Septaberg Pony bottle - how good are they

[drcolyn]

New Pony bottles are very hard to get in South Africa
I only found two local suppliers - the one imports directly and charges over $400 USD for a 3 liter pony.
The other stocks 10,12,15 liter Faber cylinders and looks all good at $285 for a 3 liter but upon enquiry of the manufacturer it turned from vaque to maybe Faber to "Septaberg" on the actual quote.
I googled Septaberg and found a Luxemborg company name but no details like test/working pressure of the actual cylinders.
The supplier are over a 1000 miles away so I don't want to order and then find out the cylinder is rubbish.
The only forum discussions were in French.
Anybody knows this cylinder manufacturer?

 

[ams511]

Personally I have never heard of them nor ever seen them listed on any tank spec chart. If you haven't done so already you may want to post your question on a UK BBS like DIR Explorers and see what they have to say. Also somewhat imperfect is that you can use Google translate to change the language of a webpage. I use it with some success to translate Beuchat service info. Hope this helps.

 

[septaberg]

Hi,

how can we further help you concerning our cylinders ? Which kind of information do you request ?
Hearing from you,
yours


Alan

 

[septaberg]

Hello,

we are producing our cylinders in our 2 plants in Europe. Please get back to me should you request any information.

Alan

 

[drcolyn]

Hi Alan

Thanks for responding to my post.
At the time when I placed this post I was still trying to do market research and hence the question because Septaberg is unknown in South Africa. I also drew a blank on Yorkshire divers until you replied.

I bought a Septaberg 3 liter pony in the mean time since I was pressed for time and I am happy with the product although the supplier did his best to make the purchasing experience an unhappy affair.

They sold the pony to me as "new and ready to fill" (even put their hydro stamp on neck) but they had to leave the pillar valve off for the courier transport.
When it arrived in Cape Town a day later the filling station informed me that the cylinder was so badly rusted inside that it had to go for a chemical clean at my cost before it could be filled.
When I called the supplier they even had the arrogance to tell me that they sold their hydro test equipment 15 years ago because of new government laws and red tape! (so much for their hydro stamp)

As for my questions regarding the manufacturer:

I was told by the supplier above that Septaberg is only a reseller of cylinders but mine is definitely of Chinese origin.
It is probably Czechoslovakian made although you can understand why I do not trust them anymore.

Could you please confirm the country of origin.

I was also advised by somebody else to ask for a drawing of the cylinder as he would be able to tell the manufacturer from it.

Regards
David

 

[septaberg]

Good morning,

sorry to hear about your bad experience with this local reseller.

Septaberg is the sale organisation of our 2 producing plants. We are producing our steel and alu cylinders in our plants in Europe.

We can forward you the drawing of your 3 L 230 bar pony cylinder, if requested. Please get back to me directly on scuba(at)pt.lu.

Alan