?? info about PST Steel HP3500 80's & 100's from 1998

[under water]

My first one didn't pass its second hydro. Grrr.

I had one that failed hydro as well. Apparently the original owner had been overfilling the heck out of it, was the best guess of the guy at the hydro facility. Pretty rare, but you may want to insist on it passing hydro before the sale is final.

Egads..
That's a bit scary that 2 of these would fail hydro.
Bill, you don't seem like the tank abusing type. Did you buy it new?
I will certainly make passing hydro a requirement given this info. It would be a major PITA to buy them, then pay for a failed hydro!
But I can't imagine diving without steel up here in Mass though and rentals can add up.

 

[Otter]

It has DIN valves now and I have a DIN first stage (now with a DIN to Yoke converter)

Would I need to be concerned about this only when I need to buy new valves.
I had never thought about valve life. Is that something that people replace often?

My wife has a yoke first stage as are all of my spares. Would she be able to use these tanks? ie, can you (should you) convert reg from Yoke to DIN (without buying new first stage) or tank from DIN to Yoke?

Thanks

As Compudude mentioned, you can convert the tank valve to a Yoke. Personally, I would convert the 1st stage especially if you only dive steel. If you need the reg for a trip to warm water and need a yoke, you can convert the din to yoke.

My point was just to remind you to order the right size valve if you do this...or double them up.

 

[CompuDude]

Actually, no, you can't convert these to yoke. They are DIN-only, true 3500psi tanks, not the psuedo-3442/3498psi tanks that squeak in under the limit to allow convertible valves. They are, and probably should, remain DIN-only. It MAY be possible to find some old skinny neck yoke valves gathering dust on someone's shelves, but I would keep these tanks as DIN, personally. IIRC, the whole reason they made them "skinny neck" in the first place was to be sure an appropriate HP DIN valve was used, since when they first started making HP tanks Yoke valves were not up the task of keeping HP pressures. My post was concerning doubling the tanks with a manifold; there is only one available AFAIK. It's DIN only (no problem) but the valves are set back at an angle (which I hate). Pretty much the only reason I sold my good tank, since I was looking to double it at some point.

But yes, I agree, far better to convert the wife's 1st stage to DIN if she's going to use these tanks. She can then use a DIN-to-yoke converter for your other tanks (or you could convert them also... taking a tank from yoke to DIN is no problem, it's the other way that things get squirrelly) or when traveling.

 

[radinator]

Let me know and I'll take them.

My first tank was a PST HP100, and its still going strong. I regretted for a while not getting a second one so I could double them up, but nowadays it might be hard to find a properly threaded manifold set.

At those pressures I wouldn't convert them to yoke.