PST HP100 Steel Tank

[Ari]

Does anybody have experience with the PST AquaAire Sport HP100 steel tank?

What would be a good price for one?

Can it be used for tech diving in the future?

It comes with a DIN valve. Will I be able to upgrade my Mares MR12 first stage from Yoke to DIN?

Ari

 

[devjr]

The Aqua Aire is a quality, galvanized tank. The lowest price I have seen for a new 100 is $240.00(E Bay). I haven't seen any lately for that price.

The V 16 and MR 22 are DIN but I don't think the MR 12 is.

 

[Ari]

Leisurepro sells these tanks for less than 250$, so it seems like a fair price.

The MR12, which I have is Yoke, the question is can I change it to DIN, how and at what cost?

Ari

 

[large_diver]

http://www.pstscuba.com/aaspo.htm

Ari -- those are nice tanks and the price is right.

One thing to consider in buying online vs. LDS -- local shops will often throw in a bunch of free fills is you buy a high price steel tank fro them.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Ari
Does anybody have experience with the PST AquaAire Sport HP100 steel tank?

Hi Ari,
I used to have HP100s and will be borrowing back four of them for an up coming trip...

I like them except for difficulty getting good nitrox fills either at the LDS or my own compressor...

They will not (IMO) make good tanks for Tech diving as they complicate mixing gases and do not allow for overfilling.

 

[Ari]

Thanks for the info uncle.

But can you elaborate on this?

Originally posted by Uncle Pug

I like them except for difficulty getting good nitrox fills either at the LDS or my own compressor...

They will not (IMO) make good tanks for Tech diving as they complicate mixing gases and do not allow for overfilling.

What would you recomend as a primary tank, for a big guy, 6'4", 208 lb.? With my wetsuit and vest, I use about 20-24# of lead, with an 80 CF ALU. I would like to move to a bigger steel, in order to cut down on the lead, get some more BT and avoid being pulled up by the empty tank.

My dives, at least up until now, are OW down to aroun 30+ meters. I use Nitrox and want to get more technical in the future.

Ari

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Ari

But can you elaborate on this?

What would you recomend as a primary tank, for a big guy, 6'4", 208 lb.? With my wetsuit and vest,

At the LDS:
HP tanks will be filled to 3500 and then have to cool, be analyzed and then topped back off to 3500 (and they usually end up less than that in my experience when it comes time to dive.) It is easier to get good fills with the LP 2640 tanks.

At home:
With PP blending a higher end pressure (3500psi) will require correspondingly higher initial fills of both He and O2 from your supply tanks. It will draw them down below a useful level quicker. So you will need more of them to cascade and still end up giving a lot of unused gas back to the supplier.

With continuous blending this is not a problem but as pressure increases it does take a little longer for each cf.... and a storage bank of mix @ say 3500 psi will not work for filling hp cylinders. If you have a storage bank of 4500 psi like Omar then this would work but topping off LP 2640 tanks from either a 3500 psi or 4500 psi bank is a lot more efficient.

I know that steel and wetsuits are a bad idea... but my suggestion is single PST LP 104 because of their length...and your length

I can still use a 12# weight belt with a single 104 an so can ditch the belt and swim the rig up without using gas in the drysuit.

I would also suggest that if you go doubles you will need to go with a drysuit using 104s or go with doubled up AL80s.

 

[Ari]

But don't let down your defenses -- More questions are sure to come.

Thanks. =-)

Ari

 

[Warhammer]

I have a pair of the PST HP 100s and wouldn't trade them for any other tank out there, except maybe the HP120. I like them because they are lighter and require less lead than does the standard AL80, plus they hold more air which enables me to get more than 1 dive out of 1 tank, usually. Notice the usually. And I don't have any problems getting a good fill on them from my LDS, in fact, they are usually just a tad high on location. And even if they aren't at 3500 PSI, at 3000 PSI that's still more air (approx. 87cft) than an 80. Your mileage may vary.

 

[The Chairman]

a pair of the high pressure PST 120s. They are marvelous, and I usually find them with a little less than 10% more pressure too! Once I picked them up with 4250 in them, and almost never came up off of the bottom. The only time I have trouble getting a fill is when they don't realise it's an HP tank. When I do, no shop has yet NOT been able to fill them properly.

BTW, before this starts a HUGE discussion on overfilling... I did not ask, and I had a long conversation with the LDS that filled them to 4250. They erred and they know it. The extra dive time was nice, though.