Old Steel Tank From The Late 70s

[sea_otter]

I spent yesterday helping my mom clean out her garage and found a few scuba tanks. I was hoping someone here could help me with identification of one in particular. I'm curious if it is worth trying to bring it back to life.

It is a steel tank rated to 2250 PSI (DOT-3AA2250), made in June 1978 by Norris. It's been hydroed twice most recently in March 1993. There's also a "MF" marking stamped on it (not sure what that means).

Dimensions are 26" tall (without the valve) and 5.25" diameter. It weighs 36 lbs with an unknown amount of air in it (more than zero). It seems too small to be a 72? Maybe a 50?

It's been in a dry garage for the past 23 years, and from the outside it looks to be in relatively decent shape. Any way to tell what it is, what size valves it has (don't really want to empty it until I know what to do with it), and if it makes any sense to take it in for a hydro? If I had two I'd definitely give it a shot, but I'm not sure what I'd do with a single.

Here are photos: Imgur: The most awesome images on the Internet

 

[eelnoraa]

maybe take them to AWS for a professional opinion? Frank will take a quick look and tell you whether it is worth the effort of doing hydro.

 

[guruboy]

Are you sure about the diameter? Seems like an LP72 otherwise.

 

[Jax]

Are you sure about the diameter? Seems like an LP72 otherwise.

Agree - could you measure the circumference for us? Looks like a quite lovely tank - It would make a good O2 or travel gas tank.

 

[sea_otter]

Oops!! My high school geometry is as out of date as the tank's last hydro. Diameter is 6.75".

 

[guruboy]

probably an LP72 then, which is just under 7" diameter.

 

[sea_otter]

Thanks, all!

Looks like a quite lovely tank - It would make a good O2 or travel gas tank.

I thought most people used aluminum for stage/deco bottles to have something a bit closer to neutral buoyancy? No? Either way, that is a long way away for me!

But a set of double 72s might be nice in the not too distant future.

 

[runsongas]

may want to change the valve if it has a vintage j valve or something. good thing is most of those are 3/4 neck. check inside for the coating. if it doesn't have the coating and it looks visually in good shape, then definitely worth hydroing.

 

[runsongas]

overfill them a bit and you can get 85cf or so in them. not too bad for a cheap set of doubles (compared to a pair of hdg hp100s) or cheap sidemount tanks (compared to buying a pair of lp85s).

 

[guruboy]

at 2700 psi these tanks will be a little more than an AL80, IIRC.