Steel tank age

[dmccarver1]

Is there a cut off date on steel tanks like there are for aluminum? Meaning, most LDS are not filling aluminum tanks that were made before 1990 due to the aluminum alloy used. There are a few steel tanks for sale that were made in the 80's, haven't been used since the late 80's to early 90's. What should I look for? Thanks for your time.

 

[SparticleBrane]

As long as they pass hydro and visual inspection, they should be good to go. There are plenty of older steel cylinders from the 1950s being used for diving. Occasionally you can even find some industrial cylinders from the early 1900s still in service.

 

[divestoclimb]

Dive shops are no longer filling old aluminum cylinders because some of them were manufactured with the T-6351 alloy which is prone to developing cracks at the neck. There's no reason to believe that age trend will continue with tanks purchased today.

You'll know when dive shops won't fill your tank anymore because it failed hydro or VIP, not because of some arbitrary "we don't fill tanks older than 2008" statement (hopefully).

 

[Luis H]

There are a few dive shops that have arbitrarily taken the position of not filling any tank over 20 years or some other arbitrary and irresponsible criteria.

I am just glad that none of them are anywhere near where I do business. I would never do business with such a dive shop. Such a decision is either based on ignorance, or some other miss-guided business decision.

Time alone (or time and static stress combined) does not affect the structural integrity of a steel cylinder.

Most of my steel cylinders are from the 60’s and 70’s, but I have a few from the 50’s.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

A steel tank from the 1980's is still "new".