Steel or aluminum tank?

[frostologist]

I have an idea, quit shopping and start diving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Once you get more experience you will be able to make better decisions on gear. The more you go and the more people you see and meet and decide what direction your diving activities take you, the better prepared you are to spend several hundreds of dollars. You have excellent gear now that still has the new wrinkles from being folded in the box on it. It's not a race, just have fun for now.

See ya Saturday,

frosty

 

[bamamedic]

What! You mean you want me to quit shopping!?!

 

[bamamedic]

...but they won't let me into the Cavern class with my AIR 2. Looks like I'm going to have to do at least a bit of shopping...

 

[mike_s]

...but they won't let me into the Cavern class with my AIR 2. Looks like I'm going to have to do at least a bit of shopping...

that's because you can't hand it off to anyone easily, must less going through a cavern entrance passage while hundreds of thousands of gallons of water are flowing by you every minute......

while some people like the octo integrated into their power inflator, you'll find a large group that doesn't like/prefer them also.


If you're wanting to take cavern class, when you buy tanks, you might as well go ahead and buy H-valves for independent first stages. You can always rent them just for the class, but a lot of the time a redundant 1st stage is required for cavern class.

 

[WD8CDH]

Personally, I don't think the N80 is worth the extra cost. It's only .3" shorter and it weighs 4 pounds more. You might as well shift 4 pounds from your weight belt to your back pack and end up with the same buoyancy, air and weight at 300 psi less fill pressure.

To me, the only negative of aluminum tanks is the larger size and total weight for a given air capacity compared to steel.

What I would really like to see would be Aluminum SCUBA tanks made from 7000 series alloy. 7000 series alloy is about 50% stronger than 6061 so an aluminum 80 if made from 7000 series alloy would still hold the same air at 3000psi but would hold about 90 cf at 3442psi and about 120 cf at 4500psi without being "overfilled".

I have a set of 4 Luxfer 7000 series 3000psi tanks. They each hold 20cf and they are about the same size and weight as the Luxfer 6061 series 2015psi 13.7cf tanks. All four tanks are less than 24 pounds for 80 cf of air

 

[mike_s]

The only problem with a 45000psi tank is that you'd have a hard time getting it filled and most 1st stages aren't rated for that. So while it seems like a great idea, it's just not practial with the retail equipment out there.

Even shops with a 4500psi compressor won't like doing it because it will kill their cascade banks.

 

[WD8CDH]

Most DIN regulators are rated for at least 300 bar (4351 psi). Cousteau even used old Mistral double hose regulators at 5000psi back in the '70s. At least half of the dive shops that I have been to in the last few years can pump to 4500psi. Must be the Paintball industry that is driving the high pressure fills. Most of the dive shops around here fill a lot of Paintball tanks.