Local dive shop tanks out of vis AND hydro. Is this common?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

It isn’t $25, it’s really about $15 since it always includes a fill. The shop does have to drain the tank, open it and inspect it. That does taKe time. Scuba isn’t a cheap sport, this is just part of it. Most people who own their own tanks dive multiple times a year. If you get 15 fills in a year, that is only $1 a fill.
If you aren’t getting that many fills a year, it probably isn’t worth owning your own tanks.

It is $25 where I am.

Time? Even if the customer doesn't bring tanks empty, what does it take for the employee to start draining it? 30 seconds?

Removing the valve? 30 seconds?

Using the light? Another 30 seconds?

So less than 5 minutes work?

Are you serious that this actually takes mich time?

For what they do, it is a ripoff. Doesn't matter how many fills are done.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

It is $25 where I am.

Time? Even if the customer doesn't bring tanks empty, what does it take for the employee to start draining it? 30 seconds?

Removing the valve? 30 seconds?

Using the light? Another 30 seconds?

So less than 5 minutes work?

Are you serious that this actually takes mich time?

For what they do, it is a ripoff. Doesn't matter how many fills are done.

You're paying for a service, not time. But if you did pay for time, it takes me about 15-20 minutes to do one of my own bottles, if no difficulties are found or other work done. I am probably more meticulous with my bottles than a lot of shops.

You are paying for training, experience, understanding, knowledge: expertise. Equipment. Facilities. Judgment.

If all they are doing is pulling a valve, sticking a light inside, and reassembling, that's just part of the mechanical tasks. They are not doing a real inspection. But that's kinda like reducing a pilot to pushing a start button, pushing a few levers, moving the stick and rudder pedals.

Scratch that. I'm not even gonna respond.

 

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NAZI ADMINS BLOW ME

 

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NAZI ADMINS BLOW ME

 

[BoltSnap]

Draining a cylinder actually takes about 20 minutes if it isn't full.
The PSI 18-step protocol requires a cylinder to be drained "slowly" (left up to interpretation, I know). We didn't used to give it much thought until one day a customer came in with some old valves that someone had given him that were newer than the old valves on his tanks. He wanted the old old valves replaced with the new old valves. The tank munky opened his valve full and let it scream until it stopped hissing, of course the valve was iced up. He assumed if the valve was open and no air was coming out, the cylinder must be empty. Then he unscrewed the valve. He said later it was "kind of hard to unscrew" but attributed it to the old junky valves probably gummed up with old lube. Then he got down to the last couple of threads and the valve blew off, flew straight up past his head, through the sheetrock in the ceiling, and lodged in the subfloor of the second story of the shop. The valve had iced up and ice had clogged the valve and there was several hundred PSI of pressure still in the cylinder.
The patch in the ceiling by the work bench is still visible today. If he'd been stooped over the cylinder more, the valve projectile wouldn't probably taken his face off. That's why you don't just open the valve and let 'er scream.

And you forgot the "You got a cutesy dumb tourist sticker from every dive shop you've ever been to and I'm going to have to spend 30 minutes scraping your silly stickers off" time. Of course, they never come off in one piece. The cheap nitrox bands that break off literally in one-inch square pieces are the worst.

Bruh, even the high school drop out working the McDonalds drive thru window gets $17 per hour now. According to my accounting, an employee costs me $20.03 per hour, break even point, and that's if he only misses 15 days of work per year (direct and indirect costs). That means he has to generate (on average) at least $35 per hour in revenue for me to justify keeping him.

So your half-hour cylinder inspection (at $25) actually COSTS me ten bucks from an accounting perspective. Thirteen bucks if you include the cost of two viton O-rings, a dab of Christolube, and a VIP sticker. Dive shops don't do visual inspections to get rich. They do it as a loss-leader service for their customers. If I stopped doing anything but visual inspections I'd be bankrupt the day after tomorrow. Visual inspections COST me money.

Thank you.

The cheapskates here don't and won't get it.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Visual inspections COST me money.

Plus the cost of the (recurring) course, the cost of the tools, the cost of the shop rental, the cost of the other shop overhead. Then since a fill is included, the cost of the compressor, compressor maintenance, bank cylinders and maintenance ...

And that's just the cost side of it. You also have to figure in the experience and judgment of the inspector. (And the savings of not having to replace incorrectly condemned tanks if done right - there are shops that will advise a tank has to be condemned due to age or the presence of what amount to cosmetic defects).