Sport Chalet filling

[pasley]

Huh?
As I recall (I can certainly be wrong on this...) the pressure of a given fill is for a given temperature...Does the statute really say that you can't overfill it temporarily, even if it is at its rated pressure when allowed to come to equilibrium at the lower rating temp?

Out of curiosity, do you have a pointer to the statute?

The DOT site is, well, it is what it is, a government site. So you know what that means, navigation is interesting at best. I have run across something in the past that specified over filling is not allowed. But can I find it easily now, of course not!

Here is one oblique reference:
Guidance on the filling of gas cylinders is covered by the
SAA Gas Cylinder Code, AS 2030. The person filling a
cylinder is required to ensure that the intended filling
pressure is appropriate for the cylinder specification and
any integral fittings. Failure to do so may constitute an
offence under the Workplace Health and Safety Act
1995. http://www.whs.qld.gov.au/alerts/97i14.pdf

I have also read on the DOT site regarding the suspect alloy that overfilling stresses the tank and is cited as one of the causes of the tank failures. On this citation, it specifies not to fill above the working pressure of the tank: http://www.whs.qld.gov.au/alerts/04i11.pdf

But yes, the rated pressure of the tank is I suppose at a specific temp etc.

How ever that being said, could you see the attorney after tank failure resulting in injury in court? Plaintiff: “ Did you check the rated pressure of the tank prior to filling the tank?” Defendant: “Yes” Plaintiff: "What was the rated pressure of the tank?" Defendant: "3,000 PSI". Plaintiff: "What was the pressure of the tank when it failed causing injury to my client (innocent bystander shopping o the other side of the wall from the tanks being filled)?" Defendant: "3,200 PSI" Plaintiff:" Your honor, rest our case and we request summary judgment and damages for the loss of my client’s leg in the resulting explosion caused by the defendants admitted negligence.”

Bottom line, overfilling the tanks is overfilling the tank(of course there is the at what temperature is the rated pressure taken at etc). You can do it and in fact HYDRO Testing does it. But every time you do, you take a risk and reduce the remaining life of the tank.

Now back to our regularly schedule program.
½ inch thick aluminum tank or what ever the thickness of the steel tank. What is the amount of cooling that will occur to the air inside the tank in 5 minutes exposure to the room temperature water outside the tank? IMHO, the water will not even cool the metal of the inside of the tank in that time ergo, it cannot have any effect on the air inside the tank.
http://www.naui.org/pdffiles/tankfill.pdf

 

[shoupart]

Hm...That's interesting, since the other stores are up to $5 for a fill now. I wonder if that's because Reefseekers is nearby and does free fills, so they need to stay competitive. They both are far, though, so i'll stick with my dive club free fills through the Brea store.
I'm not a sport chalet employee, but I have stayed friendly with my instructors there. They said that corporate has really been focusing on loss prevention in all areas lately, so I wonder how much longer the free fills will last.

Yeah, the reason they do free air fills at the Beverly Connection is because Reef Seekers does the same thing half a mile away. You might have a point that it might not be free much longer, unfortunately, since they were recently starting to take note of how many free air fills they do, possibly to get an idea of how much possible business is slipping away. The good news is that the dive department doesn't follow it very strictly, so hopefully the corporate office won't get any greedy ideas anytime soon.

I think the free air is awesome; too bad all the Sport Chalets don't do that.

 

[drbill]

Our two shops here fill without a water bath. One fills hot, the other is slower. Even the manager of the hot fill site said that probably was the reason my HP120 failed hydro after only 10 years. Gee thanks!

Dr. Bill