Old tanks

[spectrum]

tom2004

It's probably some sort of low pressure cylinder. Make sure you request that the tester attempt to give it the + rating. That will allow you be filled to 10% over the marked working pressure and this will get you to the full advertised capacity of the cylinder.

Pete

 

[spectrum]

according to "DIVER" magazine out of canada, 6 or so shops in ontario will not fill or vip luxfer tanks made between 72 and 88, the reason for the ban is because of substainable load cracks caused by the alluminum alloy 6351 the tanks were made from. 1,073,000 tanks were cast from this alloy but 1.25 percent of tanks have been affected by (SLC)

No argument but it's irrelevant to the OP

"I was given a steel tank yesterday.................."

Pete

 

[texdiveguy]

according to "DIVER" magazine out of canada, 6 or so shops in ontario will not fill or vip luxfer tanks made between 72 and 88, the reason for the ban is because of substainable load cracks caused by the alluminum alloy 6351 the tanks were made from. 1,073,000 tanks were cast from this alloy but 1.25 percent of tanks have been affected by (SLC)

That is an individual shop decision....not a law concerning older cylinders of Al 6351 ... but you are correct in that SLC has been an issue on some of the Al 6351 cylinders. Having said that, safety should always be key when encountering the cylinders in question, and it sounds like your area shops are policing on the side of safety.

The op of this thread plainly said he has a STEEL cylinder.

 

[james croft]

Get it hydroed and a viz and dive it. I have steel tanks over 50 yrs old I am diving.

 

[dbg40]

I still have a WK 72 orig man of 68. Passes with flying colors every time, and would still plus out if you could get them anymore.

 

[Walter]

That's not an old steel tank.

 

[rjack321]

For STEEL, 1989 is almost new.

Subtract 40 or 50 years - circa WW2 is where steel tanks are "old".

 

[rmannix]

My oldest tank is a Dacor/PST steel 72 mfg March 1967. Still in service, last hydro 4/2005
My oldest aluminum tanks are double USD 50's, mfg 1976 last hydro'ed 8/2005 (before they stamped hydro with vis eddy test) but will be retired soon. Too expensive here for vis eddy tests which LDS still does annually even though only required at hydro now.
I have a pair of Luxfer 63's from 1985 and a Luxfer 13 from 1987 that just sit there.
Having 13 of 16 tanks in service gets expensive just for visuals.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Have your local LDS check the cylinder for you,,,,,should be fine if during their cursiary inspection it is ok,,,have them send it off for hydro, and assuming it passes that....the LDS will do a final full VIP to ensure its safety after the hydro. Many many 'older' steel cylinders used everyday. I have a 1972 steel 72cf in service fully tested and O2 cleaned as a stage bottle.

A "final full VIP", to use your phrase, is a requirement of the hydro test and it is done every time a tank is hydro tested - the entire hydro and VIP process being formally referred to as "requalification" by the DOT. No tank, steel or aluminum, can be stamped as having been requalified until it has passed both the hydro and VIP portions of the requalification. The new requirement for stamping compliance with Visual Plus testing by the test facilities on older aluminum tanks just further underscores where the real DOT required VIP inspection occurs.

In short, dive shops rip divers off each and every time they insist on doing their own VIP on the tank just returned form hydro test. It is totally redundant and meaningless. To add insult to injury most shops, if you drop the tank off with them to send in for requalification, add an additional shop surcharge on top of what they actually pay for the hydro test. So you pay extra for the hydro and then you get charged again for the redundant and uneeded VIP.

Now...I can understand them wanting to do a VIP and slap their own shop VIP sticker on a tank that you sent in/dropped off and then picked up from the hydro test facility so that the shop can be sure you did not stop off at the beach, remove the valve and add a healthy dose of salt water on the way to the dive shop to get it filled. But I cannot see any reason for them to insist on their own VIP on a tank they send in and that remains under their or the test facility's control until it is filled. To do so is a blatant case of using the diver as a revenue source and charging them twice for what amounts to one VIP. With regard to the (minimal) cost of the VIP sticker itself, that is already covered in the surcharge they added to the hydro test cost in the first place.

If the LDS owner is on the other hand paranoid and does not trust the test facility then by all means they should remove the valve and inspect the tank when it returns from hydro before slapping their VIP sticker on it. But they have no business charging the customer for the time and effort needed to alleviate the shop owner's paranoia. And again, if they markup the cost of the hydro test already - the cost has already been paid by the diver once and to charge them twice is just abusing the customer's checkbook.

These industry practices will however continue until enough divers point out the issue to offending dive shops, express their extreme displeasure and take their business elsewhere.

 

[captain]

My local hydro facility, not and LDS, charges me $8.00 for a hydro and fill which as DA Aquamaster said includes a visual inspection. They do not put a VIP sticker on the tank as that is strickly an LDS issue. I fill my own tanks so a sticker is of no concern to me. I read here often of the $30.00 plus cost of a hydro and VIP from dive shops. If the hydro facility is making money at $8.00, at $30.00 the LDS is robbing divers with out using a gun.