Question about putting tanks and valves together!

[dbg40]

I thought that there was no need to clean a steel tank. and a lot of new valves come o2 ready. Also I was under the impression that valves should be set to 30# I just hit mine with a rubber mallet a couple of shots.

 

[Florabama]

First... Are you certified to use NITROX? If the answer is no, then you don't need to have your tanks O2 clean. Save your money.

Second... If you are NITROX certified, do you get NITROX fills at a shop that uses the "Partial Pressure" method for blending. If the answer is no, then you don't need to have your tanks O2 clean. Save your money.

Third... If you are NITROX certified and the shop where you get NITROX fills does use the "Partial Pressure" method for blending then you DO need to have your tanks O2 cleaned. If your answer is yes to this question, then you should take the tanks to the shop that does your NITROX fills and have them do what is necessary to see to it that your tanks are properly cleaned. This will cost you some extra money, but it is necessary for the safety of the person who fills your tanks.

Since you have asked the question in the first place I am guessing that you will most likely not be a candidate for having your tanks O2 cleaned.

Mark Vlahos

I am nitrox certified and dive nitrox regularly. I have two 95s that I bought at my shop and they were O2 cleaned by the shop. My shop uses the partial pressure method, so they are putting some pure O2 in the tank. I want be able to use nitrox in these 108s, but I just didn't know what was actually involved in the cleaning process.

 

[COVCI]

Use cristolube only on the oring and not much, use a clean wrench to snug up the tube without stripping the chrome off. Otherwise your tank will end up sounding like a rattle. I just give the handle of the valve a smack with my palm to tighten, no rubber mallet needed here at all!

The purpose of putting anything on the valve is not for lubrication, but to avoid BMC--Bi-metallic corrosion. Bi-metallic corrosion is the result of direct contact between two dissimilar metals. It is the ENEMY of cylinder threads.

A small amount of the compound of your choice--depends on service--should be applied to the bottom five threads or so. When the valve is screwed into the cylinder, the compound will then be forced up through the threads and do what it is intended to do.

For air service use Dow Corning 111, for nitrox/mixed gas service use Cristolube, Krytox, or other O2 compatible compound.

Hope this helps.

Chris
COVCI

 

[Florabama]

I thought that there was no need to clean a steel tank. and a lot of new valves come o2 ready. Also I was under the impression that valves should be set to 30# I just hit mine with a rubber mallet a couple of shots.

That's the way my dive shop does it. They give them a couple of light whacks with the rubber mallet to close them.

 

[Mark Vlahos]

I am nitrox certified and dive nitrox regularly. I have two 95s that I bought at my shop and they were O2 cleaned by the shop. My shop uses the partial pressure method, so they are putting some pure O2 in the tank. I want be able to use nitrox in these 108s, but I just didn't know what was actually involved in the cleaning process.

OK, Sorry if I came off a bit strong, but your questions did not seem to add up.

I purchased two new Faber tanks a while ago and made sure that the tanks came with O2 clean valves, and (most importantly) a Visual Inspection sticker that stated that the tanks are also O2 clean. In my case that was it. There are many people who clean their own tanks for Oxygen service, but I am not one of them.

Did your new tanks come with a sticker already on the tank indicating that the tanks are ready for Oxygen Service? Did a sticker come separately? Did you get any sort of VIP sticker for the tanks? Are the valves already oxygen clean? If you have all of the parts and they are all O2 clean with the proper stickers, just make sure that you use and Oxygen compatible lubricant and not silicone on the threads and / or O ring.

Lots of questions, but unfortunately I am probably not the guy to talk to to learn about cleaning them yourself.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Florabama]

OK, Sorry if I came off a bit strong, but your questions did not seem to add up.

I purchased two new Faber tanks a while ago and made sure that the tanks came with O2 clean valves, and (most importantly) a Visual Inspection sticker that stated that the tanks are also O2 clean. In my case that was it. There are many people who clean their own tanks for Oxygen service, but I am not one of them.

Did your new tanks come with a sticker already on the tank indicating that the tanks are ready for Oxygen Service? Did a sticker come separately? Did you get any sort of VIP sticker for the tanks? Are the valves already oxygen clean? If you have all of the parts and they are all O2 clean with the proper stickers, just make sure that you use and Oxygen compatible lubricant and not silicone on the threads and / or O ring.

Lots of questions, but unfortunately I am probably not the guy to talk to to learn about cleaning them yourself.

Mark Vlahos

No, these tanks and valves came to me still in the box from the manufacturer.

Normally I try to buy as much gear as possible through my dive shop, but unfortunately I didn't have a choice with these. I got a gift certificate for 25 years with my company, and out of literally hundreds of vendors for the gift certificate, the only one with dive gear was Amazon.com, so I bought these through Amazon who simply channeled the purchase through Scuba.com.

I may drop Scuba.com a line and see if they are O2 clean. They may be, but probably not. I do appreciate the input, though.

 

[roakey]

Thanks! What's involved with O2 cleaning?

Involved question. If you're interested in a good answer, I'd suggest you purchase "The Oxygen Hacker's Companion" it'll answer your question as well as having a wealth of information on gasses and mixing!

http://www.airspeedpress.com/newoxyhacker.html

Roak

 

[jonnythan]

Did theset tanks come with visual inspection stickers, and will your shop fill a tank that's completely empty? Mine won't, they insist on doing a vis..

 

[Florabama]

Did theset tanks come with visual inspection stickers, and will your shop fill a tank that's completely empty? Mine won't, they insist on doing a vis..

They know me and my son so well, my shop lets me fill my own tanks including nitrox, so we could fill them without a problem. They do insist on doing a VIP when due, so I would have to put a VIP sticker on them, but we have some extra stickers stowed around the house.

 

[Florabama]

Involved question. If you're interested in a good answer, I'd suggest you purchase "The Oxygen Hacker's Companion" it'll answer your question as well as having a wealth of information on gasses and mixing!

http://www.airspeedpress.com/newoxyhacker.html

Roak

Yeah, I've heard that's a fantastic book, and I've been wanting to buy it along with his reg repair maunal for some time.