Hydro not good enough for an older tank?

[RhodeDiver]

So it either passes VIP or it doesn't. If he really believes it doesn't pass then he shouldn't have given you a sticker for this year. I guess you are dealing with an unethical LDS.

 

[Kharon]

My LDS was pissed that I bought 2 pristine PST steel tanks off Craigs list for $100 (total) rather than a single Worthington from him for $350 + tax. He told me that since one of the tanks didn't have a REE stamped on it it couldn't be plus hydroed and that if the plus hydro failed on the other tank, the tank would be scrapped by the hydro facility. All total bushwah! At a different LDS getting the plus done on the tank without a stamped REE was no problem and failing the plus hydro only means you don't get the plus rateing.

 

[halocline]

And the circus continues....

 

[Compressor]

Too often I have seen staff member of a business, who have little real first hand knowledge of a subject operate on the "If you can't dazzle them with your brilliance, baffle them with your bull $#it". Rather than admit they do not know something, and possibly look bad in the customer's or employer's eye, just make $#it up as they go along. Dive ops are no different, especially as they do not tend to pay well enough to attract and hold onto high quality employees.

Hilarious how true what you are saying.

 

[grf88]

I wonder if this store tech is the same guy doing the equipment servicing. Shudder!

 

[ams511]

Well at least he didn't try to sell you an eddy current test.

 

[akdeepdiver]

Well at least he didn't try to sell you an eddy current test.

That is a personal pet peeve of mine when you take your tank to a LDS for hydro and they charge for the eddy current and the vis on top. 49 CFR mandates that a tank receive a visual inspection at time of Hydro, and if it is a AL tank made of 6351-T6 alloy, it must receive a Eddy Current. It is my personal opinion that these should be included into the cost of the hydro since according to the DOT they are not optional. That's why at the hydro facilities I have run, we did not charge extra for them.

Before people jump all over me, notice I said "at time of hydro". I said nothing about receiving a eddy current during the visual inspection. I have no issue with a dive shop offering that service as a additional test if people want it when they bring their tanks in for the annual VIP, as long as the LDS offers it upfront to the customer, and not surprise the customer when they pick it up with a bunch of charges for services the customer did not know about or authorize.