on during lobster season
will not let them bring those old aluminum tanks onboard.
I'm guessing you're being offered the chance to buy this tank for around $50. I wouldn't buy it.
Find a used tank that is five years old or less.
Skip the math and physics lesson in the link below and you'll understand why old aluminum tanks can be a problem.
How much energy is there in a filled scuba tank
Thanks for the link.
It has a lot of good information brought in together from different sources. I agree with the calculations for stored potential energy in a Scuba cylinder.
On the other hand I totally disagree with tanking perfectly good tanks out of service after ten years. There is absolutely no indication that a 6061-T6 aluminum tank need to be retired unless it fails its re-qualification hydro test or VIP.
This is the first time I hear about using an arbitrary 10 year draw line for aluminum tanks and IMHO it seems twice as absurd as the arbitrary 20 year draw line used by some dive shops
Some dive shops are grouping all tanks pre 1990 as if they were made out of 6351-T6 alloy, but the better inform shops would probably use the chart as shown in the article.
.
The debate of what to do with 6351 AL tanks has been covered plenty on other posts.
Another kind of misleading statement in the link is the one saying that: “5) All Tanks Will Fail Eventually”. That statement can be argued to be true as times approaches infinity. It is a nice theoretical statement, but not really relevant in the practical life span expectancy of something like a steel tank.
CTC/DOT-3AL3000-S80
P368574LUXFER5A88
The date in this tank (5A88) indicates that it is most likely made out of 6061-T6 according to the published list (see below), but many shops may group it with the older tanks. Personally, I would avoid it, just to avoid the headache. My understanding is that many shops in Florida will not fill that tank.
Here is "The List" of scuba tanks that the DOT says are most likely made from the 6351-T6
aluminum alloy:
All DOT-3AL tanks manufactured under one of the following exemptions or special
permits: 6498, 7042, 8107, 8364, 8422
All composite cylinders manufactured under one of the following exemptions: 7235, 8023,
8115
• All DOT-3AL tanks manufactured under one of the following exemptions or special
• permits: 6498, 7042, 8107, 8364, 8422
• All composite cylinders manufactured under one of the following exemptions: 7235, 8023,
• 8115
• All Walter Kidde DOT-3AL scuba tanks.
• All Cliff Impact DOT-3AL scuba tanks made before July 1990.
• All Luxfer 80.8 cu. ft. scuba tanks (S80.8) made before May 1987.
• All Luxfer 72 and 100 cu. ft. scuba tanks (S72, S100) made before August 1987.
•
All Luxfer 80 cu. ft. scuba tanks (S80) made before January 1988.
• All Luxfer 50 and 92 cu. ft. scuba tanks (S50, S92) made before April 1988.
• All Luxfer 30 and 63 cu. ft scuba tanks (S30, S63) made before May 1988.
• All Luxfer 40 cu. ft. scuba tanks (S40) made before June 1988.
• All other scuba tanks made in the US before February 1990 (except Catalina).
• All scuba tanks not made in the US.
Unless proven otherwise, all scuba tanks in the above list should be assumed as being
made using the 6351-T6 alloy.
