Question regarding tank fills

[broncobowsher]

You just had an inspection.
Few weeks later it was 2500.
Little later it was 2200.
My guess is the neck O-ring now has a tiny leak.
Get the tank filled, put the reg on, set it in the bath tub full of water and go away for a little bit.
Come back and see if there are a few bubbles coming out of the neck (or handle).

Not super common, but does happen sometimes.

 

[CT-Rich]

The shop is responsible for filling the tank, but when you pick it up it is the divers responsibility to make sure the tank leaves the shop full. If you get to the dive site with a crappy fill, it is your fault for not checking it. The diver is responsible for what they enter the water with. The tank monkey could make a mistake, but the diver owns it when they leave the shop with an untested cylinder. Whether you are getting a fill or nitrox, the diver is going to be breathing the gas.

Getting indignant is counter productive. Check the tank, if it is light, say “hey, this tank is a little short, can you top it off for me?” I have never gotten push back about topping off a tank.

If you keep leaving with partial fills, they will continue to give them. A couple of weeks ago, one of my tanks showed up on the beach with 2400 instead of 3400. I checked it and misread the gage. I didn’t even mention it because it was my fault. (It turned out the owner noticed the burst disk was leaking, tightened it and hadn’t realized it had leaked so much air). He was doing me a solid and I was have been a dick to get bent of of shape because he didn’t charge me for it.

Life lesson about being a good customer: nobody wants to help The guy Who is being a dick.

 

[DogDiver]

There is absolutely no conceivably good explanation for an HP 100 to get filled to only 2200 or 2400, and you should point that out immediately. If they don't immediately take care of it with a sincere apology, you need to go to a different shop.

As for fills to 3,000, there might be an explanation, but it still isn't good. If I just dropped my HP tanks off at the shop where I get fills and left, they could easily be filled to only 3,000. That would be because mine are the only HP tanks she shop ever fills, and it has a governor on the filling that stops it at 3,200 so it will cool to 3,000. If whoever fills tanks does not realize mine are different, I will get a 3,000 fill. They have to take that governor off for me to get a proper fill.

What, nobody has ever heard of a Haskle pump.

 

[Tracy]

View attachment 671483
24/7 self serv fills.

I dig the van, and the location.

 

[BRT]

I would think that the statement made by @CT-Rich; "tank fills drive all other sales" would be a pretty good indicator of how the rest of the shop is ran. If they can't or aren't willing to fill a tank to it's capacity (without saying anything in advance) then they probably aren't giving great service in other areas. 2200 in a 3442 is appalling, shameful really.

The best shops in my area hot fill 3442's to ~ 3900 from a bank. They fill slower (5-6 min) and I'm usually left with 3400 or so when cooled.

There's always the 3rd option, buy your own compressor I'll praise mine right up until she breaks, then I'm sure I'll be on here crying about it!!

This is interesting to me. I fill my 3442 tanks to 38-3900 three at a time over 3 hours or more. Not a fast fill at all. They still cool down to about 3600.

 

[CT-Rich]

This is interesting to me. I fill my 3442 tanks to 38-3900 three at a time over 3 hours or more. Not a fast fill at all. They still cool down to about 3600.

Three hours gives a lot of time to dissipate heat. A typical shop will fill a tank while you wait. Even with a water bath they won’t cool very much, that’s why I leave them overnight. Fill them, let them cool, top them off.

 

[BRT]

Three hours gives a lot of time to dissipate heat. A typical shop will fill a tank while you wait. Even with a water bath they won’t cool very much, that’s why I leave them overnight. Fill them, let them cool, top them off.

But even with that time, over 3 hours with 120's or 130's, there is still enough heat that I get a few hundred pounds of pressure drop when they cool.

 

[SlugLife]

There is one lcoal shop that has short-filled me and my friend countless times.

Now, I have a tank-pressure-checker, I place in my car, right where I load tanks. That way I'm reminded to check the pressure every time I load tanks after getting them filled. I should probably just put it on a necklace and wear it into the shop so they know I'm going to check the tank myself, so they might as well fill it right the first time.

For a 3000psi tank, I'll sometimes let a 2900psi go, but close to 2800 or less and I'm definitely asking for them to top if off. I don't have steels, but you might have to ask the shop if their compressors go to that pressure, and if they do, just ask they fill it to pressure, and then check it yourself before leaving.

Another option would be to go to a shop that doesn't short-fill tanks. There's another shop in my area, which checks tank pressure right as they hand you the tanks, every time. They started doing that after a couple tanks had left their shop completely empty, hah.

 

[Scraps]

Agree with CT-Rich about the customer’s responsibility to check.

The other side of flagging light tanks when you pick them up is to let the shop know when they give you a great fill.

The shop around the corner from me is very good on fills, good enough that I don’t always check his air fills. I do always check the Nitrox fills because I’m analyzing them anyway. However, if I’m in a hurry, I don’t always check air fills because this shop has earned a measure of trust.

If I get to my dive site with a tank I haven’t checked, and it’s even better than his usual 3800 for HP steel or 3400 for AL, I make sure to let him know I appreciate the quality fill when I bring it in for the next fill.

He knows it matters to me. Everyone likes getting compliments. The positive cycle feeds on itself. Manage the relationship.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

This is interesting to me. I fill my 3442 tanks to 38-3900 three at a time over 3 hours or more. Not a fast fill at all. They still cool down to about 3600.

I'm surprised that you get that much pressure drop. 3 hrs is a long time. It takes me 20-25 min to fill an empty 3500 with my compressor. I take it to 4K and it usually ends up around 3600 when cooled (still learning though). The tanks (even filling 2 sets of doubles) are noticeably warm. Not hot, but pretty warm.

Before the compressor I told the LDS multiple times they were shorting me.... he said it must be my gauge I checked with another and read the same thing. @ $12 / fill you'd think they'd make darn sure it was topped up. 3500 would usually be 3100, but they would hot fill to 3500 and that's it.... not a psi more. I disliked that shop anyway.