Retiring Tanks based on age alone

[Glenn08]

The tanks that failed were suspected of repeated hot fills and overfills. Any shop that refuses to fill aluminum tanks because they are 'suspect' should be suspected of overfilling and hot filling tanks. Which is a good reason to take your tanks AND your business elsewhere.

 

[Superlyte27]

You ever been to a medical supply facility? Gah! On second thought, I should probably keep my mouth shut... But when have I ever been good at that.

I have a friend who owns a medical supply. You know those green bottles that are strapped to wheelchairs? He fills those, among other things. Care to guess how long it takes to fill a 20 or 30cu' oxygen bottle? Less than 10 seconds. Scares the shiiiiit out of me every time I see it.

With that said, I worked at a hydro facility for more than ten years (I also hydro'd all the bottles for the above mentioned facility). I overfilled and hot filled all of my tanks every single time I filled them. Fill them as fast as you possibly could to about 4000psi (steel tanks) and they'd cool down to 3500'ish. That was more than 10 years ago on tanks that were more than 20 years old. The tanks still pass hydro. My aluminum tanks were treated no differently, albeit only filled to about 3800psi (cooled down to about 3400). In 20 years of diving, only buying used tanks, I've never had a personal tank fail hydro. I'm not convinced that hot filling or overfilling has anything to do with failure rates.

Remember, OMS's warranty used to claim 10,000 fills at 4000psi on 2640 tank. There wasn't a disclaimer in that warranty about fill rate.

Granted, these days, I'm not in a rush, and our compressor simply isn't as fast as the one we used to have. Add to that the fact that I have 30+ tanks, and we're diving Nitrox instead of air these days, and things change.

 

[Glenn08]

I overfilled and hot filled all of my tanks every single time I filled them. Fill them as fast as you possibly could to about 4000psi (steel tanks) and they'd cool down to 3500'ish.

Please post your shop name and address so that I can be sure to avoid it when I am in Florida.

 

[Darkforeboding]

I would even disagree with not filling bad alloy tanks if they pass all the tests but at least there is some science behind making that choice. As for the rest of the tanks there is no good reason not to fill them due to age. If some shop owner tells me he will not fill a tank due to age I would want to see the age of his rental tanks.

I would ask to see the age of the tanks on his fill station.

DFB

 

[herr2720]

You ever been to a medical supply facility? Gah! On second thought, I should probably keep my mouth shut... But when have I ever been good at that.

I have a friend who owns a medical supply. You know those green bottles that are strapped to wheelchairs? He fills those, among other things. Care to guess how long it takes to fill a 20 or 30cu' oxygen bottle? Less than 10 seconds. Scares the shiiiiit out of me every time I see it.

.

Speaking of medical tanks I just strapped a steel oxygen tank with an original test date of 1939 to a wheelchair. Swapped it out for one with a date of 1947. The oldest I've seen is from the 20s.

 

[cbrich]

If I had a 6351 aluminum scuba, I would use it:

Casting a Fire Ant Colony with Molten Aluminum (Cast #043) - YouTube

Thinking of melting down 2 bent aluminum wheels to do this too.

 

[NAM001]

Quite a while back there were a lot pf planes that were crashing that were i think b300 series planes and had a tail problem.

With that in mind. Does that mean all b300's have a problem. OR are all b300's subject to a unique root problem that affects (hit and miss)the b300 series. I believe it is the latter and that the 300 is not the problem but a process in the 300 is,,, and NO i would not fly in that plane. because of that. Why. there is too much politics and litigation involved to properly deal swith the problem leaving the public still exposed to the roulett wkheel of danger associated with that patform.

Now more directly to the question of tanks. I have seen too many monkeys that cant read a tank and just fill. for those, owners have set a date cut off rather than train to identify the problematic alloy tanks.

As it is there are to many variables in determining whether to fill or not. If anyone looked at the probcess from the point of how to bypass the system, then you have personell, training, working crack detectors, ect that have to all function or you get a bad tank marked good leaving the shop. I have watched tanksget inspected by shining a flashlight into the tank and then applying another layer of sticker to the old. Anyting for the 14.00. I have seen tanks that never have the valve removed and get a sticker. With those type of things going on why shouldnt someone draw a line in the sand?

Many people have died in airplane crashes, does that mean you do not fly? Many people have died in car accidents, does that mean you do not drive? People have died from food poisoning while eating in restaurants, do you avoid restaurants? If the answer to any of these questions is no, your reasoning is not rational.

 

[redacted]

Quite a while back there were a lot pf planes that were crashing that were i think b300 series planes and had a tail problem.

With that in mind. Does that mean all b300's have a problem. OR are all b300's subject to a unique root problem that affects (hit and miss)the b300 series. I believe it is the latter and that the 300 is not the problem but a process in the 300 is,,, and NO i would not fly in that plane. because of that. Why. there is too much politics and litigation involved to properly deal swith the problem leaving the public still exposed to the roulett wkheel of danger associated with that patform.

Now more directly to the question of tanks. I have seen too many monkeys that cant read a tank and just fill. for those, owners have set a date cut off rather than train to identify the problematic alloy tanks.

As it is there are to many variables in determining whether to fill or not. If anyone looked at the probcess from the point of how to bypass the system, then you have personell, training, working crack detectors, ect that have to all function or you get a bad tank marked good leaving the shop. I have watched tanksget inspected by shining a flashlight into the tank and then applying another layer of sticker to the old. Anyting for the 14.00. I have seen tanks that never have the valve removed and get a sticker. With those type of things going on why shouldnt someone draw a line in the sand?

Because the line in the sand has little rational basis. If the shop can not find a monkey smart enough to be able to determine what tanks should be filled, it need to have a going out of business sale.