HP Fills, Extra $$

[redacted]

Nope, no break if you bring in a nearly full one either. Card for card they are 1/3 more than the competition and this makes them 2/3 more.

Brain teaser:
All fills are even dollar prices, what are my local air rates?

{3,4,5} or integer multiple

 

[SparticleBrane]

Paying by the cf is crazy!

You aren't seeing the point.
Let's assume a perfect cave dive of 1/3 of the doubles used going in, and 1/3 used coming out, so 2/3 of their doubles are used total.

In a doubles setup of LP95s filled to 3600psi, they hold 260cf of gas. 2/3 of that is 173cf of gas. Charging $0.08 (USD) per cubic foot for 32%, that's $13.87. That's down in cave country--northern Florida.
Here in NC, you can't get a fill to 3600psi for LP95s. Then, you're charged anywhere from $10-$20 PER TANK for a 32% LP95 fill (to 2640 or less, as opposded to 3600).

So yes--charging by the cubic foot is definitely the way to go.

 

[loosebits]

Yep, I love the 0.06 or 0.08 for 32 in cave country considering the LDS's in my area usually charge $10 - $12 for 32. After a week of cave diving (say 14 dives) only costs me about $120 for the gas and that's using the equiv of 25 AL 80's. If they were charging me by the tank that would work out to at least twice as much.

Now at home I'm pumping my own nitrox/mix and I can tell you, $5 for air is cheap. But it makes a little more sense for nitrox (aviator grade O2 is almost free) and a lot of sense for trimix as the gas for a 21/35 mix into a set of 104's costs about $30 vs about $120 from the few LDS's that blend it.

I think LDS's have a much higher profit margin on nitrox/mix. They may almost break even on nitrox and they must be making a killing on mix. Of course maybe their insurance costs go up a lot more with nitrox and mix.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I think LDS's have a much higher profit margin on nitrox/mix. They may almost break even on nitrox and they must be making a killing on mix. Of course maybe their insurance costs go up a lot more with nitrox and mix.

When I had a shop pumping nitrox and trimix had no effect on my insurance rates but I can't say that's true for all insurance companies.

 

[SmileMon]

Did you do partial pressure fills?

 

[MikeFerrara]

Did you do partial pressure fills?

Yes. I also taught nitrox and trimix blending as well as O2 service tech stuff so I even had students doing O2 cleaning and mixing gas.

 

[CompuDude]

My preferred LDS has fill cards for $20 ($2/fill), but their compressor only goes up to 3300 psi if the stars are aligned just right, so I usually go to Sport Chalet and buy one of their $45 air cards ($4.50/fill), but I insist on FULL tanks (I leave them overnight and know which staff will give me a proper fill).

Charging extra for HP fills is something I would never stand for. I hope you have a better option elsewhere.

 

[SparticleBrane]

At the shop where I used to work, we would have two of those large cylinders (T? G? whatever they are...) of O2 delivered from National Welders whenever we needed to charge the nitrox banks. We would then make our own bank of 40% O2 using continuous blend into the compressor, and could then create whatever we wanted under 40% by topping off with air.

Those two tanks of O2 were...$80? And they were good for a lot of nitrox fills, so I know that our margins for nitrox were definitely high.

 

[MikeFerrara]

At the shop where I used to work, we would have two of those large cylinders (T? G? whatever they are...) of O2 delivered from National Welders whenever we needed to charge the nitrox banks. We would then make our own bank of 40% O2 using continuous blend into the compressor, and could then create whatever we wanted under 40% by topping off with air.

Those two tanks of O2 were...$80? And they were good for a lot of nitrox fills, so I know that our margins for nitrox were definitely high.

That's expensive O2. I get aviator grade in 337 cu ft 2600 PSI bottles ('T' I think) for about $30. When partial pressure blending you need a BUNCH of those bottles around though. To this day, I have a lot of money tied up in bottle leases and monthly rent.
So, how many tanks of nitrox would I have to sell just to break even.

What I'm getting at is, since I dive nitrox and trimix having the ability and equipment to do my own greatly added to my own convenience. However, I never came close to selling enough gas through my shop to even pay back the up front investment. I mean it wasn't even close. Based on gas sales alone I could have never made a business case for having a fill station at all.

 

[scubadobadoo]

most here charge extra for hp fills or larger tanks, closest shop charges 11 bucks to fill my HP 80, insane