Steel vs Al

[Jim Riz]

The age old (igather question)....I'ma bit of a air hog....looking for longer bottom time in the cold north east water....I dive dry.....should i go with Al 100's....steel 112's.....or double 80's???....help me out here...thanks....ohhh also where to but and mfgr's reccomendations if you would be so kind
thanks again
Jim
Jrizzio@snet.net

 

[trymixdiver]

if your diving dry get a steel tank, lp 95's or something. Your gonna want to get some of that weight off your waist, a steel tank is the ticket.

Andy

 

[Compressor]

I agree with above. Personally I prefer Steel tanks with DINs on them.
Assorted sizes will help. Start with HP 104 or 12). they are the size of AL 80 or and will have great buoyancy characteristics. The DIN will give you a secure valve.

 

[livestodive]

The al 100's are heavy, Having a set of al 100's I would go for the hp steels also.

 

[ninja]

I would recommend steel high volume 104 -120 low pressure 2400- 2640..

Pst has about the most durable finish on their tanks and the bouyancy characteristics are sweet.

Low pressure is a lot better on your regulators high and low pressure seats.

If your not into slugging doubles go with a honking 120cuft. PST with a nice H-valve on it if you were looking for some redundancy!

Good luck

NINJA

 

[JamesK]

I like my HP steel 100's with DIN valves.

 

[Lost Yooper]

Another vote for LP PST's. I like my 95's for boat diving, but 104's are very popular.

Good luck.

Mike

 

[SpyderTek]

I've been shopping around and talking to some others lvie chat about this...

Why Steel over Alum? The answer I got was that I would be able to store more air in less volume. Made sense to me at the time. I figure Steel is stronger so you can cram more pressure per square inch thus more gas.

BUt here comes my problem... Im looking at ALOT of steel tanks advertized as: "Steel 71.2 cu/ft, 2250 psi" This reasds to me that the tank is both physcially smaller than the ALS80 AND you can't even put as much air into it as an ALS80 because I can't fill it beyond 2250 (as opposed to 3000psi on my alum tank).

Not to say they don't exsist but I havent seen any Steel tank for sale with a higher than 2250psi rating. So... I'm confused. Could someone clear this up for me? Why Steel vs. ALS?

Underpressurely,

SpyderTek

 

[Jim Riz]

check out this url

http://www.pstscuba.com/aapro.htm
it should help cler thing up
2250+10(%)(for 5 years) doesn't require a Din valve
3500 Dot requires the use of a Din valve
then there is the question of rolled vs pressed steel
not sure about this...anybody???
ps thanks for the help...you guys are great!!!
hey where is the best place to buy????....any internet deals???

 

[SpyderTek]

Thanks for the info Jim, But it doesn't seem relevant to the queston at hand.

How is it mathematically possible for me to get more gas into a smaller container at less PSI? And if it isn't possible, then why would I want a steel tank? Aren't they heavier than standard Aluminum?

Thanks again,

ST