Likelihood of cylinders being cleaned and passing VIP

[Mahoney86]

So it happened to me yesterday, apparently I got a bad fill at some point end of last season. I brought quite a few cylinders to my LDS for VIP yesterday and got a phone call I wasn't expecting. 4 of them had a white oily residue on the bottom (3 steel 100s and my AL pony bottle). I did not get to see them in person, however will require tumbling and cleaning. Obviously no idea if any pitting will be discovered after tumbling. Im not looking forward to buying new cylinders, however its $75 for the tumbling and cleaning and $35 for the VIP for each one. If they fail, that's a good chunk of change that I will be laying out and not recouping. Just wondering what your experiences have been and your thoughts with this. The cylinders probably sat a good 6 months or more with this substance on the bottom.

 

[Caveeagle]

Where are you seeing those cost? I would think any pitting would be visible before the tumbling. Those cost seem high to me, but maybe things are just less costly in our area.

 

[2airishuman]

Those prices seem awfully high.

One of the hydro places here will shot-blast, hydro, and VIP cylinders for just under $40. They typically come back cleaner than with extensive tumbling. The dive shops do charge more but even so a VIP is usually around $20 and includes an air fill.

If it's just an oily residue and no corrosion you may be able to get it out yourself with hot soapy water. I rinse three times with distilled water for the last rinse, and dry with a vacuum cleaner. I use the vacuum side of the vacuum cleaner (not the blower), and use a suitable size piece of pipe to reach through the cylinder neck and down to the bottom of the cylinder, with a rag or something to hold it in the vacuum cleaner hose. Typically it only takes 10 minutes if the cylinder is still reasonably warm.

 

[Mahoney86]

LDS gave me those prices. I thought they were high as well, but I called a few others and were all about the same

 

[Mahoney86]

Those prices seem awfully high.

One of the hydro places here will shot-blast, hydro, and VIP cylinders for just under $40. They typically come back cleaner than with extensive tumbling. The dive shops do charge more but even so a VIP is usually around $20 and includes an air fill.

If it's just an oily residue and no corrosion you may be able to get it out yourself with hot soapy water. I rinse three times with distilled water for the last rinse, and dry with a vacuum cleaner. I use the vacuum side of the vacuum cleaner (not the blower), and use a suitable size piece of pipe to reach through the cylinder neck and down to the bottom of the cylinder, with a rag or something to hold it in the vacuum cleaner hose. Typically it only takes 10 minutes if the cylinder is still reasonably warm.

There was visible corrosion, sorry I forgot to mention that.

 

[2airishuman]

I've been buying used cylinders that are out of hydro and haven't had one fail yet. I've heard that someone who inspects cylinders frequently can guess whether they'll pass with 90% accuracy with just a quick look. The pitting has to be pretty bad for them to fail.

 

[runsongas]

if you stored the tanks upright, you have a better shot at them being salvageable. i would just take them directly to a hydro shop though to get shot blasted after you rinse them out with simple green.

 

[Mahoney86]

cylinder were all stored upright over the winter. My LDS gave them a shot at tumbling and after an hour each they were heavily pitted and corroded. It seems it was 2 cylinders that I received a Nitrox fill from at the end of last season. The whole ordeal is odd as I had all cylinders sent out for hydro last year and the VIPed by one shop. I received most of my fills there, definitely my Nitrox fills and out of 7 cylinders I dropped off, 3 were bad. Guess Im biting the bullet now and picking up 2 new HP100s and a new pony bottle. The bight side is I might upgrade that my 19 to a 40 pony. we will see