PST Tank discussion

[Texfrazer]

I will never buy another PST (of course not!).

I dive an older steel 72 (1976 first hydro) and a neutral bouyancy Al 80 tank now.

Hey Dr. Bill,

I really appreciate the intelligence of your posts and love the work you're doing. However, it's better than 50/50 that your steel 72 is a PST tank. The low pressure PST's are (in my opinion) some of the best tanks ever built.

PST's early high pressure tanks had some documentable issues, but I haven't heard a lot of negativity about the final runs of HP tanks (though I personally will always opt for the LP ones).

Happy CA diving!

 

[oxyhacker]

They are correct that once the exemption expires filling and hydroing are no longer permitted under DOT regs.

They are wrong about individuals not being able to apply for a renewal. At least, according to the DOT they are - I, and others, have discussed this point with the exemptions people at the DOT many times and always get the same answer, that anyone can apply for a "use" exemption, and once one person/company has, everyone else can request to become a party to it. However they don't want to issue a use exemption until is is clear that the manufacturer won't be renewing.

Not sure what could be more authorative than that, but if you don't want it second hand call them yourself (and suggest they hydro shop calls them to!).

One other thing. Privately owned tanks not being used in commercial service do not come under DOT jurisdiction, and it is perfectly legal for dive shops to fill them regardless of hydro status if they like. Normally they don't, because tanks are potentially dangerous things, and need some regulation to be safe, and the DOT rules are good ones and worth following whether required by the letter of the law or not. But sometimes the DOT regs don't quite fit the realities of the dive world. As in this case when a technicality could put thousands of perfectly safe tanks out of service just because someone didn't file a piece of paper. In the case of the 9791 cylinders, I think it is very likely that many shops will just decide to go on filling them as long as they are still in hydro. There is no reason why they should not.

Also, for what its worth, PST is still around, and the guy who answered the telephone last week said the DO intend to renew the SP.

Dive shop called their hydro facility, and they stated that their sources stated that a) hydro, vis, and even fill would be banned after the expiration of the DOT exemption, and b) individuals could not apply for renewal of the DOT exemption, as the libility for any failure would then be "PST and such-and-such applicant". This is in contradiction to info posted elsewhere on Scubaboard.

I have no direct knowledge as to who to believe. It would be really nice if someone with the know-how would apply for the exemption get the ball rolling, if such a thing can happen. Or if someone with DOT would disseminate a final decision.

 

[Jaeger45]

Glad to see you're following the thread, oxyhacker. I was pretty sure the poster who had been in contact with the DOT was you, but I couldn't find the thread.

Glad to see PST in some form is still around. My impression was that they had folded, again from prior scubaboard discussions. This gives me at least a bit of confidence.

 

[mobeeno]

Ben, my 2 PST hp80's made it too.

I have 2 PST 100's pass hydro with no issues last June (SF Bay Area)

 

[drdaddy]

PST 3442 HP Steel - I had 2 PST 80s and 1 PST 100 pass last year.

Just make sure you take them to someone who knows how to do the testing. I always go to the same place - Eugene Skin Divers Supply and they send them out to the same Hydro Facility.

 

[Ben_ca]

Ben, my 2 PST hp80's made it too.

Good to hear. Did you do it thru AWS too?

 

[mobeeno]

Good to hear. Did you do it thru AWS too?

Aquarius Dive Shop

 

[Ben_ca]

I think the Bay Area dive/hydro shops have the procedures down.

 

[mobeeno]

The place mine went to had their setup recently calibrated.

 

[Jaeger45]

In case anyone was still lying awake at night with anxiety, it looks like we're in the clear until 2015 (unless I'm reading this wrong).
http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/SPA_App/OfferDocuments/SP9791_2007060054.pdf

Hope this is helpful if for some reason your shop gives you trouble.