Tank always filled under 3000psi

[TrimixToo]

FWIW, there is easily 200+ variation among my SPGs. My digital Dwyer gauges, though, agree to within a few (3 or so) PSI, and with my large-face analog gauge to within 40-50 PSI. So before you complain, you might ask them to test the pressure with the gauge they use for fills, unless you own a good instrument of your own.

 

[northernone]

Probably more of a personality thing, or possibly a generational thing...

we do tip in Britain for certain things, although I wouldn't tip for a tank fill.

I'm also of a mind that things are best sorted in a non-confrontational way...that's the way I am & like being and find people respond positively most of the time. If not, then its time to take it up a notch and/or take your business elsewhere.

But a short fill is a shorter dive so not acceptable!

Makes sense to me! Putting up with short fills isn't a good option.

I need to ask for sheer curiosity, which generation might you be? Perhaps more interestingly which I come across as?

Cheers,
Cameron
He whom loveth his cave fills

 

[UFOrb]

I need to ask for sheer curiosity, which generation might you be? Perhaps more interestingly which I come across as?

I'm 46, but my comment about a possible generational thing was aimed more about the age of the poster who you were responding to in your post that I was responding to (if that makes sense?). From his profile he's pretty young (saying that makes me feel old ).

But if I was to hazard a guess I would say you are a similar age to me?

 

[AlexL]

Three pages in, and nobody has mentioned switching to low pressure steels? :-D

Only way to get a 'full' fill at service pressure without initial overfilling (which i'm not a fan of in aluminum tanks, because metallurgy) is to have em topped off after cooling, usually overnight. I've had hot racked fills in AL80 at quarries drop almost 500psi immediately after splashing into cold water.

FWIW, a temperature equalized 2700psi fill on a 3000psi AL80 cylinder is short ~2.6 cubic feet, out of an optimal usable 65cf (78cf, tf 2.6, 500psi reserve). that's 4%, or 40 cents out of a $10 fill. personally, its not worth the $3.20 to make a second 2 hour round trip run to the dive shop the next day for a batch of 4 tank fills. way more important things to get worked up over, especially if the fill operator is in the weeds with dozens of tanks to fill.

 

[2airishuman]

Check your gauge before you take it further. The best way is to bring your reg in when you pick up your cylinders after a fill and check the pressure that way. Then you can have a conversation about whether your spg is off or the cylinder isn't full.

I get all my fills at the same LDS. I drop off my cylinders and leave them all day or overnight, or sometimes longer, so they are completely cool when I return. Then I check them. Every one. I use the LDS's tank checker, and they know I'm going to use it, so they usually hand it to me without me even asking, and if a cylinder is more than 75 PSI below "full" I ask them to top it off. Which they do, and they usually have me come look at the gauge on the fill station myself so I don't have to use the tank checker again.

One reason for this is that I then know without a shadow of a doubt that there is something wrong with my gear if I grab a cylinder and it isn't full. Either my SPG is wrong or there's a leak.

The LDS I'm using now is very good about fills as long as they are given enough time, because they will not fill a cylinder to a higher pressure to compensate for a hot fill. With the HP steels I dive most often, they let the cylinder cool for an hour or so after filling and then top it off.

This LDS is good about the whole thing and says things like "you're always welcome to check and we're never offended if you do" and they are happy to top off cylinders that aren't full. They also charge slightly more for fills than the place down the road.

 

[Cr.padlo]

I would definitely mention it and ask for them to fill it to 3000 and check the pressure before you leave. If my tank returns warm, I ask to borrow a pressure guage and check the pressure and ask if they can top it off after it cools for a bit. My local LDS has no issue with that and tend to overfill to 3300 if doing it hot

 

[The Chairman]

If it's within 10%, I don't make a fuss. However, I dive with LP95s or LP120s that are cave filled when I'm diving in the ocean. I never get a short fill on an LP tank.

And I have a special hatred

for just about everybody from what I can tell.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Our LDS tests the fill right in front of you when you pick up the tank(s). Have never received less than a full fill. If you live anywhere near Whangarei, New Zealand, our LDS is Dive-HQ (www.divenow.com).

Other than being a customer of this LDS, we have no commercial relationship with them. Just happy customers who want to let other people know.

 

[boulderjohn]

Three pages in, and nobody has mentioned switching to low pressure steels? :-D

I never get a short fill on an LP tank.

I bought some LP 85s some years ago, intending to use them primarily for sidemount, but I also used them for single tank diving. I go to Florida for a couple of months every winter, and the fill shop I had used for years routinely filled them to 3,000 PSI, giving me a fill of about 100 cubic feet. Then that shop closed, and I got the tanks filled by the operator of the boat I usually used for my dives. I got a short fill--about 2400. I asked about it, and they said 2400 was their rated pressure. I explained about the + rating, and I got it filled almost to that. That became the standard experience--not quite the 2640 + rating.

Then some friends came to dive with me, and they rented AL 80s from the shop. They were filled to 3300-3400 every time. The shop apparently felt it was good to overfill the AL 80s to make the customer happy, but they felt it was too dangerous to fill LP tanks all the way to their rated pressures. I found it ironic that I got less gas in my LP 85s than my friends got in their AL 80s. (One of the employees would fill the tanks to whatever I wanted, but he was the exception.) I stayed with the shop because it was really convenient to just leave my tanks there and then pick them up when i was ready to dive.

I asked an employee why they are willing to overfill AL tanks but not steel tanks, and he did not have an answer. I talked to the manager after a fill to 2500 (the manager had filled it), and he said it was a matter of safety--he could not put employees at risk filling LP tanks beyond their rated pressure. I asked if he could at least fill them TO their rated pressure, and he said I was "just splitting hairs."

That was last year. This year I found a different shop, and I get my LP tanks filled there. I get great fills there, and I will continue to go there for my fills, even though the location makes it inconvenient. It pays to shop around.

 

[BRT]

The shop where I normally get fills always has the AL80's above 3000 when cool and has the 3442# tanks at 3600-3700 when cool. Unfortunately sometimes I can't fill my tanks at my auto shop and have to go to somebody else's shop. This isn't really magic. Figure out how much they will drop when they cool and fill them to the rated pressure plus how much they will drop. If that AL80 is going to blow at 3400# it is not very safe at 3000# and if it sits in a hot vehicle it will be up there anyway.