Tank ID

[Snowbear]

I got an email from a visitor to this board who wants to know what his found tank is:

I have a tank that has a bunch of numbers at the top and I was wondering if you would take a couple minutes to explain to me what they mean?

DOT 3AA 1800 SPUN M8904*REE74 TW34
Ki GC6195 9*98

The first * is an M inside a circle
The second * is a triangle shape with a smaller triangle inside it

I have done a bit of research and decoded some of these numbers... 3AA means steel,
M8904 is the manufactures number... no idea which manufacturer
9*98 is the first hydro test.

Can you fill in the information and tell me if this is a scuba tank or another type of tank? By the way, the valve on it says SUPERIOR on the top valve and has CGA 326 CC on it and doesn't look like the scuba valves I've seen but more like an air valve...

Thanks
Dave

I told him:

You are correct - 3AA means Steel.
1800 is the working pressure in psi.
The M... is the manufacturer's number. No Idea who. I think SPUN means Spun steel, but don't know for sure.
I think the GC # is the serial # of the tank.
The 9*98 is the original hydro (good for 5 years, so it's overdue unless there is a new one stamped on there. I don't know what the TW34 means. Ki either.

He replied that someone told him the valve is a Nitrous oxide valve and that divers use N2O2 to train for some dives . I told him the difference between N2O2 and Nitrox and that it was probably a tank used for partiers.

Any input from the tank experts?

 

[Bob3]

Nitrous Oxide gets ya to the dive site a bit quicker, as long as there are no cops on the road.

It's most likely from a street rod nitrous injector/booster. Don't breathe the stuff, you'll asphyxiate yerself pretty easily.

 

[H2Andy]

I got the same e-mail.

Could it be a DIN valve he is talking about?

 

[chrpai]

DOT Manufacturer numbers can be found here....

http://hazmat.dot.gov/files/approvals/symbol/symbols.htm


They only list registrations up to 5999. Are we sure the tank is marked M8904?

 

[Snowbear]

I got the same e-mail.

Could it be a DIN valve he is talking about?

I don't think so.

Bob cubed - I did mention the race car use, but from his description of how he got the tank, I doubt that was it's purpose

chrpai - Thanks for the link. I posted the numbers the guy sent me, so no, there's no way I can know for sure what the numbers are.

 

[chrpai]

Well assuming only the first digit is wrong

M4904 Olin Electronic Materials

From what I can tell they are an OEM so the tanks may actually be branded under a different name.

 

[Hallmac]

The REE stands for Rejection elastic expansion. In this case it is 74 cc at test pressure. I don't have my books in front of me (at the shop) so you might have to wait until tomarrow evening for the rest.

Hallmac

 

[Snowbear]

Looks just like the Nitrous tanks we use at work. For medical purposes only of course.

 

[chrpai]

sure enoough, M8904. Wonder why that number isnt on the DOT website.

I did find it on a different DOT URL

http://hazmat.dot.gov/files/approvals/forapvls/forapp5p.pdf

22. 300b-89-04 Mat-Incendio S.A. T.H. Cochrane Laboratories (Inactive) (300a-89-06) 3A, 3AA
M-8904 Arrowhead Industrial Services, Inc. (300a-93-03) 3A, 3AA

It seems all the M #'s that start with an 8 or a 9 or foreign registrations.

 

[Don Burke]

CGA 326 is a nitrous oxide connection standard.

http://www.concoa.com/frames/technical/cgaconn/cga326.htm

The 1800 probably means the tank was really intended for carbon dioxide use and the nitrous system manufacturer pressed it into service.

I can think of a couple of uses for it. None of them involve breathing gasses.