Hydros...Is this crazy or am I?

[Stu S.]

What's Standard Operating Procedure for Hydro shops?

What you got. Except, test facilities usually don't VIP a SCUBA cylinder. That's for the dive shop to do.

Getting "cylinder service" from a dive shop will include hydro and more. Five year service will often include a light tumble, valve rebuild, oxygen cleaning and VIP.

You pay less by going out and getting just a hydro, and that's what you got.

 

[JDMerk]

He's gonna pee in your tank...

 

[Rick Inman]

Well, I'm a DIY kinda guy, so when I get a hydro, that's all I expect. They don't need the valve, so they don't get it with the tank (nothing to lose). Nobody but me is responsible for O2 cleaning the thing anyway, and I don't trust hydro guys to do it for me. All I really want is the stamp.

So this is my personal process; Take directly to the hydro place myself, sans valve, boot, whatever, but with a cap on it. I've taken the time to get to know Kevin the hydro guy, so we chat a bit, and I remind him to please not forget the + on the stamp. One time he called me and said an AL80 I have failed. I asked him to try again, which he did and it passed. :shocked2:

Next, take tank to LDS and get vis sticker (if they wanna look inside, I'm ok with that, but it isn't required as long as I get a shop sticker on it). No big green Nitrox stickers or anything, just a vis placed where I show them.

Next I take the tank home and vis it myself. Then I O2 clean it and usually rebuild the valve.

Again, I enjoy the hands-on part of my diving, and I like knowing the process has been done to my liking. And if anything is less than perfect there is no one to blame other than myself.

 

[FredT]

3/4" PVC threaded pipe plugs work great for closing a tank to/from a hydro shop, and for shipping.

Remove valve, take tank to hydro, rebuild valve, recover tank and inspect, then install newly rebuilt valve.

In my experience ANY tank coming back from a hydro facility needs inspection and usually at least a clean water rinse. I'll usually do an O2 clean on my tanks since it takes just little more effort than just a rinse would be.

FT

 

[siikik]

This thread makes me think about selling my tanks before they need a hydro.



Ken

 

[Doc Harry]

Sound like the shop has some serious organizational problems.

But I would never send an O2-clean valve to hydro. And I would be even less inclined to believe that an O2-clean cylinder/valve would still be O2-clean when I got it back from hydro.

I don't think it's fair to expect O2-clean tanks/valves to remain O2-clean throughout the hydro process. A cylinder that I get back from hydro requires O2-cleaning and a repeat VIP before it is put back in service.

I can't see how you could expect anything else.

 

[tlt]

Just last week, I saw a dive shop refuse to fill tanks, that were hydro'd direct, and then they proceeded to call another local shop and tell them not to fill them. Whoever it was, was from out of town. I would rather deal with the hydro facility directly too. Anyway they did not appreciate getting bypassed on the overpriced fees I guess. In any event, I have had my tanks hydro'd twice, at 2 different shops, in two states, and had no problem.

There are certainly shops I would not leave my tanks at for hydro, or anything else. Find a reputable shop that is professional, friendly and hopefully develop a relationship, etc. If they are disorganized, have an attitude, overcharge you, keep prepaid orders and never deliver product, charge for classes they don't deliver on, etc... then you are in the wrong shop, don't try and argue the point, just go elsewhere. Most shops I have seen are professional, friendly and competent. They only way to root out the bad ones is to not give them your money. You should be confident that most shops will treat you right and earn your business.

 

[FredT]

As a possible defense to the LDS above, please note that there have been very few cases where hydros have been "pencil whipped" by some hydro facilities, and a few individuals who have stamped their own tanks without testing. Those shops caught pencil whipping tests get their cert removed by the DOT, generally significantly fined, AND all tanks done by them in the window the whipping was done get to be retested at the tank owner's nickel.

If the LDS knows of this issue with a testing house then the customer should have been notified by the testing facility, or the facts explained. Notices of "bad" hydros are generally posted on DOT's website. A simple refusal without explanation and proof of a bad hydro facility is rude, at best.

An "owner stamped" tank's markings generally won't conform to the required standard configuration or have an invalid tester number/configuration. This is pretty easy to spot after looking at a few hundred valid stamps.

If one of those 2 conditions aren't met the refusal to fill on JUST the grounds of a "direct hydro" is probably valid. I'd probably not walk back into the shop AND I'd diligently inform new divers to stay away from them as well.

 

[ShakaZulu]

Nope, that is not accepted practice...my tanks was returned to me filled, stamped, taped and stickered with my name on them. Did cost me about 135 for three tanks

 

[mksmith713]

This happened at the hydro facility in Ockechobee?
or at the LDS that sent it out for hydro?