Hydro Saga

[markcic]

How did this get resolved in regard to the + stamp?

I just found out I’m in the same boat while prepping for a last minute FL trip. I have tanks in for service and was told you can only get 1 additional + stamp after initial hydro however it is good for life.

I previously had a hydro done and didn’t get a + stamp so I took them to Scuba Tank Services for another hydro to get the + back but it looks like they are out of business.

Do you need to have + stamp on every hydro?


To sum up:
Original Hydo = +

5 year no +

2 month later +

5 years later no +. Now what?

 

[Tracy]

(Summit????) is not certified to put the + sign on a tank,

That isn't a thing.

 

[Tracy]

you can only get 1 additional + stamp after initial hydro however it is good for life.

This is also not a thing

God I love the dive industry

 

[boulderjohn]

The last posts have me thoroughly confused now. I don't know what to believe.

 

[Tracy]

The last posts have me thoroughly confused now. I don't know what to believe.

You can rest assured, in the dive industry, all of the actual laws and guidelines are occluded by hearsay and "that's the way we have always done it"

The plus stamp is not some scary cryptic special test or reading.
It is looking at the elastic expansion of the tank that was measured during hydro and looking at the reject elastic expansion stamped on the tank neck. Comparing the two, and if the numbers jive, stamping a plus by the hydro date.
It is something done automatically on most newer computerized hydro machines.
If you look at these hydro sheets, you can see the REE entered, and the measured EE of the cylinder. The EE is less than REE, therefore it qualifies for the plus. They also qualify for a star because the machine doesn't know they are scuba tanks. The star doesn't get stamped on the tank.
On the second photo, on the second line, it is a steel 72, there is no REE entered, so it doesn't generate a plus or star. If there was record of the REE on the tank, (it varies from manufacturer to manufacturer from 63-70) it would be entered and qualify. Since it isn't on the tank, it doesn't get entered and it doesn't get a plus.
On a manual machine, you have to write this information down and look at the numbers yourself. There is no legal requirement to do the calculation or the stamp, it is just something most testers do automatically.

 

[markcic]

I found out the hydro shop in Richmond does put plus stamps on any tanks so I'm hosed on those and need to get them rehydroed. Luckily it worked out I didn't send in both sets of my LP85 doubles to them. Anyone have a recommendation for a hydro shop in the greater DC metro/Richmond area?

 

[boulderjohn]

Just to add to the story....

Yesterday I got the tanks filled at the same Force E shop. The people on duty told me that my max fill level for those tanks was 2400 PSI. They said they filled LP tanks to 10% above that as a shop policy--essentially a courtesy to their customers. The + sign was meaningless. I went through the whole story, and one of them remembered it. He insisted they couldn't put the + sign on it because they didn't have the license for it, but it didn't matter because of their generous shop policy. Fortunately, they also explained that 10% above 2400 was a little over 2800.

My fill card runs out next time.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

Just to add to the story....

Yesterday I got the tanks filled at the same Force E shop. The people on duty told me that my max fill level for those tanks was 2400 PSI. They said they filled LP tanks to 10% above that as a shop policy--essentially a courtesy to their customers. The + sign was meaningless. I went through the whole story, and one of them remembered it. He insisted they couldn't put the + sign on it because they didn't have the license for it, but it didn't matter because of their generous shop policy. Fortunately, they also explained that 10% above 2400 was a little over 2800.

My fill card runs out next time.

In my experience Force-E fills everything 10% over… LP, HP, AL.

 

[boulderjohn]

By the way, a couple years ago before replying to a thread about shop's refusing to fill older aluminum tanks, I did a pretty through internet search to see if I could find the source of those beliefs. I eventually decided that the source of the belief that aluminum tanks have a limited lifespan was Undercurrent magazine, which published two such articles about 5 years apart (IIRC) about aluminum tanks being unsafe after a relatively short lifespan.

If you read all the way to the fine print, you would learn that the source of the information for those articles was an employee at this dive shop.

 

[Tracy]

By the way, a couple years ago before replying to a thread about shop's refusing to fill older aluminum tanks, I did a pretty through internet search to see if I could find the source of those beliefs. I eventually decided that the source of the belief that aluminum tanks have a limited lifespan was Undercurrent magazine, which published two such articles about 5 years apart (IIRC) about aluminum tanks being unsafe after a relatively short lifespan.

If you read all the way to the fine print, you would learn that the source of the information for those articles was an employee at this dive shop.

That seems to be the source of everything tank related in diving.
"A guy I knew told me..."