OMyMyOHellYes
Contributor
If I found it wet, I'd blow it dry with a long air gun off a scuba tank w/ dry scuba air, w/ first stage reg on it and check for excess surface corrosion. If seen, probably whip it out. Unless you're set up to inspect and clean tanks, you may not likely have those tools handy though.
Tank blower-outerer (or dryer)
This sprung from another thread, but I thought I'd share as it was a different approach from what was being discussed and provides more application flexibility. I'll include the original post that this sprung from at the end. For my shop needs I have eliminated the shop compressor and moved to...
I've watched my hydro shop do its thang. Almost all of what they do is steel fire extinguishers and the machine that grabs it up off the hydro tank holds it inverted and blows it out really well with a good blast of pressure. After about a 30 second blast they are usually bone dry. Plus mine are AL so they won't rust. I've had almost three dozen of my tanks come back from them in the last 18 months - never encountered any tank coming from them wet. Usually even pretty shiny insides.
And yes, VIP is required AFTER hydro. (And during hydro, but I seriously doubt the hyudro folks would have any idea what to look for in scuba tanks (particularly WRT neck cracking or some corrosion patterns to look for - they are primarily focusing on testing the elasticity of the tank so would likely catch BIG defects, but smallthings PSI has us checking in detail for? When they have 75 tanks on the floroto get through hydro today???). But yes, your LDS should note and fix wet tanks and any powdery interior surface rust when doing the VIP. Some folkses are of the opinion that the LDS VIP is nothing more than Cleet looking at the tank and saying' "Yep. Look like a tank to me and I don't see any woodpecker holes so ...." and slapping a sticker on it. I don't subscribe to that program. But if your experience with your shop reflects that process ..... I'd find a new shop. But YMMV.
